The CNN chyron on primary night in New Hampshire stood out among all the other screen clutter and not in a good way: “Joe Biden to speak from South Carolina.”
While indeed an odd display, it wasn’t a surprise as Team Biden waved the white flag much earlier in the day, announcing it was packing its bags while supporters were likely still out in the cold, engaging in get-out-the-vote efforts. Just three months ago, when Biden was filing to run in New Hampshire, he said, “I’m not here to come in second. I never enter anything to come in second.”
His comments were prescient, but not in the way he expected. Biden finished a distant fifth in New Hampshire, not even reaching a total of 10%. It is difficult to fathom the candidate leading in national polling on Feb. 8 would fall behind Bernie Sanders just four days later.
Biden, seemingly afflicted with a similar case of entitlement as Hillary Clinton in 2016, said during his remarks in South Carolina, “We’re not going to let anyone take this election away from me.”
The issue for Biden is not that it’s getting taken from him, but he’s giving it away. For all the talk of Bernie the radical; Pete Buttigieg, the inexperienced mayor; Elizabeth Warren, the slightly-less-extreme-than-Bernie senator; and all the other candidates that have either quit or have no chance, Biden was tagged as the one guy that could beat President Trump.
“Middle-class Joe” was the guy who’d bring the Trump voters who were Barack Obama voters who were George W. Bush voters back into the fold, especially in states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The press spoke of Biden as the uncle who sometimes said some goofy stuff, but would still bring a sense of normalcy back to the White House. Talking heads and pundits remarked on Biden’s ability to empathize with people, a sharp contrast from Trump.
Instead, we got the cantankerous retired uncle who shouts at the paperboy for delivering after 6 a.m., berates neighbors because their dog peed on his lawn, and chases away the kids for making a “racket” outside and nearly hitting his Lincoln Town Car with a tennis ball.
We’ve witnessed Biden get snippy with his fellow Democrats, reporters, and even potential voters. One Iowa voter who had the temerity to ask about Hunter Biden was on the receiving end of getting called “Jack” and a “damn liar” by the former vice president, in addition to Biden nearly losing it when he said, “Look, fat,” before composing himself. That was aside from challenging the man to IQ and push-up contests.
He bristles at any mention of his son Hunter and seems to think such questions should be off-limits. But it was Joe Biden who signed off on the foolhardy idea of having Hunter Biden do an ABC News interview to deal with the issues stemming from what should have only been an issue for Trump and Trump alone.
He also appears to have trouble communicating a winning message. If asked of voters, “What does Joe Biden stand for?”, would anyone know? What’s his top issue? It was a question that eluded Hillary Clinton in 2016: “Why do you want to be president?”
The former vice president makes sure to mention he was vice president under Obama nearly any time he opens his mouth. There are suggestions Biden’s support among blacks remains relatively stable because of Obama. However, that support is likely transactional because of pragmatism. Biden appeared to be the candidate who could win, so support fell his way. But after two awful finishes in the first two contests of the election season, that support may be starting to erode. A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows Biden’s support among black voters dropping, with a large percentage moving to Michael Bloomberg of the notorious “stop and frisk” crime-fighting strategy.
Perhaps it is time for people to conclude that Biden isn’t all that good at this thing. After all, it’s his third attempt since 1988. And forget about the nomination. Biden, so far, hasn’t won a single primary contest. It’s a challenge to make the case to voters that you can beat Trump when you can’t place higher than fourth in a match against fellow Democrats.
Biden and his campaign say South Carolina is the firewall. It’s the state where he will win big and get the campaign on track.
He’d better hope so. With Bloomberg spending a gazillion dollars in Super Tuesday states and Sanders gaining momentum, anything less than a first-place finish, and Biden will have a long, sad Amtrak ride back to Delaware.
