IOWA CITY, Iowa — When Joe Biden connected with his audiences throughout his first tour of Iowa, where he spent Tuesday and Wednesday this week, it’s not because of any revolutionary policy ideas or radical proposal to re-balance the country’s economy. While Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders preaches a gospel of redistribution and change, the former vice president offers something different: a comforting voice to an aging crowd who feels they’re losing touch with the direction of America’s politics.
To be sure, Biden gives his audiences the standard center-left boilerplate policies. We need a $15 minimum wage, healthcare is too expensive, the student debt bubble is untenable, Biden says. But that’s not exactly why his supporters showed up to hear him speak about.
Whereas supporters at a Sanders rally in Iowa speak ambitiously about “political movements” and “revolutions,” the crowds this week in Iowa hoped Biden would restore some sense of normalcy to American politics.
So, Biden also gives them what they want. He describes how he’ll provide a necessary restoration of dignity to Americans and their political institutions.
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“We choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division. We choose truth over lies, and we choose science over fiction,” Biden said at the conclusion of several of his rallies. “This is the United States of America.”
When asked to list their number one issues, the people at Biden’s rallies often talk about immigration reform, the environment, and LGBT issues. While candidates like Sanders or Warren want to expand the American welfare state, Biden’s fans just want to elect someone who will protect from President Trump the one Americans already have.
“Someone like Bernie [Sanders] gets too far ahead of himself. I want these candidates to be reasonable,” John Bynborn, a bus driver considering retirement, told the Washington Examiner in Dubuque, Iowa. “Sure, healthcare must be fixed but something not so extreme is what I’d prefer. It can be done.”
Biden’s supporters here in Iowa have another thing in common with each other, and the candidate: They’re old. They show up in large numbers, making Biden’s crowd sizes as big, if not bigger, than those who come across the state to see Sanders.
Biden rally in Dubuque Iowa. Can’t you just feel that energy? pic.twitter.com/uWMVRqsN5w
— jeff north (@sam4soph) May 1, 2019
That, however, doesn’t translate into too much energy — either from Biden or from those who are there to hear him speak. Jokes fall flat, words get mispronounced or stumbled over, and a return to a better time for Democrats is promised to a group of supporters who aren’t asking for much else.
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“This country needs someone with character back in the White House. There isn’t a time we need a man with character more than now,” Cindy Martin told the Washington Examiner in Cedar Rapids. “We’re not ready for a socialist; we just need to figure out how to get Trump out of office, and Biden’s the best guy.”
In many ways, that’s why Biden’s age is seen an asset to many here. This is a man whose career they’ve followed for decades, even if they haven’t always rewarded him for that. In 2008, Biden was forced to drop out of the presidential race after receiving less than 1% in the state’s caucus.
“Biden knows how Washington works now. I was thinking about age on the way over here,” Cindy Smith, a retired healthcare worker, told the Washington Examiner. “But age really isn’t an issue for me, besides I’ll be there in just a few years. Who knows, maybe I’ll be Ms. President one day.”
