With just one day to go until Super Tuesday, the Democratic Party has proven it refuses to follow the Republicans’ mistakes of 2016, by coalescing around a newly ascendant Joe Biden rather than allowing Bernie Sanders to take over the party. One major candidate, though, hasn’t yet gotten the message.
Despite placing third in the primary’s national delegate count, Pete Buttigieg acknowledged that he had no realistic path to the nomination and dropped out, followed by Amy Klobuchar, the fifth-place candidate. Now, the party isn’t just standing down for Biden: It’s backing him, with both Klobuchar and Buttigieg reportedly endorsing the South Carolina victor just in time to save him on Super Tuesday. And it’s not just 2020 hopefuls finally acknowledging that Biden is the only candidate capable of beating Sanders. Everyone from U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to actress Alyssa Milano has rallied around Biden at the eleventh hour.
Every non-hard-leftist, that is, except for one who expressly entered this race to stop Sanders.
On paper, Michael Bloomberg seemed somewhat situated to take over the so-called moderate mantle of the primary in case of Biden’s collapse. A fairly successful mayor of the largest city in the country and a self-made billionaire, Bloomberg has some semblance of policy moderation and the money to burn all the way to a convention and beyond.
In practice, Bloomberg is a cartoon villain version of an evil billionaire, a vacuum of charisma, and a Manchurian moderate with no regard for civil liberties. After spectacularly imploding on the debate stage last month, his polling has fallen, pushing him below the crucial 15% threshold in blockbuster Super Tuesday states such as California, where Biden is on the cusp of viability.
If Bloomberg’s bid truly is to stop Sanders and not a billionaire’s ego trip, it’s high time for him to bow out of the race and back Biden. Bloomberg has no path to the presidency, and so long as he stays in the race, he simply acts as a spoiler blocking Biden’s path to the nomination. If he gets out today, Biden could secure the final boost to ensure he crosses the 15% threshold in important states such as Massachusetts and Colorado.
If Bloomberg wants to stop socialism, then today, not tomorrow, is the time to buck up and do so.
