In Thursday’s Democratic primary debate, Elizabeth Warren logged the most speaking time, followed by Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg. None of these candidates are the Democratic front-runner.
Joe Biden is, but we heard little from him during the debate — and perhaps that’s a good thing. The less Biden speaks, the more likely it is that he’ll maintain his front-runner status. The former vice president is familiar and friendly, but he is also prone to gaffes that have opened him up to criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Even Biden has quipped that his habitual blunders make him a “gaffe machine.” “I want to be clear,” he told voters in August, “I’m not going nuts.”
Biden has declared, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” He confused Margaret Thatcher with Theresa May and Angela Merkel. He mislocated the El Paso shooting in Houston and the Dayton shooting in Michigan. There are dozens of other verbal mistakes, many of which could be dismissed as a symptom of natural aging.
The problem is that Biden’s campaign has gone into overtime to compensate for these missteps. Biden’s neurologist assured Politico that the former Vice President is “as sharp as he was 31 years ago” — and perhaps that’s true. After all, even when he served under former President Barack Obama, Biden was stumbling over his words: He once proclaimed Obama “the first African American in the history of the United States” and introduced his boss as “Barack America.”
These gaffes aren’t detrimental to the character of Biden’s campaign. He is undoubtedly the most reasonable candidate on that stage, and his policies stand a better chance among moderate Democrats and independents than anyone else. But it is true that after every gaffe, Biden’s name dominates the headlines — and not for a good reason.
Biden’s campaign stands on its own. He hasn’t lost support since he entered the race, and it’s unlikely he will. What Biden needs to do now is avoid negative press attention, and the best way to do that is to show, not tell.
