‘It’s a good idea, and after consideration, I am proud to add it to my platform…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) It was expected that Sen. Bernie Sanders would seek to draw a defining line between himself and current front-runner Joe Biden during Sunday’s Democratic primary debate in Arizona, setting up a progressive vs. “moderate” discussion within the Democratic Party.
Despite their awkward “social distancing” elbow-bump however, Biden, whose positions have been notoriously fluid throughout his career—left Bernie no room for distancing in his policies.
Rather, Biden, who is also notorious for getting uncomfortably close to violating people’s personal space, did the political equivalent of sniffing Sanders’ hair by coming out the gate in support of two of his signature policies, reported the conservative America Rising PAC.
“Before the debate even began, Biden announced his support for two radical proposals that are completely at odds with his own record,” said the watchdog.
The first of these was his advocacy of free college tuition:
First: Bernie has put forward a plan that would make public colleges and universities free for families whose income is below $125,000. It’s a good idea, and after consideration, I am proud to add it to my platform.
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) March 15, 2020
A second, lesser-known but no less socialist-influenced program would make people less accountable for their own financial recklessness by embracing Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bankruptcy-reform plan.
First: Bernie has put forward a plan that would make public colleges and universities free for families whose income is below $125,000. It’s a good idea, and after consideration, I am proud to add it to my platform.
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) March 15, 2020
Both, of course, would put tremendous new burdens on both taxpayers and the industries that drive the economies, such as lenders will face the brunt of the losses by those who default. That, in turn, will no doubt have a ripple effect on borrowing.
The two radical pivots Left did, however, give supporters of President Donald Trump, including America Rising, the opportunity to further delineate their vision of the country from Biden’s socialist policies.
Another conservative watchdog, Americans for Tax Reform, last week noted that he was on the record promising extreme tax increases and radical anti-energy measures that would resemble pro-socialism Democrats’ Green New Deal.
Biden promised to dial back the energy-independence achieved under Trump, which has helped keep prices low despite ongoing tensions in the Middle East, by imposing a new moratorium on drilling.
During a rally in Michigan last week, Biden lost his temper after a union auto-worker questioned him about his past statements advocating for gun-confiscation measures related to so-called assault rifles.
After Biden hurled profanities at Jerry Wayne and threatened to take him outside, the NRA member responded with a viral video of his own.
For true moderates or conservatives who may be diffident over Trump’s leadership, Biden’s leftward lurch may be a bit more disheartening, however.
Also during Sunday’s debate, Biden finally nailed down his long-discussed pledge to select a female running mate. His shortlist thus far has included several controversial figures, such as failed Georgia candidate Stacey Abrams, disgraced former deputy attorney general Sally Yates (whom leftists have dubbed a hero of the anti-Trump “resistance”) and even former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Warren would be another possibility to help further woo the Sanders faction of the party and shore up the Left under a unified banner.
But given Biden’s health and advanced age, few in the middle may be willing to risk the chance of letting an extreme-progressive radical into the Oval Office through the back door.
Biden’s pledge also rules out the hopes of some that he might select a centrist, NeverTrump Republican like former Ohio Gov. John Kasich or current Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, both of whom are men.
Such a decision to court voters from the Right might have threatened to cut into Trump’s base of support, although the president’s approval has been remarkably consistent throughout the first term tumult that Democrats largely wrought upon him.
Instead, Biden seems to be banking on the gambit that he can win without the center by generating higher turnout among leftists—or that Trump has alienated enough of his former voters in battleground states that they will actively turn against him.
Even former Obama campaign advisers, such as Dan Pfeiffer, have called it foolhardy to challenge the incumbent by making the election a mandate on Trump without a clearly defined vision of ones own.
It remains to be seen if Biden is seeking to do that with his embrace of Sanders’s platform or is simply—as he himself has described it—“prostituting” his policies to the audience in the room at the moment.
And time will also be the sole arbiter as to whether voters reward or punish Biden’s decision to abandon the “moderate” middle in favor of the socialist wave.