My post on Joe Biden’s campaign generated a bit of conversation among my friend group, which has led to a few additional thoughts. My premise does rest heavily on the idea that Trump has already maximized his base and has few additional voters to gain. However, as reported by The Daily, there may be additional converts yet to be gained, specifically in The States That Matter. It is unclear how many actual voters the people profiled in the podcast represent, or how their numbers may be offset by voters changing in the opposite direction.
Biden recently gave a speech without mentioning Trump, for perhaps the first time ever. This is how I think the campaign should have been run all along, providing affirmative justification for his candidacy rather than defining himself in the terms of the opposition.
We are still dealing with the aftermath of the Democrats conceding major state leadership positions under the misleadership of Clinton acolytes like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. The GOP gained power during a census year (2010) and gerrymandering itself is a voter suppression tactic. Voting is even more challenging than usual in the COVID era. They are not operating in good faith, something Democrats like Joe Biden have a very difficult time comprehending.
Speaking of which, I have been listening to Bad Faith, a new podcast from two of my favorite more leftist personalities, Briahna Joy Gray and Virgil Texas. Highly recommended for folks who want more criticism of liberals and think that we can do better than milquetoast conservative policies in a slightly softer packaging.
Despite the cries from Twitter liberals, I think it is vital to understand how neoliberalism has failed in America, creating the conditions not only for Donald Trump, but for George W. Bush before him. This kind of reflection is not harmful, it is strengthening. Even now, with his existing policies, Biden could be making an affirmative case for his candidacy. Instead, he (and Harris) concede point after point to conservatives in a vain bid to win over white working class voters. These people can be reached by embracing big policies, not running away from them.
Biden may be polling better than Hillary was, but I think that winning requires more than that. With all of the confounding factors, he will need bigger margins than his “a little better than the other guy” campaign will be able to achieve.