With Hillary Clinton slowly sinking into the quicksand of her email server scandal, nervous Democrats are beginning to seriously explore alternatives to what is increasingly looking like a fatally flawed candidate. How else can one explain the buzz and trial balloons surrounding the hypothetical candidacy of Joe Biden? What a sad state the Democratic Party is in when Crazy Uncle Joe is considered the better alternative. Despite the efforts of the media to build up Biden as a campaign heavyweight, there are at least five good reasons why Biden will soar like the Hindenburg should he choose to run.
The Gaffe Machine
That some critics of Donald Trump like to claim that he will embarrass the United States on the international stage while glossing over Biden’s mountain of gaffes is hysterical. From asking a wheelchair-bound man to stand up to forcefully advocating that “jobs” is a three-letter word, it is not a question of if Biden will make a fool of himself, but how often and how spectacularly. Throw in his propensity to grope women in public and the prospect of a President Biden loose on the world stage is a frightening thought.
Wrong on Everything
Want to do everything right for America? Just do the opposite of everything Biden advocates. During his long career in Washington, Biden has a long history of being on the wrong side of history. During the 1980s he stood with the Democrats in opposition to the Reagan Revolution that revitalized the country and won the Cold War. He voted against the Gulf War in 1990 and later proposed breaking Iraq into three separate countries. By helping to smear the name of Robert Bork in 1987, Biden contributed to turning the Supreme Court hearing process for nominees into a hyper-partisan spectacle.
Career Politician
The success of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders demonstrates how the electorate on both sides of the political spectrum are tired of politics as usual. They want outsiders, not career politicians. Biden is the poster boy for politicians who have been in Washington too long. It should also be mentioned that he has run for president twice and lost both times. He hasn’t had a job outside politics since Richard Nixon’s first term. Despite his image as a working-class Joe-six-pack, Biden has lived most of his life as a pampered, Washington-ruling-class elite. Not exactly the ideal vessel to speak for the disillusioned lower and middle classes.
Status Quo
In 2008 the Obama-Biden ticket ran on the flimsy premise of “Hope and Change.” In the final months of the Obama administration, America has seen change for the worse and hope left town a long time ago. American political history shows that voters rarely elect the same party into the White House for three consecutive terms. With Obama fatigue in full effect now, is anyone, except the most partisan Obama dead-enders, looking for more of the same? That’s what Biden would represent.
The Old White Guy Thing
In the last two presidential elections, Democrats made great hay out of the idea that Republicans were the party of old white men and Democrats were the United Colors of Benetton. Obama rode his ethnicity and identity politics to two victories. In 2015 the GOP field includes a woman, an African-American, and an Indian-American while the Democrats offer two white guys and a white woman. By the Democrats own logic, they are the party of the past and the Republicans look more like America. Biden may have Obama’s seal of approval, but the idea that Uncle Joe will cause minority voters to surge to the voting booths as they did for Obama is not happening.
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/americanprogressaction/2787217598
