Former Vice President Joe Biden
Just before Iowa’s first in the nation Democratic presidential caucus next Tuesday, Joe Biden‘s campaign has released its latest Iowa-targeted ad. Entitled “Imagine,” the ad has Biden himself on camera, asking viewers to “imagine all the progress we can make in the next four years,” including affordable healthcare, renewable energy to tackle climate change, and banning assault weapons to reduce gun violence in our schools. At the end of the ad comes the kicker from Biden:
But first, we need to beat Donald Trump. Then there will be no limit to what we can do.
Biden’s latest Iowa ad continues the pattern on which Biden has run from the very beginning of this campaign: a general election argument against Donald Trump, based on realism, that essentially bypasses the Democratic primary fights. This is in sharp contrast to Biden’s liberal rivals, such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who are focusing more on proposed structural changes and specific policy plans (Medicare For All, free college tuition, etc.) to differentiate themselves from their Democratic primary candidates. In Sanders’ case, he seems to spend as much time running against the Democratic Party (or even capitalism, or “the Establishment”) itself as a Socialist as he does running against Trump and the Republicans.
Biden’s view is different. While he has specific policy proposals in virtually every significant area, Biden makes it clear that none of the nice things he, the liberal or the more moderate candidates challenging Trump want will be achievable unless we first defeat Trump. Indeed, the liberal candidates’ promises in particular are mere pie in the sky without a realistic legislative plan to win the votes for such proposals. We would add that this also likely requires taking over the U.S. Senate majority (as well as keeping the U.S. House majority), since “Moscow Mitch” McConnell and his legislative blockade arguably is the number one obstacle to making any progress in America, or even returning us to some semblance of normal, right now.
Biden’s latest Iowa ad sets up what is becoming the fundamental issue among those challenging Trump for the White House in 2020: are Democratic primary voters most interested in the sometimes subtle policy differences between the candidates, such as Medicare For All versus the Affordable Care Act with an added public option, or are the voters most interested in defeating Donald Trump and then getting to work on the best possible policies? The answer could determine who gets to face Trump in November, and whether that challenger wins.
Photo by Michael Stokes, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/YJFU1g
