Democrats decided at last week’s mini-Super Tuesday to back 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden for their presumptive nominee to go up against 73-year-old President Donald Trump this fall. There’s zero probability for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to continue beating a dead horse. Voters have spoken and no one other than a few political junkies needs to watch them tonight waste the country’s time rehashing old campaign themes. Voters have decided overwhelmingly to back Biden. Sanders must face the music and suspend his campaign. With the novel coronavirus AKA CoV-2 or Covid-19, paralyzing the country, forcing major changes in American lifestyle to gain containment of the virus, no need for more political theater, especially because it’s utterly meaningless at this point. Holding a debate tonight insults every American paying attention to more important things.
Today’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll tells the real story for Sanders that 61% of Democrat s support Biden, only 32% back the self-defined Democratic socialist Vermont senator. There’s nothing Bernie did wrong other than Democrat voters woke up to the battle ahead with Trump. Only a small fraction of voters really believe that Bernie would run a more competitive campaign against Trump. With Biden, Democrats have their middle-of-the-road candidate to appeal to crossover Republicans and independents needed to defeat Trump Nov. 3. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess. While Democrats are all pumped up now, they’ve got a long way to the finish line, especially with a gaffe-prone nominee whose policies mirror those of former President Barack Obama, not well liked by Republicans or independents. Since leaving office, Obama’s been canonized by the Democrat Party.
Biden offers nothing new other than recycling old ideas for voters looking for some normalcy in the Trump era. Democrats bank on the hope that enough voters are fed up with Trump’s unconventional governing style to change horses in November. Biden’s capacity to manage a complicated economy and foreign policy are very much in doubt. There’s no easy answers for Democrats who place their faith in a 77-year-old, prone at times with gaffes and bouts of confusion on the campaign trail. More troubling are Biden’s recent fits against voters asking questions he doesn’t like. Wait till someone asks him about his “arrest” near Soweto, South Africa in the 70s, claiming he was trying to visit South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela. Will Joe push his finger into someone’s chest or bark at them for asking questions? Democrats have their man, hoping that enough voters are disgusted with Trump.
Watching Bernie and Joe go at each other tonight makes zero sense for either candidate. Bernie has no path forward any longer. Joe’s the Party’s man, for better or for worse. Most voters could care less about their views tonight on anything. They’re focused on waiting in long lines to buy toilet paper and bottled water, as their fellow citizens panic and hoard essential supplies dealing with the coronavirus scare. Watching 24/7 cable news, most Americans are high-strung, living in anxiety over what comes next, not from the virus but from the ubiquitous shutdowns happening daily. People don’t want to watch Bernie and Joe talk more nonsense, when folks are concerned feeding families, paying bills, praying that this virus starts to settle down. If either candidate wants to do the right thing, they’d cancel tonight’s debate because it’s utterly meaningless.
Sander was riding high when Biden lost Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada by large margins. His comeback in South Carolina spoke volumes about mainstream Democrat primary voters: They want to beat Trump. Sanders, because of age, but, more importantly, his revolutionary ideas, doesn’t appeal to middle of the road voters. Biden fits that bill and was endorsed by all the Party’s dropouts who jumped on the bandwagon after South Carolina. Bernie hasn’t done anything wrong since South Carolina other than seeing Democrat voters wake up to the reality facing the Party to beat Trump in the fall. Why play around any longer when the campaign won’t be easy? Even politicizing the coronavirus outbreak won’t help them if it looks like a cynical manipulation of the electorate. Voters know that whoever was in office, their response to the crisis would take time to evolve.
Joe and Bernie should cancel their debate for the good of the country. With TV and cable networks losing billions, they’re looking for anything juicy to sell advertising tonight, so the debate will probably go on. But ordinary folks are consumed by the changes demanded by the coronavirus infectious disease crisis. Making rounds today on Sunday morning talk shows, Director of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health Anthony Fauci urged citizens to “hunker down,” avoid crowds, practicing distancing, social isolation and handwashing until there’s a break in the crisis. Infectious disease experts hope when the weather heats up, the coronavirus, like seasonal flu, will start to settle down. Until, then citizens are consumed with survival, not listening to Joe and Bernie battle about climate change or national health care. Now is the time for both parties to stop playing politics.
