A divided Democratic race for divided times
After the presidential primary in South Carolina on Feb. 29, the Democratic field has continued to shrink. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaire Tom Steyer have all since dropped out after lackluster performances at the polls.
Only five major candidates are left in the Democratic party: former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Mayor of New York Mike Bloomberg, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
Only two remaining candidates have any chance of winning the nomination at this point: Biden and Sanders. While some speculate Bloomberg could buy his way to victory with his $60 billion fortune, I don’t see Democrats supporting someone so similar to President Donald Trump regardless of how many ads they see.
Unfortunately, like Bloomberg, both Biden and Sanders are flawed in their own unique ways.
Let’s start with Biden. He was the presumed front runner ever since he announced he was running—that is, until Sanders recently surpassed him. Biden’s position in the Barack Obama administration is a clear selling point, having had extensive experience in the White House already and strong ties in Washington, D.C. Still, being a political insider is not always a good thing; Trump’s election being case in point. Biden has also received criticism for his numerous gaffes and blunders on the campaign trail and on the debate stage.
Trump would certainly exploit these moments as a sign of weakness and incompetence were Biden to become the Democratic nominee (keeping in mind his campaign did not pull any punches to defeat Clinton in 2016). Additionally, Trump’s impeachment over the Ukraine controversy was about Trump trying to expose Biden family corruption. Similarly to Clinton, Biden has a fair amount of baggage that Trump could exploit.
Still, Biden is currently the most viable candidate. While I would much rather have seen candidates like Klobuchar or Warren win the nomination due to their better articulated policies, they simply don’t have broad enough support at this point.
What Biden does bring to the table is moderation and stability. Biden also has broad electability, beating Trump in almost every national poll.
While he might not be my absolute favorite, Biden isn’t too divisive either. Think about how much Trump’s election has changed political discourse in America. Did we ever call people “Obama supporters” or “Bush supporters?” Did people ever start fights over hats? This is not to blame Trump solely for this shifting rhetoric. Both social media and news media echo chambers have also strongly contributed to increasing bias and polarization in our politics.
Maybe America needs an average Joe to get back to normal.
What would not be a return to normalcy would be the election of Sanders. An unapologetic democratic socialist, Sanders’ policies would likely be the most liberal in history. He has proposed making college free for everyone, canceling all student debt, increasing taxes on the middle class and eliminating private insurance (for over 150 million Americans) to turn health care into a government run, single payer system. While these policies are already difficult to enact and require careful planning, Sanders does not appear to even have a clear plan to pay for any of it.
In an interview on “60 Minutes” Anderson Cooper asked Sanders if he knew the cost of his plans for Medicare for All to which he replied: “We do. I mean, you know, and—and—the price tag is—it will be substantially less than letting the current system go. I think it’s about $30 trillion… That’s just ‘Medicare for All,’ yes.”
When asked about the cost of free college or canceling student debt, Sanders’ response indicated a lack of a clear plan: “No, I don’t. We try to—no, you mentioned making public colleges and universities tuition free and canceling all student debt, that’s correct. That’s what I want to do. We pay for that through a modest tax on Wall Street speculation.”
Experts estimate Sanders’ proposals would cost $60 trillion while his tax plans only cover $33 trillion. Sanders would double the size of the federal government, putting the socialism in democratic socialist.
While I support some of Sanders’ goals and proposals in principal, his nomination would come at a time where America needs moderation over more extremism. In this 2020 primary season, Democrats are in the midst of an identity crisis and are uncertain who to nominate.
I suggest they ask themselves one important question: what is best for America right now?