News Opinons Politics

2020 Democrats Won’t Criticize Biden’s Time as VP for Fear of Attacking Obama Legacy

Joe Biden’s rivals in the race for the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination are attacking him  from all angles, save one: Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice president.

“People are very nostalgic for that time,” an activist told Politico. Among liberal voters, the Obama administration is inextricably entwined with pre-Trump nostalgia. Years after his presidency, Obama remains extremely popular with his base. That is good news for Joe “Malarkey” Biden, who is riding that goodwill toward the Oval Office.

“It’s going to be challenging for progressives to attack that legacy,” said chief executive Yvette Simpson, of the “Democracy for America” PAC. “Because Obama not only is and was so popular, but people are very nostalgic for that time, particularly after a few years of Trump.”



Federal Judge Throws Out Trump’s Epstein Birthday Letter Lawsuit – But the Fight Isn’t Over Yet
Obama CIA chief under DOJ scrutiny pushes fringe Trump ouster plan
Soros-backed prosecutor set for Capitol Hill grilling as sanctuary policies face reckoning
Trump-Impeaching GOP Senator Reportedly Melted Down Over Not Getting Enough Money
Gubernatorial candidate vows to pardon cop convicted of manslaughter in death of fleeing suspect
Bodies of two iron workers recovered from rubble of Philadelphia parking garage 5 days after partial collapse
Tennessee Lawmakers Walk Out of Prayer Against ‘White Christian Nationalism’
Trump’s ‘Blasphemous’ Post Draws Backlash from Christian Conservatives
The simple tax habit that could save you thousands over your lifetime
Lawmakers put expulsion threats atop House agenda as return sets up high-stakes week
Cancer-Stricken Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse Vows To Avoid Being A ‘Pansy A**’ As Life Slips Away
Melania Trump’s Epstein remarks turn up the heat on DOJ, Acting AG Todd Blanche to do more
Machete-Wielding Assailant Calling Himself ‘Lucifer’ Shot Dead by NYPD in Grand Central Station
US military conducts more deadly strikes against vessels of alleged ‘narco-terrorists’
The AI you use every day is biased — and it’s quietly shaping your worldview, new report says
See also  Trump blasts CNN and New York Times for reporting on a ‘fake ten point plan’

Cory Booker has called a crime bill that Biden helped write in 1994 “awful” and “shameful.” Bernie Sanders has gone after Biden for his support of the Iraq War and NAFTA, while Elizabeth Warren has criticized him as “on the side of the credit card companies.” None of them, however, seem willing to contest any matter from his actual White House tenure, despite Politico noting the left has plenty of issues with the Obama administration’s legacy:

For years, left-wing activists have disapproved of the Obama administration’s management of the economic crash, opioid crisis, immigrant deportations, and ill-fated attempts to compromise with Republicans. But many believe it would be political suicide for progressive presidential candidates to question Obama’s record at length, even in the service of defeating Biden.

Sean McElwee, the co-founder of the left-wing think tank Data for Progress, had an arch response: “The biggest weaknesses Biden has, for the most part, are not things he did in the Obama administration,” he said. “Luckily for progressives, Joe Biden is literally 150 years old, which means he has a half-century of a career otherwise to attack.”

Adam Green, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee — which recently endorsed Warren over Biden — simply does not think Joe is right for the job. “It’s perfectly consistent to say that President Obama righted the ship and aimed it in a better direction,” he claimed, “but now we have an opportunity to move the ship much further and much faster toward progress.”

“The person to do that is clearly not Joe Biden,” Green added, “as he moves backwards on issues ranging from the Hyde Amendment to NAFTA to a ‘middle ground’ on the existential climate crisis.”

See also  Midwest nasty: ‘Hoosier nice’ gets swamped in Trump White House’s redistricting revenge tour against Indiana Republicans

Federal Judge Throws Out Trump’s Epstein Birthday Letter Lawsuit – But the Fight Isn’t Over Yet
Obama CIA chief under DOJ scrutiny pushes fringe Trump ouster plan
Soros-backed prosecutor set for Capitol Hill grilling as sanctuary policies face reckoning
Trump-Impeaching GOP Senator Reportedly Melted Down Over Not Getting Enough Money
Gubernatorial candidate vows to pardon cop convicted of manslaughter in death of fleeing suspect
Bodies of two iron workers recovered from rubble of Philadelphia parking garage 5 days after partial collapse
Tennessee Lawmakers Walk Out of Prayer Against ‘White Christian Nationalism’
Trump’s ‘Blasphemous’ Post Draws Backlash from Christian Conservatives
The simple tax habit that could save you thousands over your lifetime
Lawmakers put expulsion threats atop House agenda as return sets up high-stakes week
Cancer-Stricken Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse Vows To Avoid Being A ‘Pansy A**’ As Life Slips Away
Melania Trump’s Epstein remarks turn up the heat on DOJ, Acting AG Todd Blanche to do more
Machete-Wielding Assailant Calling Himself ‘Lucifer’ Shot Dead by NYPD in Grand Central Station
US military conducts more deadly strikes against vessels of alleged ‘narco-terrorists’
The AI you use every day is biased — and it’s quietly shaping your worldview, new report says

Meanwhile, Biden has drawn a sought-after demographic into his fold: black Americans who supported his “buddy Barack.” Yvette Simpson, head of the progressive Democracy for America PAC acknowledged the risk of alienating that demographic. “Biden’s early advantage among African-Americans has more to do with Obama than Biden. And if you attack that, you start to alienate those voters,” she said.

See also  Putin issues a decree calling for a ceasefire in fighting for Orthodox Easter holiday

“Biden is winning, or at least is ahead, because nobody has made the argument that Obama’s policies are the reason that Democrats lost in 2016,” said Matt Stoller, a former Senate Budget Committee aide under Bernie Sanders. “They’re not challenging the fundamental narrative that Joe Biden is running on, which is that Obama did a good job and we need to get back to that.”

“I’ve been bugging the campaigns about it,” he said, but “they’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we know, but we don’t have a way to do it.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter