Joe’s Last Stand

© Bruce Allen

I posted this on March 1. Bloomberg didn’t make it, but it appears we’re Ridin’ with Biden in 2020.

Lest my longtime readers—both of you—come to the mistaken conclusion that I have changed my political stripes, let me assure you that I haven’t. I have long been and am still a table-pounding liberal Democrat marooned in a red state.

Recently I have been pounding the table of Michael Bloomberg, who I see as the only Dem candidate capable of taking a real fight to Donald Trump in November. The longer the campaign goes on, the more I learn about Mr. Bloomberg, the less comfortable I am with this position.

If this were a less weaponized election, where a single footstep in the wrong small puddle can get you pilloried on Fox News, if it were just a contest between the half dozen or so presidential candidates left standing, Mike Bloomberg would possibly be my last choice. Were it simply a matter of policy and ideology, I would rank the candidates

1. Elizabeth Warren
2. Pete Buttigieg
3. Amy Klobuchar
4. Bernie Sanders
5. Joe Biden
6. Tom Steyer
7. Michael Bloomberg

The thing is, it’s not. It’s not about policy and ideology. Polls suggest a negative relationship between being thought of as a radical (the media term for “progressive”) and one’s electability amongst a populace in which the left makes all the noise and the moderates actually show up to vote. People can say the Democratic party has shifted to the left, but only in comparison to the execrable Republican party which has taken such a decidedly rightward cant. A Republican party in thrall to this smirking dolt who, in terms of election-time support, controls upwards of 35% of the popular vote and uses that control like a club.

We, as Dems, like to view presidential elections the way we do boxing matches—may the better man, or woman, win—when they haven’t been that way for a long time. No more one-on-one, level playing field, same weapons. The 2020 presidential election, and the down-ticket races in inspires, will be a political knife fight. And, one more time, with feeling, as dad used to say, you don’t bring boxing gloves to a knife fight.

You bring a knife. A Mike Bloomberg who has played in this sandbox for decades and knows how to get things done. Who, as a person, is no one to admire, but who, as a political force, can bring guns to the fight. Can recruit and hire and re-hire smart people to work for him, turning things around.

On a personal level, guys like Mike Bloomberg, who have become wildly successful in both business and politics, tend to believe they know everything about everything. While they were on the way up they knew what they didn’t know, but have now forgotten and think they know it all. Wealth brings arrogance, power and accomplishments. Mike’s belief system has produced all kinds of bad programs, programs that impinged severely on people’s civil rights, a history of shameful comments directed toward women, and a reluctance to accept blame for much of what troubles him today, in 2020.

He has operated, so far, something of a stealth strategy outside of the Super Tuesday states. Inside those states, he has saturated TV and the internet with well-made, convincing commercials, serious commercials, that are reaching lots of eyeballs. Especially in conservative, red-hued areas, Bloomberg is seen as the one Democrat with a pair on him who will step up and get things done, without all the Trumpian dystopia, and without all the usual Democratic whining about fairness.

So there’s that. For Joe Biden, the 2020 campaign came down to South Carolina, and he made a stand that, with Rep. Jim Clyburn, delivered him a lifesaving win. The way I see it, Joe should be able to enjoy that win for about three days, when Super Tuesday delivers Mike Bloomberg a depressingly high number of delegates.

Courtesy NPR

1,344 delegates will be chosen on Super Tuesday. Bloomberg, I suspect, will be in the top three, along with Sanders and Biden. Super Tuesday will mark the end of at least one campaign, perhaps several. Once that occurs, we will have to re-shuffle the deck, see who’s where.

Until then, and after his first career primary win, I say congrats to Joe Biden, a man who has known personal loss and who has risen up to make positive noises one more time. A man who sees himself, at least in a relative sense, working on the side of the angels. Willing to give it the old college try once again. Taking one more turn at the brass ring, and not giving up without a fight.