A few weeks before Super Tuesday, I wrote about Joe Biden and how his campaign seemed unable to recover from its financial struggles and gaffe-prone candidate. Today, he is the frontrunner to take on Donald Trump in November. What the heck happened?
Results are still coming in and we will learn more as the day goes on, but as it stands the former Vice President appears to be reclaiming his title as the main contender in the Democratic Party. With clear wins in states like Alabama, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, it looks as though he stands a fighting chance.
Importantly, he also won North Carolina and Virginia - two swing states that could determine a shift in the electoral college map for the general election.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders can proudly claim victory in California and three other US states. As the anti-establishment voice on the left, he should not be dismissed so easily. His supporters, otherwise known as ‘Bernie Bros’, terrorize critics online and on the ground - so don’t expect them to go down without a fight just yet.
Senator Elizabeth Warren came third in her own state of Massachusetts - a humiliating defeat - and billionaire Michael Bloomberg won American Samoa - a small territory evidently worth $700 million. Warren refuses to accept defeat just yet, only hindering Sanders and ultimately boosting Biden even more.
It’s an amazing result so far, given that only a few days ago we had more candidates in the field. Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar suspended their campaigns over the weekend - hours before Super Tuesday. Klobuchar might have done the honorable thing, but why are we all forgetting that ‘Mayor Pete’ won the Iowa caucus!?
Many online are suggesting that there are factors in play outside what we see on the news. As someone coming from Public Relations, I’m all too familiar with the battle to ‘control the narrative’ or host private talks in smoke-filled rooms. Is it unreasonable to think that the Democratic Party committed a Quid Pro Quo to offer Klobacher a cabinet position if she withdrew? Is it possible that they colluded with Buttigieg to get him out of the race and stop him in his tracks?
It seems hardly a coincidence that in the 24 hours following these two shock suspensions, the ‘establishment’ has come out in full support of Joe Biden. No one said a word during the first three primaries, but all it took was a single win in South Carolina (his first-ever win after three presidential runs) to restart the engines.
At time of writing, we’ve seen public endorsements from former FBI director James Comey, former UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and two-time failed candidate Beto O-Rourke - not to mention Buttigieg and Klobacher themselves.
All that’s missing is that sweet seal of approval from former President Barack Obama - who is surely waiting for the nominee to become more clear.
President Trump will claim, without evidence, that this is all orchestrated to once again steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders. While it might seem far-fetched, it might not be too crazy. Some of us remember his accusations that the Obama Administration spied on his presidential campaign. Surprising at first, only for him to be proven right over time.
And yet, they persist. The Democrats have been determined to stop Bernie at every turn. It appears that high-level Democrats, including Obama and Clinton, are plotting to take it from Sanders. And in their mind, why not? Why does Sanders, a proud socialist, belong to their party? Despite being in Congress for more than 30 years, he only joined them to reach a wider audience in the 2016 election.
To them, he is infiltrating and destroying the party, blocking the needed turnout from moderates like Biden. To quote Ronald Reagan: ‘I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.’
If we objectively look at Biden’s recent performance, it’s amazing what these establishment figures see in him. Since South Carolina, he has announced that he is ‘running for US Senate’, he suggested that his supporters could ‘vote for the other Biden’, and has confused his wife with his sister.
The youngest male Democratic candidate is showing demonstrable signs of mental decline that is getting worse each passing month. And yet, no one in the mainstream media seems deterred by it. It begs the question: in a Biden administration, who would really be in charge?
As I wipe the egg off my face, I admit that I didn’t predict such a quick and seamless reversal of fortune. I am not totally convinced that this happened organically (few things in politics ever do), but I am intrigued to see what happens next.
As the ideological war within the Democratic Party continues, let’s hope people see what’s at stake during this primary season: a senile establishment Donkey battling a radical socialist to take on the Elephant in the White House.