Much has been made by Joe Biden and his supporter that he is the most electable Democrat in the currently crowded field of leftists vying for the 2020 Democrat nomination for president. However, flying in the face of one of the Biden campaign’s main selling points, NPR has published an article detailing how progressives do not believe in the ex-vice president’s electability.
The article opens with the statement, “Justin Krebs, a campaign director with MoveOn, isn’t interested in hearing pundits debate which 2020 Democratic candidate is the most ‘electable.'”
Krebs’ sentiment isn’t new nor is this the first time that the left has weighted in on Biden. Not long after he joined the 2020 presidential election circus, Rolling Stone had this to say:
After his launch, it seemed like the press didn’t know whether to describe Biden as “electable” or not. There was widespread pundit paralysis about the very meaning of the word, to the point where it’s no longer clear whether the term has positive or negative connotations.
What’s new is that as the election cycle ramps up, committed progressives are fighting tooth and nail to ensure that the more far-left Democrat candidates come out victorious. Biden, of course, since he’s perceived (and casts himself) as the centrist candidate and is leading in the polls, is their main target. As NPR points out, Progressives’ “main criticism of Biden is two-fold: He’s too moderate on economic policy and has a complicated record on criminal justice and race.”
With that in mind, it makes sense that the far left is busy plunging knives into the back of Biden. One Democrat activist, Allegra Dengler, spoke to NPR about Biden, saying with more than a hint of condemnation, “We need to go to the future. Why is he so popular? I have no idea. He’s like a corporate Democrat from Delaware, which is like the corporate headquarters of everything.”
Biden’s health care plan that he recently unveiled is causing much of the hand-wringing among those occupying space in the far left. Seeking to expand Obamacare, but falling far short of the completely socialized health care system desired by the far left, NPR correctly assesses that Biden’s plan is “a clear contrast to the more progressive alternative.” Explaining further, NPR claims that “The fight over health care is a proxy for the broader ideological battle in the Democratic Party with Sanders on one end and Biden on the other.”
To that end, “Sanders’ supporters feel that Biden’s approach is too incremental and antiquated. The goal, progressives say, is not merely to maintain the ACA, but to establish universal health care.”
On the other hand, centrists are ringing the warning bell that progressives are playing into President Trump’s hands. Lanae Erickson, a senior vice president of social policy and politics at the centrist think tank Third Way, delivered these words of caution to far-leftists seeking to undermine Biden over his health care plan: “It gives a huge window for Donald Trump and Republicans to label Democrats as socialists and have that label stick.”
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