If you believe your Facebook or Twitter feed from the last three or four years, you might believe that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, or Bernie Sanders were the most important Democrats in the post-Obama era. Instead, we got Joe Biden. And that’s not a bad thing.
I’m not a Democrat, but I have to admit the obvious truth. Joe Biden has been good for the Democratic Party and good for American democracy. As an open border lovin’, free market adorin’, pro-globalization kind of a dude, Biden pushes lots of policies that I think are quite bad. Yet, on a lot of big issues, he’s been the right medicine.
For example, Biden has not emphasized the culture wars of the Left. Yes, he definitely does give the cultural Left a few things, but he moved away from policies that would cripple the Democrats and allowed the nationalist Right to gain the upper hand. He moved away from police abolition, has said little on schools and critical race theory, opposes open borders, and has stayed out of most gender politics. Even though I promote some of these policies, I have to admit that I prefer a more median voter oriented Democratic party than one that allows a Trumpian GOP to rule the roost.
Another big example of Biden being in the correct zone is Ukraine. It would be an obviously insane move to directly intervene in the Ukraine, as it would create mass destruction. Still, there is something important to be said for helping democracies, however imperfect, defend themselves from obvious aggression by lending support and aid. This also goes against the far Left, which has tried to frame the Ukraine war as a conflict by NATO expansionism.
The result of Biden’s adherence to the middle of American politics is victory. A solid presidential election win in 2020 and followed up by a massive victory in the 2022 election - remember, parties in power tend to lose tons of seats. With the Warnock victory in Georgia, we can see how this style of “normie” Democrats is getting the job done. The solution to a Trump sponsored celebrity candidate was not a culture warrior Brooklynite, it was a normal Democrat pushing normal Democratic policies.
Bottom line: Normie Democrats are a really great way to balance out the nationalist Right wing… and that’s a good thing.
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My books: Grad Skool Rulz - cheap advice manual for grad students / The history of Black Studies / Obama and the antiwar movement / A Social Theory book you will enjoy reading / Intro Sociology for $1 per chapter
The question is also, how long Biden is going to be among us living humans? And also, what happens to Democrats after Biden