Joe Biden should be in an enviable position right now. Unlike past years, where the nominating process dragged out much farther into the year and much closer to the national convention, now that Sanders has officially dropped out there is no doubt that Joe Biden will be the Democratic Presidential Candidate. This gives him a gift that many other candidates have not had- the gift of being able to campaign for months longer in the national spotlight as the guy.
So, where is he?
Ever since the Covid-19 lockdowns began, Biden has largely been a non-entity, disappearing into the background while Trump is all over the news- on every channel, screen, and newspaper. And it isn’t like Trump’s actions have won him national acclaim- since early April his disapproval rating has only grown. This should be the moment Joe Biden, former Vice President, former Senator, a so-called Elder Statesman, should be barging onto the scene and using his prestige to fight his way on stage and demonstrate just how decisive and effective his leadership supposedly would be from Trump’s.
So, where is he?
The Boston Globe is reporting that many of his own constituency think that “former vice president Joe Biden, is invisible,” right now, despite his claim to be “champing at the bit” and wishing he was “still in the Senate, and able to impact some of these things. But I am where I am.” Even if it is true that he wants to be more active, it is this attitude that he cannot be without political power that is going to cost him the election. For better or for worse (really, always for worse) the people of the United States expect the President to “lead” the nation. When national tragedy strikes, when natural disasters hit, when economic downturns occur, -especially when hardships occur- the people expect to be led more than ever. For good or for ill (and most often it is ill) human beings want someone to step up, promise to protect them, and take the reins of power to lead them safely back to greener pastures. This is Biden’s moment to not just declare but prove that where Trump is bumbling and stumbling around in the dark, that he, Joe Biden, is the One True Political Messiah who can right America’s Covid-19 wrongs and deliver the nation to a safer, healthier tomorrow.
So, where is he?
Now it isn’t like Biden hasn’t produced anything. His website has a very long and over wrought explanation of what Biden will do “starting Day One.” (Of course, for as long-winded as it is, it says very little. It is full of promises that have no explanation of how they could be kept and the few that he could potentially fulfill have massive barriers to them, but that is a whole different article.) He even has a propagandacast -oops, I mean podcast. So it isn’t like there is nothing happening. But none of that matters. Most people aren’t going to go to his website and read his rambling Covid-19 page and the only people who are going to care about his podcast are most likely those who already are going to vote for him. This is all particularly embarrassing when you compare Biden’s out put to someone like Ron Paul’s Covid-19 coverage. Paul, a former Republican Congressional Representative who ran for the Republican nomination twice in 2008 and 2012, is 84 years old and retired form active politics. Yet, he has been producing 30 minute videos on a variety of ways that Covid-19 and the political response to it are impacting the nation and what should be done about it as part of his daily Liberty Report You Tube channel. Paul has no political power, but he is proving you don’t need it to get your message out there.
All of it bodes poorly for Biden. If Trump doesn’t completely implode -which, to be fair, is a possibility- the best Biden can hope for is that this won’t become an issue later on. Because if it does then Trump will eat Biden alive. If Trump seems uncertain and no one really likes what is happening now, Trump at least will be able to claim to have been out in front of the American people, doing all he could to “take care” of them while Biden largely stayed home and, except for a few sporadic Skype sessions on late night TV, did nothing to demonstrate why the American people should be able to trust him. It’ll be easy to portray him as freezing up under the pressure. And if he froze up and was incapable of delivering daring leadership now, then what is to prevent him from freezing up the next time things get tough? Or the time after that? Seemingly all he has for the American people is a lame justification -“I’m not in an elected office so I can’t do anything meaningful”- to excuse himself, or will he finally admit he is too old and too feeble to handle the job? And I promise you that jugular is what Trump will go right after. (Well, Trump might go after the reality that Biden is a sexual predator, but I doubt it, for obvious reasons.)
So, where are you Biden? Because your numbers are slipping as Trump’s rise. In early April, you were leading Trump by six points. By mid-April that lead had shrunk to six points. Now it is within the margin of error having fallen to a mere three points. With the economy in tatters and everyone panicked about Covid-19, just being “not Trump” is not going to win you the election. If you really want to win in November, you need to get started because the campaign has already begun. And so far- you’re losing.