The six-term senator from Delaware, Joe Biden has become the 20th Democratic hopeful for the 2020 presidential race. But does America need a 76-year-old leader with a closet full of skeletons prowling the White House?
If it is true that a country gets the leader it deserves, then there is every reason to believe that Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. will unseat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election and become the 46th president of the United States. Heaven help us all.
Thus, Democratic hopefuls who offer the best hope of shaking up the establishment – like Tulsi Gabbard, for example, the former soldier and current congresswoman from Hawaii who promotes a dangerous anti-war message – are forgotten like so many discarded socks next to the media machine. A recent CNN ‘town hall’ debate excluded Gabbard from the event, demonstrating the media’s ultimate power in propping up only those candidates they find acceptable.
Barack Obama’s former VP seems to be ‘out of touch’ in the most literal sense of the phrase, to the point where an entire cottage industry of ‘Creepy Joe Biden’ memes have sprouted up on the internet. These are dedicated to Kodak moments of Washington’s serial groper getting creepily touchy-feely with a bevy of females, young and mature alike, as the television cameras are rolling. If nothing else, one must admire Biden’s amazing transparency.
To date, no less than seven women have come forward and complained that Biden behaved in such a way that made them feel “uncomfortable.” And as everyone knows by now, nobody should ever feel uncomfortable in these days of super-excessive sensitivities. Indeed, in the age of #MeToo, when the slightest hint of sexual intent could upend a career, if not a life, it seems incredible that Biden has made it this far in the game.
Apparently many people are willing to believe, perhaps out of political necessity of the moment, that Biden is just a folksy philanderer from a less manic period. A similar apology could be made for Donald Trump, by the way, who surmounted a slew of claims with regards to womanizing, eventually planting his flag atop the political mountain. If Trump could survive his libido, the Democrats seem to be scheming, then why not Biden?
Meanwhile, there are other issues that could also sink Biden’s presidential ambitions, including the so-called ‘Anita Hill problem’. This goes back to the 1991 confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Court. In echoes to the recent Brett Kavanaugh hearing, lawyer Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment when the two worked together. Biden, who oversaw the Senate Judiciary hearings, voted against the nomination of Thomas to the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, he has been condemned for his leadership – or lack of it – during that process, which included the blocking of testimony from several witnesses who could have supported Hill’s claims.
Although such age-old tales help to shed light on Biden’s character, they also show to what level the US political system is consumed with matters related to carnal relations between top officials. From JFK to Bill Clinton, to Clarence Thomas, to Brett Kavanaugh, the American voter has been bombarded over the years by a slew of salacious stories that would seem far more appropriate adorning the back pages of Playboy magazine than the front pages of the Washington Post and New York Times. And if the 2020 election comes down to Trump versus Biden, there can be no doubt the ‘sexual assaults’ theme party will continue with gusto.
In reality, the propping up of Joe Biden, now making his third bid for the White House in a span of 32 years, reveals an almost total lack of depth from the Democratic bench. And here is where I fear the worst. If Joe Biden really is the best chance the Democrats have at the moment for toppling Trump, then we may eventually see none other than – brace yourself – Hillary Clinton attempt to become the Democratic candidate once again. After all, there are still Democrats, the findings of the Mueller Report notwithstanding, who cling to the belief that Trump only won the Oval Office due to some Facebook ads purchased by the Russians.
Now, if Biden’s past behavior proves to be too much of a liability, which is very possible even against the imperfect Trump, then there is a possibility – admittedly a very slim one – that we may see Clinton fill the power void. In other words, a rerun of the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, a title fight rematch for the ages.
Otherwise, the American voters will continue to get the (male) leaders they so rightly deserve.