Democrat voters seem to have gravitated toward one of the two remaining candidates. The Caucasian geezers may look alike but their ideas are radically different. While liberals seem to have chosen reassurance over revolution, they aren’t very sure their favorite can beat Donald Trump in November.
Democrats pick a favorite
On Sunday, Democrat Joe Biden squared off with Socialist Bernie Sanders in what’s likely to be the final debate of the season. Reuters called it “two over-70, white males fighting about distinctions in policy.”
Biden has the bulk of the delegates so far and expects to do well again Tuesday, with contests in Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. Even though it looks grim for Sanders, he’s not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
With no studio audience present, because of the pandemic and social-distancing requirements, the candidates took off the gloves for a round of fierce sparring. From the first bell, Biden came out swinging. Quid Pro Joe promises he would be ready for war, setting up a Situation Room command post and expanding hospital capacity with temporary facilities.
He would immediately “call on the U.S. military to help respond.” Biden is convinced we’re dealing with a bioweapon this time. “This is like we are being attacked from abroad.”
Sanders took a totally different approach. To him, it’s all about policy. Medicare for All would solve the crisis all by itself. According to Bernie, “the threat underscored the need for a government-run healthcare system.” He went on the offensive, attacking Biden for “being beholden to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.” Biden was quick to point out that “a single-payer system had not worked in Italy.” Italy got hit hard by the coronavirus.
Direct reassurance
The pundits agree that Biden “may have offered more direct reassurance than Sanders.” Bernie likes to dream big, preferring “to talk about events in the context of large-scale reform and far-flung legislation rather than things than can be done right away.”
Viewers were hoping that they would put aside some of their differences and gang up on President Trump. They were disappointed. Neither one of the candidates was willing to talk about that gorilla in the room.
Biden tried to be nice and made some concessions to the progressives on the far-left by recently “adopting Senator Elizabeth Warren’s bankruptcy reform plan and calling for free public college for families making $125,000 or less.” On Sunday, he promised to name a woman as his Vice President.
Sanders says that’s not nearly radical enough. As Reuters writes, “he assailed Biden as being insufficiently leftist on issues such as Social Security, abortion and campaign finance.”
After Biden rode out one of Bernie’s tirades, standing patiently with his hand in his pocket, he simply replied that “voters want results, not revolution.”