What Joe Biden needs to learn from Bernie Sanders

Joe Biden doesn’t yet have a lock on the Democratic presidential nomination, but conversations on the subject have taken on a grim inevitability.

Not in all quarters, perhaps. Sen. Bernie Sanders battles on, and his fervent supporters remain fixed on his vision of a revolution in American politics that will upend corporate power and replace it with more equity for the common good.

But the delegate math turned markedly in Biden’s favor last week, and the final candidate who was not a white, male septuagenarian dropped out of the race. And with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s exit, Democrats woke up to the realization that if their man is to win the general election, they’re going to have to patch things up between two party factions that don’t much like each other.

Sanders’ voters are largely young, energetic and doggedly loyal. The party’s greatest fear ought to be that they’ll stay home in November. Indeed, Biden will need Sanders’ supporters to win the White House.

To capture Sanders’ legions of younger, progressive millennial voters, Biden has to engage them on healthcare. He needs to do it in a way that isn’t condescending and yet infuses some realism about how difficult dramatic shifts in healthcare are to obtain. As the coronavirus continues to spread, he’s likely to get that chance.

At this writing, global financial markets are in turmoil and U.S. businesses are rapidly developing contingency plans to manage compliance issues if, say, half of their workforce is quarantined. The spiral of horrible outcomes for the world isn’t difficult to imagine once you are open the range of ways that life could quickly be upended.

A disaster mentality isn’t a stretch for many Sanders supporters. Much of his support is among people who have experienced the inequities of the American health care system firsthand. They want the party to hear those who aren’t often seated around tables of influence: people on the social and economic margins. They tend to take the macro view of long-term disparities in social class.

Young Americans, in particular, are increasingly frustrated with the Democratic establishment. They never envisioned getting a gold watch for 50 years of service to one firm. Many saw their parents or grandparents shoved out of stable jobs and careers by recessions and offshoring and bankruptcies driven by private equity. Notwithstanding the long economic recovery that coincided with the Obama presidency, many found themselves continuing to struggle.

They also know that rosy employment statistics don’t tell an accurate story of how hard it is to get by, especially if you are saddled with debt or if you lack the credentials to get work that pays any sort of decent wage. The hyper-efficient, just-in-time economy has wrung all the slack from the economy. You can’t stop hustling if you’re going to make this month’s rent.

If coronavirus spreads unchecked in this country, low-income workers are the least likely to be able to stay home, in addition to being the least likely to access good care if they feel sick. Yet these are the very workers who literally have their hands on grandma.

Low-income workers, often paid on contract without benefits, or in pay systems that keep their hours at 35 hours a week to avoid benefits, are often working as day care providers, in nursing homes and as in-home care givers. They work with the most frail and vulnerable people in our society.

The nation could well be heading for a disaster that demonstrates all too clearly why Sanders’ messaging on healthcare resonates so well with voters.

Biden may well find himself campaigning in horrendous times.