THE SURPRISE AMERICAN PRESIDENT
U.S. voters intensely dislike both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Here’s who may really succeed Barack Obama.
Who will be the next leader of the free world?
If the thought of Donald Trump, or even Hillary Clinton, gives you the creeps, lighten up. I promise you can let your impish children or grandchildren go out and play again. I have good news. Here are five reasons why Joe Biden will become the next American president — with Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his vice-president — in spite of the fact that Donald Trump is the flavour-of-the-month.
Trump is surging as Clinton fades So far, the “Trump bump” seems genuine. To some of us, he may be a racist, misogynistic, narcissistic, xenophobic bully, but to many Republican voters, he is becoming simply “The Donald.”
Since Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination, he has moved ahead of Clinton. The polling data site Real Clear Politics says that Clinton is now narrowly behind Trump in the average of national polls after many months with a double-digit lead. But what is astonishing is that both candidates are viewed so unfavourably by a majority of voters.
Clinton’s legal challenges have only begun Clinton has acknowledged that her use of a private email server while secretary of state was an error and she has apologized for it.
But a report this week by the State Department’s inspector-general suggests it was more than a simple mistake. In spite of Clinton’s claims that she broke no rules, the report says that she rejected warnings to use official government channels for her emails.
The FBI is examining the case and there is growing speculation that it may seek an indictment of Clinton. There are already suggestions that she would pull out in these circumstances, citing her health.
Bernie Sanders is not the Democrats’ Plan B The power brokers in the Democratic party have consistently said they expect Clinton will “clinch” the nomination before the July convention, probably after the California and New Jersey primaries in early June.
This means the idealistic odyssey of Bernie Sanders is coming to an end. But in spite of Sanders’ remarkable success in highlighting progressive issues, this self-described “democratic socialist,” who only joined the Democratic party last year, would never be seen by this party as electable in 2016, even if the Clinton candidacy suddenly collapsed.
Joe Biden still wants it, and Obama wants Biden So where does that leave us? Unlike the Republicans, delegates to the Democratic convention are free to vote for any candidate regardless of the result of their state primary.
So in the event of a Clinton withdrawal, there is the potential for an “open convention” for the Democrats. And it is widely believed that Biden is the real Plan B for the Democrats.
He originally declined to run due to the death of his son, but has told friends that he regrets that decision. For his part, President Barack Obama has expressed his private view that Biden — not Clinton — is the person most qualified to be president.
Elizabeth Warren will be the star of 2016 In early May, a story appeared on the Politico website that created considerable buzz. It quoted sources close to Biden indicating that, had he decided to run, Biden would have chosen Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.
Warren is a widely respected financial authority who supports breaking up the big banks to prevent another global crisis. On Tuesday, she enthralled a Washington audience by tearing into Trump, calling him a “small, insecure money-grubber.”
It was a devastating performance — a real carving up of Trump — that gave some indication of how effective she would be on the campaign trail.
So, yes, hang on to your hats. A few weeks ago, Trump and Biden found themselves at the same event in Philadelphia — the graduation ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania.
Trump was there to watch daughter Tiffany graduate, while the vice-president was celebrating the achievements of his granddaughter Naomi.
Reports described how Trump arrived to warm applause from the section in which he was sitting. Biden, on the other hand, was greeted by cheering and waving from the entire stadium.
This presidential race has not even started. Tony Burman, former head of CBC News and Al Jazeera English, teaches journalism at Ryerson University. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com.