Is US headed for an epic Biden vs Trump race in
The former US vice-president should pick a running mate over a year in advance, and run as a team
years later by showing resolve that resonated during the Iranian hostage crisis. Bill Clinton’s domestic focus had broad appeal in 1992, the first presidential contest after the end of the Cold War, against the veteran cold warrior president George H.W. Bush.
After three and half years of Trump, what will swing voters be looking for? Someone who is committed to getting things done by trying to bridge the bitter partisan divide. A person with experience in governing, savvy about the ways of Washington and wary of national-security booby traps. A reputation for incorruptibility to drain the ethical swamp of the Trump years.
More than most outsiders, new faces or ideological purists, the 74-year-old former senator and vice-president could fit that bill.
To be sure, those who tell me I’m daffy have compelling reasons. Biden was a terrible candidate — twice! — when he ran for president in 1987 and 2007. But there are reasons to think these shortcomings might not weigh so heavily this time. Presumably, his experience running with president Barack Obama and serving as an influential vice-president (a job that absolutely requires people to learn to hold their tongues) will make him a better candidate.
A politician first elected in 1970 is not going to be the face of the future. But after the exhaustion and trauma of the Trump years, voters will look for stability, solidity, maturity, global experience, civility and integrity. Biden checks all the boxes.
He’s a part of the moderate ObamaClinton wing of the Democratic Party (though there’s no love lost between Biden and Bill and Hillary Clinton). But progressives acknowledge his genuine empathy for working-class Americans, and he’s liberal enough for them on social issues — it was Biden who forced Obama’s hand on supporting same sex marriage. There’s still the issue of age. If elected he’d be 78, three years older than Trump though probably in better shape.
But Biden could change the way candidates look at the selection of a running mate. Instead of waiting until the eve of the nominating convention, he should pick a running mate over a year in advance, and run as a team.
That would be good politics and good policy. Remember that there’s nothing sacrosanct about the present system, which has produced Spiro T. Agnew, John Edwards and Sarah Palin.
Biden should select a woman, in her 40s or 50s, who has won elective office and demonstrated the capacity to step into the president’s shoes. His case to voters would be direct: I’m the most experienced man to ever run for president, and by the end of the first term I will have developed a partner with stellar credentials to succeed me.
My insider friends who think it’s a crazy idea, including a couple of Republicans who said they’d vote for Biden over Trump, are probably right. The odds may be better for a freshfaced change agent or a left winger representing the new heart of the Democratic Party.
But consider the political merits. What’s a better antidote to Trumpism than the buoyant maturity of Joe Biden?
Albert R. Hunt is a senior Bloomberg View columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was the Washington bureau chief at the Wall Street Journal.