Clinton-era politics refuses to die. Joe Biden is its zombie that staggers on. By Hamilton Nolan
You cannot understand
politics in America until you understand that in the Democratic party, which
ostensibly represents the left side of our nation’s political spectrum, there
are a significant number of people who genuinely believe that Joe Biden is the
best possible presidential nominee. Their belief is not cynical, or at least
not wholly cynical.
His constituency is
real. It is not illuminating to think of them just as centrists, arguing for
the gentlest sprinkling of sugar over the top of America’s poison. It’s better
to think of them as zombies: the product of three decades of self-serving,
triangulating brainwashing. They are the Democrats who had their eyelids
propped open and were forced to watch the Clinton era, year after year after
year. It is not so much that they do not, deep down, harbor a vague wish for a
better world; it is that, like stray dogs dining exclusively on garbage, life
has taught them that this is the best that they will ever get.
Consider what it says
about the state of America’s political system that in the left party,
the presumptive frontrunner for the presidential nomination did not think twice
about kicking off his campaign with a fundraiser hosted
by the founder of a union-busting law firm, days before appearing at a
major union-hosted rally. And why should he? He gets the money, and then he
gets the union support. He knows his audience well. This is how Democratic
politics has been done in Joe Biden’s lifetime. This is how it works. It is not
remarkable in the least for Joe Biden to come right out of the gate by filling
his coffers with money from
telecom and health insurance executives. Who is going to tell him that he
shouldn’t?.. read more:
