Andrew Stiles of the Washington Free Beacon offers a serious argument for Vice President Joe Biden’s entrance into the presidential race.
Joe Biden is, by all accounts, seriously considering a presidential run. This is great news—for Democrats, for Republicans, for people who couldn’t care less about politics, and, above all, for America. Biden may be a walking punchline of a politician with a propensity to literally say whatever pops into his head at a given moment, but that doesn’t make the case for his candidacy any less real.
You might be thinking: Does the Democratic Party really need another old white person running for president? Well, no. But the Democrats need Biden, even if they don’t deserve him.
Hillary Clinton continues to lead the Democratic field by a wide margin, but is struggling in ways that only Hillary Clinton can struggle. She’s mired in scandal, and voters don’t trust her. She refuses to take positions on important issues, such as the Keystone pipeline, and is often out of step with her own party on issues like fracking, the minimum wage, and Wall Street reform.
Biden, meanwhile, is averaging around 12 percent in the polls despite the fact that he’s not even running. If he does enter the race, his chances of winning are slim, but Biden would in many ways be the perfect embodiment of the “anti-Hillary” candidate, without the weird paleo-socialism of Bernie Sanders. They have similar resumes in terms of leadership and experience, but what Hillary sorely lacks—authenticity, charm, personality, an understanding of how normal Americans live their lives—Biden packs in full measure. That’s why he should run, and it’s why Democratic voters should give him a chance, even though they probably won’t.
Joe Biden loves politics. Not because he sees politics as a means to advance his personal ambitions, but because he loves people (in some cases, a little too much). Hillary, on the other hand, does not like politics, mostly because she’s just not very good at it, at least not the part that involves interacting with everyday Americans. (She’s proven to be somewhat efficient at courting donors, corporate sponsors, and foreign oligarchs.)
This explains why Hillary would show up at a Chipotle in Real America wearing industrial-tint sunglasses in the hope that no one would recognize her. (They didn’t.) Biden would never do that. He would have shook the hand of every single person in that restaurant, he would have given back rubs, he would have commandeered a cell phone to wish some 90-year-old grandmother happy birthday, he would have Skyped with a baby.
Biden says what’s on his mind. He’s not afraid to gaffe. If you ask him about his favorite flavor of ice cream, or how he takes his coffee, or who he wants to see on the new $10 bill, he will give you a definitive answer. This may seem like a low bar, but it’s one that Hillary Clinton is incapable of meeting. …
