Jonah Goldberg‘s latest column at National Review Online questions whether Vice President Joe Biden offers the best solution for Democrats seeking a 2016 presidential candidate.

The wheels haven’t come off Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bus quite yet, but they’re getting wobblier. Hence the Joe Biden boomlet. As a columnist, never mind as a conservative, I think it’s a fantastic idea. (A Biden vs. Trump debate would cause a national popcorn shortage.) But is Biden really the answer to the Democrats’ problem?

That depends.

As with any malady, the right treatment hinges on the correct diagnosis. You don’t recommend better diet and exercise for a shark bite. Biden is a treatment for one symptom, not the whole disease.

The latest ABC/Washington Post poll numbers underscore the continuing crisis. Only 39 percent of voters find Clinton honest and trustworthy; 56 percent don’t. Asked whether Clinton understands the problems faced by “people like you,” only 46 percent said yes.

Some Democrats believe the secret-e-mail-server story is driving everything, and if she can just get that behind her, all will be well. But more people are starting to recognize that the email story is a symptom of Clinton’s bigger problems. If she had the political skills or charisma to explain her way out of this mess, she would have done so already. She doesn’t and she hasn’t. …

… So let’s sum up the symptoms. The country is in a very sour mood and searching for change. Populist anti-establishment discontent runs like a prairie fire through the grass roots of both parties. The incumbent president is polarizing and unpopular. The Democratic bench has been cleared of viable young alternatives who could successfully promise a major course correction. (Greenfield notes that when Obama leaves office, he’ll pretty much be the only Democratic leader not eligible for Social Security.) The Democratic front-runner is a stiff, inauthentic establishment figurehead.

And the solution to these problems is . . . Joe Biden, the 72-year-old sitting vice president who ran unsuccessfully for the job twice? Really?