Ryan Cooper of The Week contrasts the top contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. It’s clear where Cooper’s left-of-center sympathies lie.
[H]ere we are: the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination are two elderly white men — Biden and Bernie Sanders (at least in terms of polls at this early date). Nevertheless, their political legacies are poles apart. Biden represents the old party orthodoxy, while Sanders represents a new ideological force trying to displace it. Their records make for a good illustration of the political stakes in this primary. …
… Certainly the biggest difference between Sanders and Biden is in their economic views. Sanders has been a die-hard advocate of unions, taxing the rich, regulating corporate abuses (especially in finance), fair trade, and social insurance for his entire career. …
… Biden, by contrast, has been a bag man for big corporations for his entire career. Delaware is like the Luxembourg of U.S. states — a tiny tax haven and flag of convenience for corporations who own the local political system outright, and Biden is no exception. His economic policy career has been one disgrace after the next. …
… Though it’s not his prime area of concern, Sanders has a real record of civil rights activism. As a student at the University of Chicago, he was a bit player in the 1960s civil rights movement, helping organize protests against segregation and racist abuses, and was even fined for resisting arrest at a sit-in. As a representative and senator, he has a very good voting record on civil rights legislation.
Biden, by contrast, openly courted white backlash to the civil rights movement to keep himself in office in the 1970s, working with southern segregationists like Strom Thurmond and James Eastland to stop school integration.
