The
recent Tyson Fury v. Deontay Wilder heavyweight boxing championship
match may prove to be the undercard for the upcoming titanic battle
between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential
nomination. Like Fury (who was knocked down two times in their first
bout), Biden was viewed as the underdog in the Super Tuesday primary
contests after finishing 4th in Iowa, 5th in New
Hampshire, and a distant 2nd in Nevada.
However,
he turned his campaign around with a blowout win in South Carolina in
a field of seven to pull within single digits of Sanders’
delegate lead. He was aided by a stirring endorsement from
Congressman Jim Clyburn, the dean of South Carolina’s
Democratic Party. Citing the affection that his late wife, Ms.
Emily, held for Biden, Clyburn asked South Carolinians to vote for
him which they did in unprecedented numbers.
Biden’s
major opponents began falling by the wayside after his South Carolina
victory. Amy Klobuchar suspended her campaign and flew to Dallas to
endorse Biden. But her primary reason for getting out was that last
Sunday night, dozens of Black Lives Matter and Minneapolis NAACP
protesters shut down her rally in in St. Louis Park, Minnesota,
shouting for her to drop out of the race due to her prosecution of
a16 year-old black male, Myon Burrell, given a life sentence for a
murder that evidence indicates he did not commit.
An
Associated Press investigation has detailed numerous errors
and omissions in the case made by Klobuchar and her team, siding with
the police, while she was the Hennepin County prosecutor. Although
the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned the initial conviction,
Klobuchar’s office refiled the charges and Burrell was
convicted again. This case is the main reason she has been unable to
attract support from voters of color.
Pete
Buttigieg also ended his quest for the presidency at about the same
time and joined Klobuchar in Dallas to throw his support to Biden.
Buttigieg has been plagued by the same criminal justice issues in
South Bend, Indiana where he served as Mayor which have also
prevented him from gaining minority support for his candidacy.
After
this winnowing of the field (Tom Steyer, who had invested in private
prisons, also dropped out), Biden went into Super Tuesday with a
strong wind at his back. He stormed across the South--winning
Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and
Virginia, and reached up to the Midwest to claim Minnesota, and to
the Northeast to win Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren’s home
state, vanquishing one of his sternest rivals.
Meanwhile,
Mike Bloomberg had a rough night, winning only one of the 14
contests, American Samoa, and reaching the 15 percent threshold for
delegates in just a few states, yielding him a total of 18 delegates
so far. Nonetheless, the Farrell Report still deems him to be
the strongest Democratic opponent for Donald Trump. He was the only
Democrat with the financial wherewithal and staff, and the political
savvy, to counter Trump at every turn.
Bloomberg
was not able to overcome his stop and frisk past, his poor debate
performances, gender issues in his workplace, and the virulent and
personal attacks from Elizabeth Warren. After careful data analysis,
he has decided to withdraw from the race, and back Joe Biden with his
prodigious financial and technical resources.
Warren,
who kissed up to Bernie when it appeared he was on his way to
securing the nomination, hoping to be his VP, has vowed to stay in
the race until the convention, believing that she could vault to the
nomination from third place without winning any primaries. She is
convinced she is smarter than her opponents and deserves to be the
president. Yet she is increasingly viewed negatively among women as
is Hillary Clinton, her consigliere.
It
is time for Warren to quit! She has no feasible path to the
nomination, and since both Biden and Bernie beat her in the
Massachusetts primary, she may be in danger of losing her U.S. Senate
seat in her next election.
Kudos
to Biden for his terrific performance on Tuesday, but he still has
much work to do. As Jim Clyburn and former Virginia Governor Terry
McAuliffe, two of his most ardent supporters, have told him, he needs
to shake up the staff in his under performing campaign. Ronald
Reagan probably would not have won the 1980 Republican presidential
nomination had he not fired his campaign manager, John Sears. Biden
has not shown he can make such a decision.
While
he is celebrating, Biden needs to consider a vice presidential
running mate who can complement him politically and strategically.
As mentioned previously, in a recommendation for Bloomberg, Stacey
Abrams, who had the Georgia gubernatorial election stolen from her in
2018, is the only viable option. She has fought voter suppression in
real time and has broad political appeal. Any of the other women and
men in the field would bring no value to his ticket.
Next,
Biden needs to rein in his son Hunter, his brother Jim (and his wife
Sara) to keep them from selling access to him now and in the future
as they have done for nearly three decades. The Burisma debacle in
Ukraine is not over for him and Hunter, and Jim and Sara’s
grifting needs to be curtailed. However, Biden has shown blind
loyalty to family.
Since
Bloomberg is now determined to help Biden become the 46th president,
it is incumbent upon him to straighten out his staff and the
direction of his campaign. He cannot succeed if he pursues business
as usual. Bernie Sanders still remains a formidable foe, and Biden
can ill afford to have many more of his well-known gaffes, especially
since Trump has an arsenal of dirt and falsehoods to aim his way.
And Bernie and his ‘Bernie Bros.’ will follow suit.
It’s
on now between the remaining Democratic heavyweights, Biden and
Bernie, and Elizabeth Warren just needs to suppress her ego and get
out of the way! Go home Sen. Warren, go home! Despite her
stubbornness and arrogance, she will have exited the Democratic
primary race by the time you read this column.
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