Click to go to the Subscriber Log In Page
Go to menu with buttons for all pages on BC
Click here to go to the Home Page
Est. April 5, 2002
 
           
Mar 05, 2020 - Issue 808
Bookmark and Share
This page can be shared



                             #1
Bernie Sanders
Remains a Formidable Foe



"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... and Elizabeth Warren just needs to
suppress her ego and get out of the way! "


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.


links to all 20 parts of the opening series


BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Dr. Walter C. Farrell, Jr., PhD, MSPH, is a Fellow of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado-Boulder and has written widely on vouchers, charter schools, and public school privatization. He has served as Professor of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and as Professor of Educational Policy and Community Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Contact Dr. Farrell. 

Bookmark and Share
This page can be shared


 
 

 

 

is published every Thursday
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA
Publisher:
Peter Gamble










Perry NoName: A Journal From A Federal Prison-book 1
Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion by Jamala Rogers