Is a Good-Enough Candidacy Good Enough for Joe Biden?

[brooklynite]

New York Times

Joe Biden has no trouble lingering in place, wherever he is, especially if there’s a point he wants to finish — or start. Generally it does not matter how many people are prodding him along or waiting out in the cold. And it seemed important to Biden that I hear what he was talking about right now before we finished.

The former vice president was seated in the back of a black Suburban, idling for a few minutes on a frigid Iowa morning before a rally in Indianola. It was a Saturday in the middle of January, 16 days before the Iowa caucuses. Biden’s silvery blue eyes looked glassy, maybe from the dry heat of the car or the daily deluge of his campaign. Already today, the former vice president had spoken at an education forum and also attended a finance committee meeting back at the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines. He spent the previous two days in Texas, where he addressed a mostly black gathering at the National Baptist Convention and attended meetings, receptions, a fund-raiser. He remained stranded in Houston after a snowstorm kept him out of Iowa, forcing him to cancel his Friday events in the state. He arrived in Des Moines the night before.

Biden, who is 77, looked a bit worn down, and you couldn’t help wondering if there were times — like now — that made him question why exactly he was putting himself through a presidential campaign, for the third time, after a perfectly distinguished career. In an alternate universe, you can picture Biden as a snowbird down in Clearwater, Fla., aviators folded into the collar of his polo shirt, catching his Phillies at spring training. You can see him slipping a couple of bucks into the tip jar at Starbucks, shaking a few hands, and if, say, some dude in a MAGA hat comes up to him and says something snide, maybe about his son Hunter, you can imagine Biden pointing into the man’s chest, telling him to show some damn respect — and then grabbing three Splendas for his wife, “Jilly,” waiting out in the car.

And yet a few weeks before the caucuses, here Biden was in Iowa, nestled in the warm car. On the drive, he talked about his campaign, which had endured a procession of dubious assessments in the media over nearly a year: a running catalog of “weak front-runner” stories, too-old stories, sluggish-crowds stories — even as polls consistently showed him in the lead, both nationally and in key states. Unlike his more ideological rivals, “movement” candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Biden does not have an easily identifiable “why” associated with his endeavor — other than the necessity of a Donald Trump defeat. In all likelihood, Biden told me, he would not be running if it were, say, President Mitt Romney seeking re-election this year.

[Demsrule86]

1. The New York Times is so anti-Biden...hate them. Cancelled my subscription. They destroyed

Hillary. After a few good posts about Trump's shit, I gave them another chance but they are back to it...so that is all I have to say about this hit job.

[beachbumbob]

2. the elite, and the MSM is part of that group need to destroy Biden for obvious political

reasons as they did Hillary. Biden's run will have massive coattaails that would have massive impact on all levels state, local and federal office holders in November, where sanders and warren will not.

[Docreed2003]

3. Wow

The bias of this article is interesting in its subtlety. It's saying Joe's too old, too tired, and not engaged enough.

Interesting that the NYT is posting stories slamming candidates prior to Iowa. Here's an article from today that highlights Pete's problem with race:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/us/politics/buttigieg-campaign-black-hispanic-staff.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share