Bernie and Biden –– The Debate

The other day I wrote: “Bernie has an obligation to refrain from saying anything that would hurt Biden in the general election. He has a patriotic and moral duty to try to raise Biden’s stature. Subject to this stricture, he has plenty of room to legitimately argue that Democrats should pursue more progressive policies and to try to inspire the Democrats to move in that direction.”

Bernie didn’t rise to the occasion. He lost sight of his duty, which was to make it more likely that Trump would be defeated as a result of the debate. Instead, he acted as if his goal was to defeat Biden in the debate. He hectored and badgered Biden, and yet again failed to lay out how, as a practical matter, his laudable dream of Medicare for All could be set in place. Lacking grace, finesse, or humor, he gave no indication that he could be effective leader as president. 

Biden is an uninspiring choice as a candidate, but he’s enormously experienced, decent, stolid, and has a better chance of beating Trump than Bernie, which is the only thing that counts. I hope he wins decisively in tomorrow’s primaries in four important states.