Sure, all the attention is on who is going to gain the next Democratic nomination, not who blew the last one. Yet it’s still an interesting question – just how bad was Hillary Clinton as a candidate?
For Joe Biden isn’t anyone’s idea of a vibrant and charismatic candidate. He’s not got a known view on anything at all that’s not the standard machine politics. He’s even been known to lift his rhetoric from Neil Kinnock.
OK – and Bernie Sanders ran Hillary very close, very close indeed. If it hadn’t been for the superdelegates it’s entirely possible he would have beaten her. And there’s interesting speculation that he would have beaten Donald Trump in the actual election too. So, when we see this result there’s really only the one question to be asking:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Former Vice President Joe Biden has a 32-point lead in the Democratic presidential race in a Hill-HarrisX poll released Monday. Biden won 46 percent in the poll compared to 14 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who came in a distant second place. [/perfectpullquote]Seriously, just how bad was Hillary Clinton as a candidate?
My own supposition was that most adult Americans already have a mother in law they’re not so keen on so why elect another? Which is, of course, unkind and quite possibly sexist. But it’s also something useful to keep in mind concerning Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. For the important question in electoral politics is not whether I’m sexist or unkind but what portion of the electoral population is?
If you’re a somewhat middle of the road Democrat who doesn’t want to see private enterprise abolished but would like a bit less chaos in Washington, you don’t have many options among the current crop of candidates. Biden is ahead as he is well known and is refreshingly low energy and seems devoid of plans to remake society. It’s early days; perhaps one of the other calmer candidates will move ahead as they become better known. Personally, I think Biden could beat Trump on the theory that it would lead to a calmer albeit still stalemated Washington and a lot… Read more »