The New York Times reported Wednesday that former Vice President Joe Biden is moving to the left, and away from the “moderate” center, as he courts support within the Democratic Party, though he is the presumptive presidential nominee.
The Times‘ Katie Glueck and Astead W. Herndon reported that Biden is “using the language of systemic disruption” as he tries to reach out to “progressives,” who preferred Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or another one of the left-wing candidates.
They write (original link):
Mr. Biden is striking fewer of the moderate notes that won him the nomination, instead courting progressives with a new openness to systemic disruption.
The clearest sign of that shift came on Wednesday, when Mr. Biden announced a slate of joint policy task forces with Senator Bernie Sanders focused on issues ranging from climate change to criminal justice reform. The task force members include stalwart Biden allies, but also a who’s who of “Medicare for all” champions, advocates for eliminating college debt, and critics of the Obama administration’s immigration policy — the kind of activists who have long been skeptical of Mr. Biden’s more incremental instincts.
…
In recent weeks, Mr. Biden has detailed an agenda that increasingly features progressive policies and language. Where he once pitched a message anchored in electability, he has now embraced a rhetorical stew that mixes the “hope” of former President Barack Obama with the populism of Mr. Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
It’s a reflection of political sensitivity to the national mood, which risks turning to overwhelming anger as economic pain builds. But it is also an implicit acknowledgment that Mr. Biden cannot win by merely promising to remove Mr. Trump.
Throughout the primary campaign, Sanders said that the goal of his campaign was more than defeating President Donald Trump.
Last March, in Iowa, for example, he said: “[T]his struggle is not just about defeating Donald Trump. This struggle is about taking on the incredibly powerful institutions that control the economic and political life of this country.”
Sanders also said, in New Hampshire and elsewhere, that his goal was “transforming the economy and the government of the United States, so that it works for all of us and not just the one percent.”
Biden has begun to echo that language. Last week, for example, he told a viral town hall that the coronavirus pandemic was “an incredible opportunity to not just dig out of this crisis, but to fundamentally transform the country.”
As the Times noted, Biden has also given posts in his campaign to key left-wing figures. For example, he has appointed Sanders’s fellow “democratic socialist,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), to his advisory panel on climate change.
The former vice president could succeed in unifying the party — or he could alienate moderates while failing to win over skeptical “progressives” and “democratic socialists.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.