A Call for Democratic Unity
Two weeks ago, Joe Biden entered the 2020 presidential race, answering one of the burning questions upon which the public had pondered until that point.
Biden’s experience as the former Vice President of the United States has evidently given him a great advantage over his competitors in this race. As of Friday, May 3, Real Clear Politics has him at a 36 percent chance of receiving the presidential nomination. The next highest candidate is Bernie Sanders at 16 percent.
However, there are quite a few problems with Biden being the most popular candidate in the race. First of all, he is a politician from the Obama era and despite some voter’s nostalgia for that administration (understandable, given the current occupant of the White House), we shouldn’t rush to him solely in order to cling on to the past.
The primary issue with Biden is that he represents the traditional old, white, male power figure, which contradicts Democrats’ efforts to move away from established gender and racial stereotypes in the past few years. There are plenty of candidates that better represent this changing political climate—Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and Corey Booker, to name a few. The problem with fixating on Biden is that there are candidates out there who, albeit being less experienced than him, are better placed to bring about change to the Democratic party because of their personal experiences, which is exactly what the party desperately needs at this moment.
The problem with Republicans in 2016 was that the enormous volume of candidates made it difficult for one to stand out, so Trump’s antics overshadowed everything and everyone else; the same problem is occurring with Democrats this year. The sheer amount of successful candidates, all with different supporter bases, destroys any chance of unity among the Democratic Party. It’ll give Trump the upper hand, as he has already united most of the Republicans behind him. I know it's really early for this talk, but, it's good to think about unity, especially since others are thinking about it too.
If you remember last year’s midterm elections, the Indivisible Project was a small army of volunteers from various parts of the US. These volunteers participated in "deep canvassing," which is basically convincing people to change their minds about what they believe. They used this tactic to some success during the midterms, and now, they've returned with a pledge called "We Are Indivisible." Their pledge says, "Democrats do not need to choose between creating space for a healthy primary debate and taking back the White House in 2020." Instead, it asks for the Democrats who drop out of the race to endorse the highest-polling candidate in order to ensure cohesion and prevent detrimental name-calling, etcetera, which would prevent the frontrunner from gaining enough traction to achieve Indivisible's overall goal—booting Trump out of the White House.
Overlooking the moral grey area with the pledge (which may conflict with Constitutional ideologies), it's actually a very good way for Democrats to take baby steps towards becoming unified again. Politics used to be a more honorable game, but, with the rise of Trump, it has become all-or-nothing. If you come first, you win. If you're anything else, you lose. And if you lose, it's your job to belittle your fellow candidates until you get back into the top spot. There is no respect for anyone anymore, which is why the concept that Indivisible has introduced is so important, especially when it comes to Biden. Just this week, Bernie Sanders came out publicly against Biden on a number of issues including trade and the war in Iraq.
It's been two weeks since Biden entered the race. It's also only May and we still have a year and a half before voting day. Democrats need to keep in mind that unity will be the best strategy in ensuring a Democratic president in 2020.