Vice President Joe Biden made his statement yesterday in South Carolina emphatically with a 28 point gap between him and Bernie Sanders who finished second with 20 percent of the vote. It was the type of resounding victory that a candidate not named Bernie Sanders needed. Mr. Biden garnered 48 percent of the vote winning every county in the state. The question that the panel batted around was whether of not South Carolina was an outlier in the race given Senator Sanders' momentum so far.
As a matter of fact, South Carolina is indicative of where Democratic voters are, seeking a more moderate candidate to face Mr. Trump in the general election however, given what's on the horizon - Super Tuesday with Mike Bloomberg on the ballot - it's difficult to see Mr. Biden making it a two person race. For Joe Biden, he need to stay close to Sanders in the delegate count come the results of the primaries on Tuesday and then hope that other moderates (e.g. Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar) withdrawal from the race. If that happens then Mr. Biden will make it a two person race and will be at advantage to take the nomination. The moderate vote is great than that of Mr. Sanders but it's being split, which is working to his advantage.
Kristen Welker summed up the Pete Buttigieg interview today saying that Mr. Buttigieg could not name one state in which he sees a victory. That should tell you everything you need to know about where Mr. Buttigieg's campaign is headed, as is Ms. Klobuchar's. As for Elizabeth Warren, she is another pretender for the nomination, and as we've said in the column previously, she would not make a good president.
Another aspect of the Democratic primary that flummoxed the panel was how Latino voters are going to Bernie Sanders and the African-American voters are supporting Joe Biden. Usually these two voting blocks are on the same page, but not this time around. However, it's explainable in as much as given that the Culinary Union in Nevada did not endorse a candidate, it gave the Latino voting block in the state no guidance. The Latino voting block has a familiarity with leftist politics in countries they've emigrated from so Bernie Sanders isn't such a wild idea. However, African-Americans are more pragmatic and conservative, perhaps thoughtful as well, about who they vote for.
Wednesday will supply plenty of clarity as to where we are in the Democratic primary, but as it is looking right now, it's Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Even though, Mr. Biden has a better chance in against Mr. Trump in the general, there is little doubt that either Mr. Biden or Mr. Sanders would be handling the Coronavirus threat much better than the current administration, who didn't have its priorities straight when considering public health and safety. Prior to the crisis, the Trump administration had cut significant funding from the CDC and EPA, the very two agencies that are seeing their roles becoming more and more significant in terms of national security.
Having Vice President Mike Pence as the point man to combat the potential outbreak is only remotely comforting given the fact the president is certainly not up to the task. President Trump has created a situation in which he can not level with the American people on anything. Now, we're really seeing the danger in this. Mr. Trump has told so many falsehoods in his 3 1/2 years as president but has messaged that his administration has been 'perfect' that no one can count on what the president says. ]
Because of this lack of trust in the president's statements, you see things like the stock market lose 12 percent of its value in a week because of uncertainty, in part created by Mr. Trump. Friday night he told a rally crowd that the Coronavirus was a Democratic hoax, but gave his usual non-walk-back walk back, 'that's not what I said,' at a Saturday during a press conference and then tells the news media told speak responsibly.
And doesn't say a lot of the true character of Mr. Trump that he appointed his Vice President to head up the effort. During the interview, Mr. Pence repeatedly referenced the president's 'good judgement' when it came to early measures and adding that the administration would bring to bear the full resources of the federal government to combat this virus. The president now has his fall guy if things go south, but it's clear that Mr. Trump knows himself that he's not up to the task. His handling of it has not reassured the public or more importantly to the president the market. A Washington Post report explains that it went to the VP's office because of lack of leadership and structure at the White House.
The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan said that the president has been very lucky in terms of not having to had to face any real crises during his presidency. However, this one is certainly demonstrates a 'competency crisis' as Eddie Glaude Jr. described it. Well, the potential of a worldwide viral outbreak is a crisis so in terms of the United States, you have to go with the part of the administration that can actually administer instructions and resources and that is the Vice President's office... Because the White House doesn't have its shit together, to indulge Trumpian vernacular. Going back to the 'full federal resources,' the department that we need the most right now have been cut so heavily by this administration with other key positions unfilled, it's little consolation from the vice-president.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC; Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal; Robert Gibbs, fmr. White House Spokesperson in the Obama Administration; Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton University
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