Joe Biden's appeal actually isn't a mystery (Washington Post)

[Skya Rhen]

The media put emphasis on moments — a debate, a gaffe — which those following the race sporadically wave off as noise. Lifelong Democratic voters don’t need to listen to the media; they know who Biden is. (Warning to President Trump: Voters have deep affection for Biden and deep animosity toward the president, so attacking Biden in personal terms may well backfire spectacularly.)
The media should be looking not at “How in the world could voters stick with Biden?” but rather, “What does he have that the others don’t?” Let’s try to answer the latter.


Biden shows reverence for the most popular Democrat around, former president Barack Obama; others find fault in everything from the Affordable Care Act to immigration policy. Biden does not bombard voters with a torrent of multi-part plans; he gives them a few basic positions and defends them. Biden does not campaign from the neck up; he campaigns with his heart on his sleeve. Biden is deeply optimistic; his opponents think Americans are the problem, not Trump. (I don’t suggest that his opponents are wrong, merely that their stance apparently isn’t as popular as they thought.) Biden wants normalcy plus reform; his opponents want a peaceful revolution. Biden knows people want to be heard and seen; his opponents (with the exception of Sen. Kamala D. Harris) don’t fully grasp this. They want to “help," to pepper people with ideas and a to-do list, while Biden takes the time to listen to them. (Think of the well-meaning friend who has a thousand suggestions when you are grieving and you’d rather they just shut up and commiserate.)


This is the grouchy-white-guy-in-the-diner problem all over again. Reporters are blinded by their own age, background, education and geography. Instead of going to West Virginia diners to find the Trump voter, reporters should go talk to the residents of The Villages in Florida, the African American churchgoing ladies and the buttoned-down professionals in the affluent suburbs (the Romney-Clinton voters). These people have endured a noisy, offensive and intrusive presence in the White House. They don’t necessarily want a different noisy, intrusive presence — even one they agree with on substance.


Part of the “mystery” of Biden’s appeal would be solved if the moderators flipped their questions, as one smart Democrat not in the Biden camp put it. Instead of asking Biden or another moderate, “Why aren’t you going with the big, bold idea of Medicare-for-all?,” the moderators might consider asking Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) or Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “Why blow up Obamacare, and why don’t you trust people to choose Medicare if given the option?” Instead of assuming that extreme proposals are the standard, requiring the moderates to explain why they are such wet blankets, the moderators should press the super-progressives on questions such as: What makes you think that voters want to go through another health-care makeover? Why should poorer people pay for richer people’s health care or subsidize their college debt?



Better yet, ask the candidates to relate the personal story from a voter who moved them the most, or the last voter whose phone number they took so that the candidate could call later, or the most insightful thing they have heard from a voter. It might reveal who is talking at voters and who is listening to them.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/11/biden-dilemma/

[Thekaspervote]

1. Wow... just wow!! Pretty much says it all..thx for posting

[Bayard]

2. All true

[highplainsdem]

3. "Reporters are blinded by their own age, background, education and geography." Rubin nailed it.

[peggysue2]

4. Excellent op-ed from Jennifer Rubin

And right here:

Better yet, ask the candidates to relate the personal story from a voter who moved them the most, or the last voter whose phone number they took so that the candidate could call later, or the most insightful thing they have heard from a voter. It might reveal who is talking at voters and who is listening to them.

sums it all up.

Rubin gets to the nitty-gritty of Biden's appeal and support.

[highplainsdem]

5. "Lifelong Democratic voters don't need to listen to the media; they know who Biden is."

[highplainsdem]

6. This column of Rubin's is actually a companion piece to the Politico article from Ryan Lizza that

I posted earlier:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287272941


Rubin at the start of her column:

None of the complaints from the Twitter-verse nor the eyerolling over gaffes has punctured former vice president Joe Biden’s support in the Democratic presidential primary. As Ryan Lizza aptly puts it, “This is the central paradox of Biden’s run: He’s been amazingly durable. But he gets no respect from the people who make conventional wisdom on the left.” Real voters who have known him for decades don’t care about the gaffes or even his age. (Efforts to paint Biden as two steps from senility wind up offending the older voters whose loyalty he enjoys.) His popularity endures after months of unrelenting bashing on social media.

[comradebillyboy]

9. I was very skeptical of Biden when he announced. However I am very

impressed at his ability to withstand hostile media coverage and keep smiling. The pundits keep predicting his impending collapse but it never happens. I am also generally quite happy with his policy proposals. I am also more simpatico with his views on foreign policy and trade. He's a bit more conservative than Hillary was but that's also ok.

My favorites from the spring aren't going to win the nomination so I'll be getting behind Biden or Warren pretty soon.

[WheelWalker]

7. It's just that simple to understand.

[aikoaiko]

8. He did make fun memes with Obama.

I'll give him that.

[Gothmog]

12. Yep

Link to tweet

[BlueMississippi]

17. That is the point

From the article in the OP:

Biden shows reverence for the most popular Democrat around, former president Barack Obama; others find fault in everything from the Affordable Care Act to immigration policy.

Sanders wanted to primary Obama in 2012. This voter has not forgotten.

[aikoaiko]

18. Your dedication is notable.

Of course Bernie's stance was rhetorical to highlight how much Bernie like Obama's positions when he was campaigning.

Bernie endorsed Obama for the Presidency in 2012 just as he did in 2008.

[BlueMississippi]

19. There is a word for this -- whitewashing. nt

[Gothmog]

10. This is a great analysis

Link to tweet

[Desert grandma]

11. Great post.

Jennifer Rubin nailed it. Very perceptive, articulate, analysis from a former Republican.

[Mr.Bill]

13. I want a president leading the executive branch

in such a way that I can actually tune out the news for a few days or a week without worrying something disastrous is being done by them. It's been a while since I could do that. I'm tired of a bull in the china shop governing the country.

[Cha]

14. Wow.. a positive Biden

article!

Biden shows reverence for the most popular Democrat around, former president Barack Obama; others find fault in everything from the Affordable Care Act to immigration policy. Biden does not bombard voters with a torrent of multi-part plans; he gives them a few basic positions and defends them. Biden does not campaign from the neck up; he campaigns with his heart on his sleeve.

Thank you, Skya!

[Hortensis]

15. Remembering also, media attack every established front runner

and find someone glossy and new to pump up. Elizabeth Warren's currently this primary's most "new" and thus most free of attacks. So far.

This article is a nice change. Also enjoyed the one about media negativism that Highplainsdem posted, Biden camp thinks the media just doesn’t get it
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/11/joe-biden-media-2020-1488835

That's a euphemistic way to put massive pack deception. The article puts a lot of blame on the age of many of today's journalists,

“I get this question all the time: Why does the press hate him so much?” she said. “And the answer is because they are younger and they want someone cooler.”

and no doubt a lot of truth to that, BUT it'd be the same phenom if Biden were a generation younger and didn't know 'malarkey' was a word because he's the been-there/covered-that-already Democratic front runner and that's how the media roll every national election.

An anomaly of our era is that journalism is, investigatively, the best it's ever been; because pack-wise, it's as small and mean and stupid as it's ever been; and corruption-wise, working to elect one party, every bit as intensely corrupt as at any time in the past. The current battle for power is enormous, and the six giant corporations that own and/or control the vast majority of the MSM are in.

And yet, smart people keep voting Democrat. And most are really glad we have Joe in the race.

Regarding killing of positive coverage, I didn't quickly find a recent study on accuracy in quoting public figures, but a couple from back in the 'oughts revealed then that egregious inaccuracies and active distortions were extremely common. That won't have improved. Want to know what our candidates think, listen to and read their own words. Want to be deceived, let the media tell you what they said and mean.

[BlueMississippi]

16. Very astute insight and beautifully laid out!! k&r nt

[Gothmog]

20. The hardest job for the next president may be fixing Trump's mess

This is one of the reasons why I think that Joe Biden is the best candidate. Who ever is the nominee will have to be prepared to fix all of the damage that trump has done to our government.

Link to tweet

Perhaps the most straightforward and least complicated undertaking, since it would be entirely within the next president’s purview, is rebuilding the executive branch from the corrupted ruin Trump will leave behind.

One of the most underreported stories about the Trump administration is its basic incompetence. Perhaps Trump’s biggest con of all was convincing his supporters that he was some sort of business wizard with a genius for management. In truth, the Trump Organization was a mom-and-pop family business that he repeatedly micromanaged to the brink of collapse. He is doing exactly the same with the government of the United States.

The White House itself is less like “The West Wing” than “Game of Thrones.” Courtiers vie for the favor of the Mad King, unable or unwilling to perform normal duties for fear of risking Trump’s ire. Usually, the White House is a place where information from outside sources is synthesized and digested so the president can make the best possible decisions. Under Trump, the flow is reversed — his whims, however ill-informed or contradictory or just plain loopy, are tweeted out and must be made into policy.

Agencies vital to our national security — including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency — lumber along, month after month, without permanent leadership. “It’s easier to make moves when they’re acting,” Trump has said, but really the situation reflects his own insecurity. By keeping his underlings weak and beholden only to him, he limits their power — and thus hamstrings the departments they nominally lead.

Joe Biden is the best candidate to repair the damage done by trump. I think that the repair of this damage will keep the next Democratic President very busy.