Joe Biden breaks with Obama in moving to left

[Celerity]

Joe Biden is breaking with some of Barack Obama’s policy stances even as he ties himself closely to the former president.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/443951-joe-biden-breaks-with-obama-in-moving-to-left

Biden says he believes there is “an obligation” to provide health insurance for undocumented immigrants. Such coverage wasn’t provided under ObamaCare. The former vice president is backing a $15 minimum wage, much higher than the $10.10 minimum wage advocated by Obama. While some states raised their minimum wages, Obama failed to raise the national minimum wage of $7.25 while in office.

Biden has also endorsed a form of the public option on health care, a proposal that would create a government insurer to compete with private firms. Obama decided against pursuing a public option as part of ObamaCare, but Biden has endorsed the idea of allowing people to buy into Medicare. None of the three examples are dramatic departures from Obama’s policies.

In fact, it’s easy to imagine the former president backing a $15 minimum wage in 2019, or a law allowing people to buy into Medicare. But the shifts are important and notable nonetheless for Biden, who is seeking to craft out an agenda that is his own even as he runs as an Obama-Biden Democrat.

Biden has soared in polls because of the warm feelings many Democratic primary voters have of the Obama years, yet he still needs to carve out his own platform. “Biden and Obama are so connected that the former vice president can afford to demonstrate he’s his own man and not just Obama’s shadow by putting a little but not a lot of distance between the two of them,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.

Biden also needs to move to the left, though not too far, and in all three cases the breaks with Obama-era policies allowed Biden to shift to a more liberal position. This is important for a candidate who is battling a number of rivals who have embraced more progressive policies.

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