It appears the Democrats have resigned to their fate of Joe Biden after their massive, anti-Sanders campaign on Super Tuesday. Please don’t tell Joe, who thinks they were voting FOR him.
Only against Bernie Sanders would Joe Biden be considered moderate.
The problem for Democrats isn’t Bernie’s socialist agenda. It was that he said it out loud. So, they’ve decided to go with the “safe” choice in the glorious tradition of Mondale, Dole, McCain and Romney.
After promising every group from the Association of Blind Unicyclists to the Left-Handed Screwdrivers Union of America that their agenda would be his No. 1 priority as President, Joe Biden is floating to the top of the Democrats’ candidate bowl.
If elected, he will be pushing 80 with arguable signs of memory loss, which the media ignores or quickly dismisses as part of his charm.
In fact, unlike the former Republican retreads, the media will have Biden’s back because he’s one of them. They will defend, protect, cover up and ignore Biden’s increasing gaffes as they continue their 24/7 attacks against President Trump.
We saw proof of this when the media ran endless stories about Adam Schiff’s fictitious parody of the president’s phone call with Ukraine but insisted that we should not believe our own eyes and ears with the video evidence of Biden’s actual quid pro quo with Ukraine. This is a precursor of how they will now cover the Trump and Biden campaigns.
But Trump overcame the media’s cheerleading for the Clinton machine in 2016, so Biden will need something more to defeat an incumbent president with a historic economic boom and peace abroad.
Could the game-changer be Michelle Obama as his running mate to set up eight more years of Obama? Biden is already on record saying she would be his first choice and the illusion of eight more years of Obama magic could lure a lot of voters who have misgivings about Biden’s incompetence.
The big question is if Michelle Obama would do it. She’s enjoying the good life as inexplicably the most admired woman in the world and all the perks that come with it.
But I think there is more upside for her to be Biden’s silent partner as vice president than coasting through the candy store of life on her air pillow only because she bears her husband’s last name.
Biden could be the front man so she could disappear to pursue her favorite activities unless needed to occasionally greet the prime minister of Djibouti. And of course, we know that no late-night comedian, no news outlet, and no politician from either side would DARE say a cross word about Michelle Obama, so she’d be 100% insulated from criticism.
Then there’s the lure of attention that the Obamas love and the constant campaigning of adoring fans, which was one of the few things her husband Barack did very well during his eight years in office. But maybe most tempting is the call of legacy.
Just as Barack Obama made history as the first black U.S. president, Michelle could be the first woman vice president.
Meanwhile, her husband Barack could pull the puppet strings behind the scenes for an aging Joe Biden to implement much of the same socialist policies of their former foe, Bernie Sanders.
Michelle could end up president without winning a single vote to unleash Obama 2.0 on America.
It’s not as farfetched as it may sound. The hard part of the primary will have been completed. Michelle could just be plugged in to do the fun part on the campaign trail and Barack can go back to what he loves the most and does the best.
The ticket would look like 2008 and 2012 all over again, when they won both times.
It would be fascinating to see them run head to head against Trump after four years to compare actual accomplishments, but in an age of style over substance the Obamas usually win.
This is a far more likely scenario than Trump winning in 2016. It could happen, folks.
Gil Mertz is a Thousand Oaks resident.
