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When Biden wanted Warren as his VP to lure anti-establishment Leftist voters


An interesting article from Politico back in 2016, depicts almost perfectly some of the tactics and theatrics in the US political scene. The article describes the time when Joe Biden was thinking the possibility to run for the US presidency and he wanted Elizabeth Warren for the position of the Vice President.

What's most impressive, is that the article essentially reveals that the typical neoliberal "dinosaur" of the Democratic party, was hoping to approach the progressive movement (which is translated to progressive votes), by choosing Elizabeth Warren as his VP. It was, therefore, a pure tactical move to lure progressives, who were fed up with the corporate Democrats and their "business us usual" neocon/neoliberal agenda.

The highlighted parts are quite characteristic:

Joe Biden took months to decide he wouldn’t run for president — but he was sold on Elizabeth Warren as his running mate from the start, people familiar with the situation told POLITICO. And he still thinks the Massachusetts firebrand would be Hillary Clinton’s best choice to replace him as the nation’s No. 2 in January 2017.

Biden, a stalwart Democrat who has veered leftward in recent years — but, as a centrist senator, voted to scuttle the Glass-Steagall prohibitions on banks engaging in speculative investments — favored Warren because he needed a partner to capture the wave of anti-bank, anti-establishment anger raging to his left.

Warren, a freshman senator from Massachusetts, who supports breaking up the big banks and re-imposing 1930s-era Wall Street regulations to prevent another global financial crisis, was Biden’s “only real choice,” according to an official he spoke to at the time. 

Biden — who told an interviewer on Tuesday that he considered running for president because he believed he was “the best” person for the job — took his hat out of the ring in late October 2015, citing the stresses on his family following the death of his son Beau.

[...]

Biden, according to a person briefed on details of the meeting, told Warren he wanted her to be his running mate “during the conversation” but didn’t explicitly ask her to commit to the slot or endorse his candidacy. Warren, the person told POLITICO, was “noncommittal” but “not displeased.”

[...]

As a senator, Biden, like Clinton, had supported a 2001 bankruptcy bill that Warren vehemently opposed; her advice to Biden was that, to appeal to the left, he would need to start talking right away about Wall Street reform. [...] progressives have begun pitching Warren as a possible Clinton vice presidential pick to heal the divisions between the center and left of the Democratic Party after the protracted duel between Clinton and Sanders.



A first conclusion, is that Warren was the farthest to the Left the establishment Democrats were willing to go, and only as a VP to a neoliberal centrist like Clinton, or Biden. There was no chance to let Sanders get close even to the Vice Presidency, despite his great popularity.

A second conclusion, is that the establishment of the Democratic party was recognizing that the progressive wing was enjoying an increasing popularity. And therefore, there was a non-negligible danger to take over a party. That's why Warren was probably the best solution in order to relief the pressure from the Left and, at the same time, maintain connections with the wealthy corporate donors.

It seems that Warren had the chance to prove her loyalty to the establishment in several cases the last four years. And therefore, it would not be a surprise to see Biden pick her as his VP for the oncoming US presidential battle against Trump.

And it will be done again only as a pure tactical move in order to lure the most moderate of the progressive voters. Those who may find more difficult this time to compromise with the Democratic establishment, by giving their vote to a typical neoliberal centrist, just only to avoid four more years of Trump.

It is certain that Trump's terrible response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the US, revived corporate Democrats' hopes for a victory in November, even under Biden's leadership. Let alone Trump's even more terrible response to the murder of George Floyd.

Yet, their expectations may be proved pretty over-optimistic.

First, because when the whole thing will cool down (and assuming that we will not see another major event that will put Trump in the corner), Biden will become the easiest "prey" in the hands of ruthless Trump.

Second, because it seems that most of the progressive voters are really fed up with the dirty tactics of the Democratic party. The DNC propaganda mechanisms are mobilized again to make progressive voters appear responsible in case of a second Trump term. Essentially, the DNC is blackmailing them to vote for Biden.

However, progressives are determined to abandon the corrupted Democratic party and push for a third grassroots independent party. Some of them think the Greens as the only alternative for now, but to vote someone like Biden is out of question, even if that means four more years of Trump.

And as it is now clear where Elizabeth Warren really stands, Biden's tactics to put her in the VP position in order to lure progressives, will blatantly fail.

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