Joe Biden: The Middle Ground

Having served his country for decades—first as a senator and then as the 47th Vice President of the United States—Joe Biden is one of the most recognizable politicians in the United States. Though he has not yet announced a run for the presidency in the 2020 election, he has already garnered massive support and attention from his Democratic colleagues and from the press. Though his policies aren’t as bold or progressive as those of his would-be competitors (who include the likes of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders), Biden has proven that there is space in the upcoming election for a moderate candidate unmoved by populism or radical ideas. Without a doubt, his bipartisan appeal is his most powerful and convincing quality as a presidential hopeful, and his widespread name already gives him a considerable advantage in a national scale. Some polls have him beating Donald Trump by a larger margin than any other Democrat currently in the running.
So far, Biden’s focus on infrastructure policy as a platform plank is critical, should he choose to run. Infrastructure is unique as an issue which, despite its extensive and paramount place in our society, seems to be sidelined in favor of Democrats’ most pressing concerns, like climate change and economic inequality. A likely reason for this may be past failed attempts to boost infrastructure spending, like the Trump administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan. However, Biden rightfully calls infrastructure a “personalized” issue and one that commands enough priority to receive immense sums of federal dollars. Biden has been claiming infrastructure as one of his first concerns for years at this point.
While also uniting all divisions of the left, Biden is likely to succeed as a centrist candidate due to his policies on federal taxing and spending. While he doesn’t go as far left as to blame multi-billionaires for the ever-growing wealth gap, his statements and actions suggest that fighting income inequality is one of his top priorities. Like his competitor Senator Bernie Sanders, Biden champions middle class tax cuts and acknowledges that the tax code is “skewed [toward] taking care of those at the very top,” he said. At the same time, unlike many Democratic progressive contenders, Biden also plans to hone in on minimizing government spending; in the Munich Security Conference of 2013, he stated that he and his colleagues in Congress agreed to cut federal spending by $1 trillion over the next 10 years. This belief is shared with many Republicans, which serves as an advantage to Biden in reaching members of the opposition.

Biden has been incredibly active in politics for a formidable number of years. However, his decades of experiences come with the consequence of increased public scrutiny, which may end up hurting him in the upcoming election. Biden has been found to have voiced multiple questionable opinions; one instance was his take on the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. "[I do not] think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body,” he said. Since then, however, Biden has identified himself as staunchly pro-choice. Additionally, in a series of supposedly racially charged comments, Biden remarked, “I do not buy the concept popular in the ’60s [that] said [the following]: ‘We have suppressed the black man for 300 years, and the white man is now far ahead in the race for everything our society offers. In order to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start—or even hold the white man back—to even the race…I don’t buy that.” Though they were made four decades ago, such remarks are not to be overlooked, and they can reflect Biden’s current stance on race relations and affirmative action.

Many Democrats have hailed Joe Biden as the sole candidate with the capacity and competence to defeat Trump in the 2020 presidential elections. Given his years of experience as a senator for Delaware and as having served as vice president, Biden is a highly popular candidate capable of stitching up the ever-growing chasm between the left and right.