The meaning of Joe Biden's big week
As Democrats close ranks ahead of the November election, party leaders are pushing a perhaps unlikely message: Big government is back.
Joe Biden and Barack Obama speak prior to a presidential debate at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, April 26, 2007. Mr. Obama recently became one of a string of Democratic leaders to endorse Mr. Biden's bid for the presidency.
Jim Young/Reuters/File
Dear reader:
聽Joe Biden has had a pretty good week. On Monday, his erstwhile competitor Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed him, saying, 鈥淲e need you in the White House.鈥� On Tuesday, his old boss President Barack Obama endorsed him, releasing a 12-minute video that sung Joe鈥檚 praises and tried to prep Democrats for the campaign ahead. And on Wednesday, another ex-presidential aspirant, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (yes, you guessed it) endorsed him.
聽鈥淲hen you disagree, he鈥檒l listen,鈥� Sen. Warren said.
聽One thing we鈥檝e learned from this endorse-o-rama is that the Democratic Party seems a lot more organized in 2020 than it鈥檚 been in past presidential cycles. Somebody made some discreet phone calls to put this all together 鈥� as somebody did to push and endorse Mr. Biden just prior to Super Tuesday.
聽And by 鈥渟omebody,鈥� we mean, 鈥渢he Democrat elected most recently to the presidency in their own right.鈥� Mr. Obama may not actually have been the person who phoned folks and made the ask in these situations, but it鈥檚 become pretty clear that he鈥檚 been much more active behind the scenes in the 2020 race than many people realized.
聽鈥淭he real lesson here is that Obama has been pretty involved in politics for a past president,鈥� said Marquette University political scientist Julia Azari in an this week.
聽The other takeaway may be the one word these Democrats, and by extension Mr. Biden, are using at this point to summarize what they think the campaign is going to be about.
聽No, it鈥檚 not 鈥淭rump.鈥� (At least, not yet.) It鈥檚 鈥済overnment.鈥�
聽鈥淕overnment鈥� was the biggest word highlighted on screen in Sen. Warren鈥檚 endorsement video. Mr. Obama, in his, used it over and over.
聽In 1996 then-President Bill Clinton famously said 鈥渢he era of big government is over.鈥� In 2020 the novel coronavirus pandemic, with its trillions of dollars of U.S. economic interventions and lockdowns and hospital equipment needs, has turned that saying on its head.
聽鈥淭his crisis has reminded us that government matters,鈥� Mr. Obama said.
聽Let us know what you鈥檙e thinking at csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.