Super Tuesday

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Super Tuesday! The day when Ds, in 2020, vote in lots of places, all at once.

I’m writing in real time, and it’s Biden Time. Remember, last Saturday (February 29) Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the South Carolina primary. The victory … in his third presidential run – he ran in 1988 and 2008 – was his first primary win, ever.

Will Rogers said, decades ago: I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. I love Mr. Rogers’ willingness to acknowledge his party affiliation, even if he used his affiliation to poke at what has always been the group of people who won’t be told they need to fall in line.

I’ve been a D for 33 of my 44 voting years. (More Yesterdays than Tomorrows – in the works – explains the 11 years in the wilderness.) I appreciate Big Tent politics. Still, attending to Super Tuesday, I wish for much which co-exists not at all with a party which lets everyone follow his or her dreams.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Mass.) rocks my world. She’s brilliant, and in ways no real politician will ever understand she gets the line between middle class and busted. And she gets things done.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protections Bureau, No. 19-7. Senator, then Professor Warren, created the agency at issue in the case. The Court might make a hash of her efforts – why it’s a conservative value to vest more power in the executive branch, when the founders clearly placed congressional power first, I don’t know – but no one else running created a federal agency, almost alone.

Still, Senator Warren, you need to walk away. Your path does not exist, and when you run for president and you cannot win, I wish you would walk away!

Mayor Michael Bloomberg intrigued me, especially as a Warren supporter. He’s smart and I want to believe he’s got a good heart, despite a lot of sh*tty comments over too many years. He lost me with his “if I offended anyone I apologize” apology, for that nonsense works not at all. Still, if Mayor Bloomberg had gotten traction, I could be there, flaws and all.

But, Mayor Bloomberg crapped out tonight. So, Mayor Bloomberg, I wish you would walk away!

That leave Senator Bernie Sander (I – Vermont) and the Bernie Bros. Look, Joey Biden’s got a record full of challenges. He was the senator from corporate America aka Delaware. The man who shepherded the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which was not all bad, but bad enough. He gets credit, too, for the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which did not address abuse very well, and protected consumers credit card issuers. Of course, the whole Ukraine / Hunter Biden thing stinks, too. Too much Go Along, Get Along (and Get Rich)!

But, Vice President Biden knows how to govern and how Congress works or, at least, how it worked when it worked. Senator Sanders? Not so much, per the evidence. No major legislation. No evident coalitions. Plenty of heart for those who don’t share our bounty, but there’s no reason to believe he will ever figure out how to accomplish anything.

So Senator Sanders, I wish you’d add this tagline to your stump speech: I believe we will win. I want to win, for I think I’m America’s best hope. But, if I don’t win the nomination, I will stand up for Joe Biden – a good and decent man – and I expect every one of you to do so too.

Three wishes, and what do I expect from Warren, Bloomberg, and Sanders? Not now. Outta here, but you can count on Mikey bucks. Maybe, someday, lightly.