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https://www.ft.com/content/0f5ef88b-c2e3-452f-999d-c30daa073b39
During a verbose half-century in public life, Joe Biden has never made such a succinct case for his election. “Ask yourself,” he said in Pennsylvania on Monday, “Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?” In 16 words — the last one delivered with a thespian frown — the US Democratic presidential hopeful alluded to a long career of moderation. The Republican friends. The orthodox foreign policy. The prison-building crime bill. There is no less plausible Jacobin in the party.
Everything about the line was perfect, in fact, except its necessity. Two months away from an election, a candidate should not have to distance himself from political violence. As deftly as he did it, one of Washington’s old saws — “If you’re explaining, you’re losing” — feels dangerously apt. What should trouble Mr Biden is not the recent narrowing of his poll lead over President Donald Trump.
Some tightening is natural as the election nears. Far more ominous is the change in the subject of national discourse. As recently as May, Mr Biden’s attitude to protesters and those who police them was not at all germane. Nor was anything, come to think of it, bar the coronavirus pandemic.
That he must now explicitly disown rioters shows how much the terms of political trade have moved against him over the summer. What had promised to be a single-issue election — a plebiscite on the handling of Covid-19 — has spread to more familiar themes of crime and race. The issue of the day is less public health than public order. To that extent, a drowning president has a life line.
Read more at:
Donald Trump has dragged Joe Biden on to his own turf | Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/0f5ef88b-c2e3-452f-999d-c30daa073b39
During a verbose half-century in public life, Joe Biden has never made such a succinct case for his election. “Ask yourself,” he said in Pennsylvania on Monday, “Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really?” In 16 words — the last one delivered with a thespian frown — the US Democratic presidential hopeful alluded to a long career of moderation. The Republican friends. The orthodox foreign policy. The prison-building crime bill. There is no less plausible Jacobin in the party.
Everything about the line was perfect, in fact, except its necessity. Two months away from an election, a candidate should not have to distance himself from political violence. As deftly as he did it, one of Washington’s old saws — “If you’re explaining, you’re losing” — feels dangerously apt. What should trouble Mr Biden is not the recent narrowing of his poll lead over President Donald Trump.
Some tightening is natural as the election nears. Far more ominous is the change in the subject of national discourse. As recently as May, Mr Biden’s attitude to protesters and those who police them was not at all germane. Nor was anything, come to think of it, bar the coronavirus pandemic.
That he must now explicitly disown rioters shows how much the terms of political trade have moved against him over the summer. What had promised to be a single-issue election — a plebiscite on the handling of Covid-19 — has spread to more familiar themes of crime and race. The issue of the day is less public health than public order. To that extent, a drowning president has a life line.
Read more at:
Donald Trump has dragged Joe Biden on to his own turf | Financial Times
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