Our political system is indeed "rotten to the core," or at the very least, severely compromised. The latest example happened during the impeachment charade in the Senate where the people showed a plurality and thereby order to allow witnesses to testify. A number of upwards 75% polled demanded some for of fair trial. The GOP response: Drop Dead if you think we are going to do what the people want.
A wholly bipartisan congress cannot serve the people. And what we have seen with Trump is that even with such a clearly retrograde man who aside from inheriting money shows little of real estimable character can still be fully supported by his party. Yes, he is indeed a useful idiot for the GOP but at what cost?
16
"If he fouls this up we're doomed." David, when are you going to look in the mirror and admit that you played a huge role in "fouling up" this country way before we ever looked to a soon-to-be octogenarian to ride to the rescue? Your constant rationalizations and excuses helped enable the worst impulses of your fellow Republicans to not only rise to the surface but explode like Old Faithful. You helped give us Donald Trump. So now you're telling Biden not to blow it?
26
Yes, David Brooks. Yes. Yes. And yes.
3
The system can't address our myriad problems.
Nor can the left or right.
Nor can policy.
The problems are more fundamental — and at a different scale.
Our global reach is unprecedented.
Exponentially accelerating complexity — the dominant phenomenon of our era — is an emergent phenomenon. Briefly, add more than 6 billion people since 1900, and simultaneously, give billions of people access to exponentially more powerful technology — technology born of another emergent phenomenon, exponentially accruing knowledge.
We're not coded — biologically or culturally — to process complex global relationship information with exponential dynamics.
We're coded for relationship interface with local environs, primarily in a short-term manner with incremental dynamics.
Expressed —
Nietzsche 1901, sensing WW1
“This future speaks even now in a hundred signs, this destiny announces itself everywhere; for this music of the future all ears are cocked even now. For some time now, our European culture has been moving towards a catastrophe, with a tortured tension that is growing from decade to decade: restlessly, violently, headlong, like a river that wants to reach the end, that no longer reflects, that is afraid to reflect.”
Frank Vertosick 2006: Humans aren't smart enough to be planetary stewards.
James Lovelock, 2014
“If there is a message in this book it is that we are not yet sufficiently intelligent to control or regulate ourselves or the Earth.” A Rough Ride to the Future
10
"We" David? Who is "we"? I thought you were a Republican, and it seems like your party is doing pretty well.
10
How to jump from a basement window.
3
Socialism lost. Full stop.
2
ICYMI David Brooks this Coppins piece https://bit.ly/3cB13Ru looks almost definitive support for your headline .. Establishment's Last Chance. He updates regularly and some overlapping coverage with what I know to be the case, too, gives added credibility to the rest.
Besides, it would explain how Forty Five funds a way of keeping tens of millions of voters in thrall.
Given a large spend for re-election one would need to perhaps see Bloomberg's "experiment" in a different light. i.e. traditional national msm is on its way out ..unless able tap into readership's greater needs..
Biden's best quality: Putin fears him.
3
Why use the word "establishment", David. Are you trying to sabotage this good news? Don't you realize using that word is like waving a red cape in front of an angry bull?
The millions of middle class Americans, including millions of black folk in the south, are NOT an "establishment". They are ordinary Americans making a rational voting decision.
Words matter.
11
"The establishment gets one last chance."....That means you David Brooks. You have the bully pulpit; you hold the conch. USE IT!
4
I disagree completely. If Biden becomes President, he really does not have to do much thereafter, with respect to big achievements in leadership or governance. He just needs to keep the US from further deterioration due to corruption, incompetence, and downright evil.
7
This would be darkly amusing if it weren't so deluded.
Thank god time will accomplish what we couldn't: we'll soon be rid of the boomers and their grasping cowardice. One just hopes there will still be a civilization to rehabilitate once we've pried it from their cold, dead fingers.
7
Oh noooooooooo. Mr. Brooks, you are selling the establishment much to short. They will continue to keep a death grip on politics because they love the returns on their investments. They love the money that flows to them and they refuse to do anything of much import to stop it. Their greed knows no bounds, be they Republicans or Democrats.
7
The Democratic animal totem and Eeyore the pessimist are both donkeys; characteristically both lazy and powerful.
Electability requires optimism and accompanying dynamic strategic action.
BOTH BERNIE and BIDEN are potentially electable if you can keep our Republic by your hard work through donations, active campaigning, and just showing up. Don’t fall for that false line of safely electable like they sold you in 2016. Get over your Trump PTSD, brush yourself off, and fight for what you know is right.
3
"If he fouls this up"
Biden is a meandering, unfocused speaker, often unable to complete a sentence, let alone a thought, with a record in office that is decidedly patchy, marred by several past positions he struggles to defend.
Not if, but when.
9
thank goodness the billionaires have come to save the establishment. hope they have the decency to accept Stacy Abrams as Joe's running mate. The perfect foil to Trump & Pence.
2
Sorry to say David, the one last chance was Hillary and yes she did blow it. Hence the rise of Trump. Anyway, how many more chances should there be given the 'establishment's' track record?
As I've been saying since 2016, the Democrats are now the conservative party. Remember Hillary saying something like, "If you liked the past eight years, you'll like me as president." THAT is the core of conservatism, no changes. Dress it up anyway you want with diversity, but without any real changes for our society it's still conservatism.
This time around the DNC always wanted Biden, the conservative choice, but concocted a scheme based on poles and campaign contributions to get there. When it 'failed' in their eyes, they said "What the heck, it's Biden" as they promised the others that their campaign debts, if any, would be taken care of.
Hey, you Trump hecklers out there - the RNC at least allowed a process to complete with someone totally outside of the mainstream to be their candidate.
Can't say that about the DNC yet but sure looks like a good bet. And, another good bet is four more years for Trump.
Thanks a million DNC!
4
I’d put it this way. People would like to lead a reasonably comfortable life; go to work & get paid a decent wage, watch TV, play video games, look at memes on their cell phones, eat at Apple bee's, vacation in Florida in the winter, raise kids, retire, and not think about politics at all. The problem is, the corporations and the Oligarchs that run them have fxxxked people so long and so hard with no lube it’s starting to really hurt. That more than anything is what got Trump elected and Bernie nearly so twice. If the Oligarchs want to keep bleeding people dry they’d be smart to pass Biden’s modest agenda, toss the working class a few crumbs, otherwise as Brooks says, our current system is done and people may really riot in the streets and start hunting Billionaires for sport four years from now.
9
We are left with two elderly gentlemen from the Silent Generation, yes, the Silent Generation, who will fight for the right to face off with an elder, male Boomer. We are the laughing stock for the free world.
3
“Many of these new voters must be disaffected Republicans who now consider themselves Democrats.” No; I don’t think so. They’re people who are sick of being embarrassed by Trump. That doesn’t make them converts; it just means they’re reasonable, thinking people.
5
I've followed US politics since college in the 1960's. Only moderates from the middle-left ever win. The Republican party has been chipping away at the US middle-class for years. They pretend to have conservative ideas, but their only goals are maximizing profits for themselves. They have become consummate con artist using bat and switch tactics. They claim to be against abortion unless it's their own family. They claim to support old industries like coal, knowing they will never have to do anything to really help the miners. They purposely instill hatred for foreigners and immigrants despite the danger to the country as a whole.
8
Biden wins Super Tuesday, and Mr Brooks sees the beauty in a school of fish turning as one.
And for Sanders supporters? Doomed, like the mythical herd of lemmings, to the rocks below --- their "angry and putrid shouting" cut short.
No wonder Mr Brooks is feeling some tranquility. But, those darned lemmings will multiply and get on the move again. Ok, Joe Biden, you've got one chance to deliver solutions to "their" problems or it's adios to our meritocracy.
Adios, fear-mongering.
2
Of course David Brooks won't ever address the fact that the GOP will do everything they can to block a Democratic president whether it's Joe or Bernie -- he'll be part of justifying whatever scheme they conjure up!
As evidenced by today's asinine vote against Coronavirus funding by my state's junior Senator Rand "Aqua Buddha" Paul, the most likely Republican tactic will be to shout "Fiscal responsibility! Budget deficits!" whilst pundits such as Brooks work on convincing (read: hoodwinking) the American public into forgetting the 2017 tax cut that enriched the already filthy rich.
You read it here first: by the summer of 2022, David "Bildung" Brooks will be opining in these pages on behalf of austerity, nevermind his "community" and nation.
3
Got arrested fighting segregation and they turn their backs on him. Go figure. This world is so unfair. Go Bernie!
8
Dear David,
You forgot an end to tricks down economics, tax cuts for the rich, and "Citizens United" among the most important changes we need to course correct...must have slipped your mind.
8
Thank you, David. I read your columns religiously and have for years, mostly to rail at you. As far as I'm concerned this is most honest, well reasoned column I've seen from you maybe ever.
I couldn't agree more. More of this please and less of your not so honest columns that strain miserably to find a false equivalency where there is none.
There would be a poetic justice in Biden defeating Trump come November.
2
This message needs to be heard, both far and wide. A very good article by David Brooks.
Democrats are not just a party; they’re a community. In my years of covering politics I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like what happened in the 48 hours after South Carolina...
oh Brooks, is there a reason you didn't start with SC, whose overwhelming support for Biden triggered the super tuedday win for him? Do you imagine if the blacks had NOT supported Biden he would have done as well on Tuesday?
1
If Biden is elected and he caves to the Republicans the way Obama did, it will not be good. But at least he will not be a narcissistic psychopath. To remove Trump is imperative. Our democracy and liberty depend on it. In any case, the Fox News duped Republican base will continue to exist. I don't know what will wake those people up. Even when red state governments starve themselves and go bankrupt I don't think they'll wake up. Perhaps the only solution is time and stubborn old people dying.
9
Nothing new here: Brooks defending the status quo, which not surprisingly is pleasing rhetoric to Wall Street bankers, many of whom are large NY Times advertisers.
Cue the bailouts!
3
"Democrats are not just a party; they’re a community...millions of Democrats from all around the country, from many different demographics, turning as one and arriving at a common decision...This is a core Democratic strength."
I could not have said it better myself. And this occurred primarily because James Clybourn and others expressed the depth of connection and love he shares with the African American community. Wow, talk about living Christian values! I am humbled and proud to be on this team.
Meanwhile, there is another (hypocritical) political party that rallied the same way when its wannabe authoritarian candidate expressed his talent at grabbing women's genitals, how nonwhite people are all criminals who don't belong in America and mocked nearly every decent American group. Christian values, indeed!
3
verbatim transcript of Biden this week. Can't wait.
“And so I was saying that, and what they turned around and said, Joe Biden said, in effect, they said, that Joe Biden said that what he was told, that what, that what the white supremacists argue, that we have no problem, that our, our, our basic English jurisprudential system is not the problem. The problem is those countries like Africa and Asia and those places, they’re the reason why we have all these problems. So they turn it around to make it sound like that, and by the way, the title of the article is, was, is the Washington Post ‘The Deceptively (indecipherable) of Joe Biden Singles, Signals What Is Coming’ and that is that’s a whole bunch of lies. The generic point I’m making here is that, what has happened is that, I know we’re going to get in to, whomever the nominee is of the Democratic Party, is going to have a plethora of lies told about him or her, and misrepresentations and this went on the internet, this edited article, it got retweeted by some press people and then they realized it was edited to make it look like something not… white supremacists, see, Biden’s acknowledging that the problem here is that that all those folks, all those minority folks are the problem. And so, in essence. And so they corrected, they corrected."
7
I'm sure the NYT is greatly relieved with Biden's recent success, it now go on shedding its crocodile tears for the loss of our democracy, our environment, our youth's college debt, and the high cost of medical care without facing the real problems of how to face down the Oligarchy destroying our democracy and our enviornment. How convenient!
2
"If he fouls this up, we're doomed."
You can count on it . . . .
5
The pivot from Bernie to Biden based on realization that Senate majority must change as well as black votes impact.
1
Southern blacks were totally wrong in 2016 in forcing the Dems to nominate Hillary, the most hated candidate in party history, above all in the Rust Belt, where that election was lost to Trump, and where this one will be too, if Biden is not a lot more popular than Hillary was among Rust Belt whites, who're still the ones in charge, not the blacks or suburban women.
3
At least Bernie had a message. What’s Biden’s message? He doesn’t have one.
6
Nice story, but the elephant is Mr. Biden's obvious cognitive decline.
9
Really?? Electing a long time status quo politician is the answer because while we all know that things need to be
changed luckily all is well because the same people who guided
us into this cul-de-sac have now licked the shrine so now
it is our good fortune that they will do the opposite of what
they have done their whole careers and commence saving
us all from the predations of neoliberal capitalism. LOL
Joe...if you can write a sentence longer than what I just did
(no cheating!!) then I might actually duly evaluate the
possibility of seriously considering voting for you.
But now for my hypothesis. The establishment knows full
well that Biden has no chance to beat Trump. So what
is going on is in the face of a potential Sanders nomination
they ARE voting Trump. But by nominating Biden they can
essentially cast a cryptic Trump vote while still remaining
in good standing among the anti-Trump crowd.
Vive la re'sistance!!
2
Biden is your typical professional politician and DNC insider, and boy is he ever a recycled candidate. Exactly what does anyone think he's going to change? To make matters worse, he voted for the war in Iraq. I'll pass.
4
If Biden wins the White House he will have already delivered by riding us of Trump. The rest will be icing on our cake.
3
Y'all do know that many independent voters who consistently vote blue aren't free votes for your candidate? I don't owe the D party anything.
Earn my vote. Work for it. Prove you aren't just a bunch of neoliberal corporatist warhawk shills.
5
The only united front here (other than the center left/right establishment) is the NYT opinion staff, continuing to help manufacture consent. Kristof, Brooks, Friedman, Krugman. All on the same page!
3
David, I thought that you predicted Sanders as the nominee.
-cb
1
Maybe? Really? Maybe?
If Joe Biden wins the nomination but loses to Donald Trump in the general election, young progressives will turn on the Democratic establishment with unprecedented fury. “See? We were right again!” they’ll say. And maybe they’ll have a point.
Maybe you will retire. Take your money and move because you got it SO wrong and you have prospered from being so wrong.
1
The best candidate was Warren. But a smart women was just too much for you!
3
The celebration of Biden's "victory" is largely delusional. The map the Times published showing the Super Tuesday election results with one or two exceptions looked like a map of the Confederate States of America. A Sanders victory under the circumstances might have been more cause for concern than celebration.
3
No, not the establishment. Conservative Democrats. How is it David that you, a staunch Republican whose propaganda helped create the situation we're now in, manages to recast conservative Democrats as the establishment and then align yourself with them. How facile. Rather than come out of the closet and say you've changed your party affiliation, you rename things in a way that suggests you haven't had to change.
3
Is David Brooks the last intellectually honest voice right of center? Need more like him for the sake of our ailing democracy.
It is interesting to see the NYT's right wing columnists slowly inching their way towards accepting that the lefties had the right idea all along and as it stands are the only ones with any viable ideas to tackle our current predicaments.
Who would have thought it, David Brooks advocating for a centrist Democrat to enact a progressive agenda.
2
The world saw this all before and its a history that America and the world should have learned.
Before Greece's golden age Athens stopped evolving. The Bankers and the financial establishment ran everything. Even as the rich got richer Athens started to collapse.
Athens best and brightest could not pay their debts and lived the lives of indentured servants.
The poet philosopher Solon was called upon to solve the problem. The rest of the story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon
I only wonder if Trump ran away would anyone look for him.
3
Has everyone forgotten that Biden was added to Obama's ticket to soothe the (way overblown) fears of the corporate Democrats about Obama's alleged *liberalism.* Even the term seems quaint these days, eh?
4
Bernie = doom. People who believe this deserve to lose
3
It's too bad that Biden doesn't have anything interesting to say.
3
Hard to argue this, the people (at least democrats) have spoken. While the NYT will incessantly rehash how sexism supposedly derailed Warren (this is actually true-but it was hers when she played the gender card) until the cows come home, people want to move beyond the victimhood that persisted during the winnowing of the democratic field. For several recent candidates who have opted out, they deserve credit for putting their own emotions on hold while they coalesced around Biden and the yearn of the electorate.
Toxic femininity, led by the NYT, will continue to make unnecessary noise during the home stretch, but people are thankfully ignoring it and uniting behind a common purpose rather than special interests. What happens after is a distraction-job 1 is getting there in the same taxi.
What would the establishment even do without Joe?
- As Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee did not call up for testimony Scott Ritter who had found no WMD’s in Iraq just before the Iraq War
- Voted for the Iraq War
- Failed to call witness’ that supported Anita Hills testimony
- voted in favor of one of the most ruthlessly anti-worker bills in modern legislative history, the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, depriving millions of the protections provided by Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
- Championed 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which gave us an era of mass incarceration
- 1999 voted to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial and investment banking, paving the way for the financial crisis
- Corporate centrist Democrat, who looks after his constituents - the Banks and Wall Street
“I’ve done some dumb things,” Mr. Biden conceded at a stop-the-bleeding news conference at the Capitol. “And I’ll do dumb things again.”
6
David: I read your piece...and read a second time, and agree more and more with your basic idea: let sanity return and if you don't our future is bleak. Agreed.
What I did not see even in two readings: the loser (be it Bernie or Joe) simply must tell his followers to vote NOT Green but BLUE -- and pull that lever with more conviction than ever. The "other guy Dem" does not require holding your nose (like for Trump or for Cruz) but rather seeking the return to being a country for all --- Trump put together racists, religious bigots and wealth selfish (not wealthy like Gates/Beso/Warren) but wealthy like Coke (who dislikes him) or Home Depot or HobbyLobby. Without a dem like Biden our chance to stop being pitiable and relishing in separatism become small indeed.
No journalist mentioned this, but go back and look at the video of, I believe it was the first debate. That’s when I realized there was something wrong with Biden’s cognition (and I voted for Obama and Biden, twice). I pretty much freaked, and got totally bummed out...
Instead of saying “the audience”, Biden fumbled around for a word and said, “the stage”.
I think I recall that other candidates were talking over each other at the time, but I was very surprised that no mainstream journalist seemed to have noticed it.
Biden has cognitive deficiencies and Trump is insane. Truly, Gd help us.
6
As documented in an article in the left-wing "The Guardian" Dec 2019, In 2005, for 30 pieces of silver ($500,000 in the article) Biden voted for a bill backed by the banks that caused great harms to millions of Americans regarding bankruptcy and student loans.
Then Sen Obama, Sanders, and Ted Kennedy voted against the bill. Warren, a Harvard Law bankruptcy expert at the time spoke vociferously against the bill.
'“Biden was one of the most powerful people who could have said no, who could have changed this. Instead he used his leadership role to limit the ability of other Democrats who had concerns and who wanted the bill softened,” said Melissa Jacoby, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill specialising in bankruptcy.
Other leading Democrats and consumer advocates did say no. In the Senate debate on the 2005 bill, Ted Kennedy was scathing about its implications.
“This legislation breaks the bond that unites America, it sacrifices Americans to the rampant greed of the credit card industry,” he said. Kennedy warned that even before the new provision kicked in young people were dropping out of college “because of the costs of student loans – they can’t pay them”.'
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/02/joe-biden-student-loan-debt-2005-act-2020
Biden already chose the banks with their $500,000 over the American people whereas Sanders chose Americans over the banks.
For choosing Biden, the Democrats deserve to lose to Trump.
5
I'll vote Biden, but I have extreme doubts about his ability to 'drain the swamp'. He's been a card carrying member of that club his whole life. It's ironic, no beyond ironic, to hear Brooks touting some kind of overhaul of the system after years of carrying GOP water in this paper.
5
The adrenaline flow through Joe following "Super Tuesday" was palpable. He actually seemed younger, as if some sort of Benjamin Button transformation had taken place. He got his Mo-Joe back, and it's going to be exciting--for this voter--to back Joe Biden...and to imagine a Cabinet populated by Thomas Friedman's "fantasy football" individuals, who only days ago were battling each other on stage. Onward!
Do you actually think a Biden Presidency would mean a move to a world in which “gridlock ends and real change can come”??? Have you forgotten that McConnell vowed to block Obama from achieving a single legislative goal during his Presidency? Or that the GOP stole a SCOTUS seat and then let Trump appoint two more right-wing judges to stack the court for a generation? Not to mention all the other unqualified and/or partisan judges Trump and the GOP have rammed through. How is it possible to be so blinkered that you are actually blaming the Democrats for failing to “get things done”? As usual, your argument sounds reasonable on the surface but ignores salient, essential facts.
2
David loves community. Democrats build community. David loves Democrats. David - are you ready to take the plunge and join the party? Because there is no longer a Republican party, at least one you recognize.
One last chance ... don't worry David the "establishment" will survive at this point probably till we have a violent revolution. Which probably won't happen till ..well never ... or there's WW3, or some great catastrophe, like a virus, that wipes out the country. Basically what Britain, and really most of Europe did, after WW2. Started again.
If Biden becomes President, and assuming he survives, which honestly I don' think he will. Esp when the Republicans start going to town on him. Anyway, things will not change much at all. Yes a 'decent' man will occupy the oval office, & for many that's enough. But the for profit insurance companies will still run health care. The military budget will grow. Pot will be illegal. We may get back into the Iran Deal but he may start something elsewhere. There will be an infrastructure bill, because why not. They all love to spend money we don't have. Plus lots of accepted corruption in building roads. ... You get the idea. He'll get to nominate a judge. But with Biden lord knows if they will be good... Yea I wouldn't worry about your 'Establishment.
1
Contributing to Bernie's conspiracy theories, are you? Last week you equated Bernie (who would hire scientists to run pandemic response) to Trump (who closed the office on Global Health threats) and made the most irresponsible statement that anyone can make in this election - threatening to stay home and pout if Sanders took the nomination. Armies of black voters - who would not call themselves the "establishment" - voted for Biden, but you just can't leave it alone. So you feed the misperception among Bernie's followers that this is just some "establishment" plot by using the same language. (For the record, I didn't vote for either of them, but I will vote blue no matter who, because leaving the orange monster in office isn't an option.) But your input has become destructive. Please use your platform more wisely, or shut up until the election is over.
2
You missed the point Dave. Trump will be angry and putrid regardless who the Democratic nominee is.
1
Biden is the most uninspiring politician I have ever seen. He is incoherent on the debate stage. He has been disparaging Bernie voters. He won mostly red states. Will people show up en masse when Trump turns him into Mortimer Snerd on the debate stage. Be careful what you wish for. This presidential race will be painful to watch. PRAY FOR AMERICA!!!
2
If Biden is the nominee and he was not your preferred candidate please repeat this refrain as you hold your nose and vote for him: "Supreme Court, Supreme Court...".
Hard to take you seriously when last week you were making the case for Mayor Bloomberg, Mr. Brooks.
1
Time and again David Brooks presents catchy titles to ensnare a reader,
To use a Brooks technique, one might consider an article title: “ FOX news considers David Brooks”.
Then, in reading, too often one must sift through faulty logic, associations, suggestions and conclusions.
I am so disappointed. I used to love the mental exercise and now simply do not have time for this circumstance in my reading choices.
However, I laugh at myself for investing time to write this complaint ! Ah, the human condition.
1
We can only hope.
Plese vote America.
The establishment, the well-heeled, self-congratulatory, back-slapping nitwits for whom too much is never quite enough, who have driven and are driving the world's ecosystems to ruin, ran out of time long ago. Electing one of their hale-fellow-well-met fraternity will not extend their lease on our common resources. For a man who's a hair younger than I am, David Brooks seems perpetually and inexplicably incapable of grasping the fact we are in a new world now, one defined by the environmental crisis of our own making.
2
David Brooks, it was only about two weeks ago that you wrote..."Why Sanders will probably win the nomination "...I guess the punditry class is just as clueless as the rest of us predicting what voters will do !!!
1
I wonder what happens when everyone wakes up Monday morning and figures out that their savior is still the same dazed and confused old man they wrote off three weeks ago?
3
Honestly, such broad conclusions. Nothing is ever so clean. M
I would like the trash talkers to shut up. From media to Trump everyone dialing up the rhetoric. Analysis and facts meant nothing. Giving voice to Trump and his ridiculous Tweets and midnight ramblings has turned me off to the idiotic Republicans. Cure climate change by planting trees, abortion is murder, the southern border hoax is sucking up all our money. Sleepy Joe? Parroting Trump. Lack of basic health supplies - probably to pay for the financing Trump’s old weekends. Trump’s face compared to Boris Johnson when visiting a research lab - priceless - the great ignoramous who thought the US could tell the UK how to run their health system. We can’t even field enough screening kits. So all the talk of Joe vs Bernie - not interested in Bernie’s dated philosophy - it went out with the fall of the wall. We know Joe and Joe knows us. Now it’s up to the pundits to either put up or shut up. They helped torpedo Hillary.
2
"God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!"
- James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
And here we go again: „Why won’t Sanders just drop out, he‘s disturbing the unity of the party“ and so on..
And then, when Joe Biden will lose in a landslide to Trump, after being undone in all ways possible, Ukraine, crime bill, Irak, Anita Hill, student loan debt, and no longer being able to hide the decline of his cognitive capabilities, it will be made Sander‘s fault for „weakening“ Biden and not dropping out immediatly, for even running...
3
We need a chicken in every pot, not a MasterCard in every wallet.
25
Please read Biden's policy proposals (at www.joebiden.com). Spend half an hour doing some homework on his priorities in immigration, environment, education, taxes, etc., and you'll see a very progressive agenda.
To implement it, we will need a Democratic Senate. It will be hard to get a majority, but we must. If Mitch McConnell has 51 Republicans, he will block anything and everything (though Mitt Romney might be persuaded on a few items). We must have at least 50 Democratic Senators (plus the VP = control) and do away with the "50 votes to do anything rule"; then pass income & estate tax increases on wealthy, DACA, emission standards, campaign finance transparency, and much else, right away.
A Democratic president can do a lot without waiting for Congress of course: Paris Climate Agreement, Iran Nuclear Agreement, and reconstituting the federal workforce. For the importance of the latter, read Michael Lewis's "The Fifth Risk" for insights into the damage done to our government by the Trumpies and the potential long-term consequences.
9
Yes, Biden give us hope, but his campaign needs a spark.
It can't be dull, dull, blah, blah. It needs sustained interest.
Trump continues to dominate the media, with shocking moments.
Let me suggest one way to work on Democrat interest.
Democrats can push the idea of a new democracy wave.
Just as Trump is destroys democracy, Democrats can increase it.
They might use the "Democracy" song of Leonard Cohen (1992)
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
Democrats can work to bring more democracy, after Trump.
"Democracy is coming to the USA."
The Times could write about how to bring a democracy wave.
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
1
I was for Pete Buttigieg from his first town hall on CNN. I will always believe he would be a transformational president.
But I'm beginning to regret his candidacy. Contrary to all the smarmy pronouncements that his candidacy paved the way for others and he would make a very nice Secretary of State/Defense/Homeland Security, it merely showed us that Democrats (let alone Republicans) will never, ever nominate a gay white man to be president.
I loathe Donald Trump. I loathe all Republicans. They have lost me forever. So I will vote for whomever the Democrats nominate. If Trump isn't defeated, our nation is lost.
But it will be a vote of grim duty, nothing else.
1
If Biden loses to Trump ( the probable result given our recent electoral history) will the 'moderate' wing of the Democratic party admit that centrism is not always the best policy. As it is the cohort of the electorate who is progressive are generally un represented at the presidential level. I am willing to vote for Biden purely on the question of judges but I know many Sandersistas who will not. Is the question whether enough disaffected Republicans cross over to counter the progressives who sit this one out? Maybe the lack of a third party will help lessen this effect but it is a gamble. All concepts of the Center as being the best path to victory assume the Left will vote for a Centrist. I will be voting Biden but how many others?Maybe someday the Centrists will hold their noses and vote progressive. And pigs may fly...I hope i am wrong
2
Bernie Sanders’s claim is that he is authentic. You have to respect that about him. There have been comparisons to Trump via their respective bases and the allegiance thereof. But Sanders is a cut above Trump even if his base acts a lot like Trump’s.
Sanders boasted that he had made gains with black voters. He can’t say that anymore. And now with the new ad with Obama he looks like he’s blatantly pandering to black voters. What a shame for a candidate who stakes his claim in authenticity.
This is an excellent analysis of the current dynamics of US society, and the opportunities/risks for the next set of elected leaders. As long as Biden understands these dynamics, he will not have any trouble dealing with the grifting, puerile, con man and his useless family that currently occupy the white house.
Hopefully Biden will study the reasons why a very significant portion of the electorate are attracted to trump and Bernie and Elizabeth, and study the many constructive proposals the latter two have offered, and take corrective actions to make sure the USA is taking care of ALL of its people, not just the oligarchs and oligarch wannabes. Biden must mobilize the center to address the concerns of the center AND the legitimate concerns of the right and left.
1
He will foul this up. Establishment should have been careful what they wish for, they prioritized beating Bernie over beating Trump (evidenced by their very transparent pushing all the chips behind Biden), because now they get their wish of beating Bernie at the expense of another 4 years of Trump
7
All of us young or old, with both a brain and a heart, who care about climate change, student debt, insecure jobs, the environment, a sustainable future, inclusiveness, and a woman's right to make decisions about her own body, must, first and foremost, focus on the prime task at hand: Get Trump out of the white house and republican control out of the senate while keeping the house.
This is not a joke, it is not a rehearsal, it is not a time for divisive ideology, it is not a time for delusion or wishful thinking about some brightly imagined future. Your hopes and dreams will be dust without the defeat of Trump and the republican senate. Bernie has shown he cannot draw the support of middle America and the African American vote in that fight. Whatever you think of Biden, he has shown us already he can. Should there be any other questions in this discussion??
5
Democrats right now are motivated by fear. Fear of change, fear of risk, fear of losing. Democrats never win by depending on fear. That's how Republicans win.
Because fear is what animates conservatives. Studies show this. It isn't an insult, it makes sense. You are conservative when you don't want things to change, when your basic life is pretty ok, you know how to hack it, and you don't want to upset the applecart.
Progressives are motivated by hope. They see the world around them as inadequate, for them or for others around them, and they see hope of change, of improvement, of a better world. Obama delivered that. Biden does not.
4
Please don't forget ex-Republicans who now support the Democratic Party.
GOP behavior & thought is appalling. Greed is not “good” but is reckless ala 2008. Religious uber conservatism is wrong & unsustainable. Slightly submerged racism is a powerful narcotic but just plain un-American.
Let’s vote for a Democratic party that brings our America on the road back to a nation filled with opportunity & fairness for all.
3
How does Mr. Brooks even know what a progressive v. authoritarian campaign even looks like? "Angry and putrid shouting"? Come on. You can find bullies, profanity, and disrespectful examples and anecdotes in every party and every campaign. That's not what the Sanders and Warren campaigns are about.
Progressives are the people of peace, of humanitarianism, of ending endless wars, of giving all people a fair shake, of caring for animals and our environment, of eduction and giving future generations a glimpse of hope. As a former Republican, it's what draws me to associate with these people. I love them and their hope.
I was in Stockholm and had the opportunity to March with some of Greta Thunberg's classmates in a Friday school strike on the day that she spoke to the United Nations chastising my generation. I marched with little girls ages 10-15 inspired to take action for a livable climate. I've seldom been so humbled and inspired by children.
That's suddenly the glimpse of the world that gives me hope of a world where governance can happen for the betterment of all and not the few.
"Greta and Grandpa" by Ray Matthews
https://www.facebook.com/notes/ray-matthews/greta-and-grandpa/10157981093740667/
from "Skolstrejk För Klimatet" by Ray Matthews
And the girls' parents, inspired
Raise their voices in song, singing:
People gonna rise like water
We're gonna face this crisis now
I hear the voice of my great grand daughter
Singing climate justice now!
1
It’ll definitely be a win for Brooks if he wins. He can attack progressives as illegitimate and help silence millions of voices. All the while Russians, trolls, republicans and everyone else will attack the youth shouting to be heard.
All to keep those who have wealth and power insulated from social responsibility.
2
One key difference between today's GOP and the Democrats is white people in our party realize that the march towards equality among racial and ethnic groups came to a screeching halt with the election of Richard Nixon. Every once in a while we got a tiny step forward and then Reagan took everything way backwards. We don't share the idiotic notion that white men are more handicapped - more subjected to prejudice than black people. I am Warren/Buttigieg demographic, but when African Americans in S. Carolina made their choice known, I was happy to vote for Joe. In part that is pragmatism - Democrats simply will not win without enthusiastic support of black constituents. My emotional response, I thought of as solidarity, but I much prefer David's term -- we are a community supporting each other for the betterment of all.
1
"It was like watching a flock of geese or a school of fish, seemingly leaderless, sensing some shift in conditions, sensing each other’s intuitions, and smoothly shifting direction en masse." --- Like lemmings to the sea?
When Obama ran it was on a platform of "Hope and Change." Then when denied the "change"; all too many lost the "hope."
1
You know, I am really fed up with pundits like Brooks who did nothing to defeat Trump in 2016. And are now full of wisdom and ethical guidance - for everyone but the Republican party. Yes, I appreciate Brooks now sometimes being on board with voting for the Democratic candidate but ...
In 2016 each time Brooks delicately turned up his nose at Trump, he reflexively trashed Clinton. His moderate followers took this as a signal that by sitting on their hands they'd done their part. Not good enough.
In 2020, instead of pontificating to and about Democrats, he should be exhorting Republicans to clean house. The Trump mess is primarily of their making. Mr. Brooks, please own your share, roll up your sleeves, and get out the vote to defeat Trump. It is the best favor you can do for your dissolute and destructive Republican party.
7
Mr. Brooks trumpets a great victory for business-as-usual politics. Jim Clyburn put a finger on the scale at just the right moment to get people who most need progressive policies to vote against their self-interest. Hooray for the establishment. Mr. Brooks' bank account is safe. ...and for those black voters in South Carolina who will need to pay medical bills... there's always bankruptcy. ...or maybe Mr. Clyburn will help them out.
3
This is all we need to know about The Establishment:
"Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss."
And look at how this country has degraded in the past 40 years between the selfish, short-sighted GOP and the meek, complicit, reality-avoiding Democrats... Cause: The Establishment.
Solution:
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.... It's the only way to be sure."
- Ellen Ripley in "Aliens"
Short of that: Bernie
2
Lets see if all the resources of the Government of the United States at Trump's beck and call can't pull the Bidens back down again. Democracy? Autocracy..
1
Biden will win the election & lose the electoral college. The Senate will go Democratic, or we still have the coronavirus, & I'm not kidding!
I’m personally really tired of paying taxes to supply every one else with better healthcare than myself, and then to have them refuse to support a Medicare for All system is beyond greed. Either get it done or lose yours!
2
Our country is doing just fine with DT as president. The press is just ticked they can’t lie anymore since he has a work-around via Twitter. And if “Super Thursday” does get elected, he will be impeached in the first year...turn about is fair play!
I've never been called "the Establishment" before.
Finally- a very good article from you. You have different strategies than us progressives- but at least you see the problems that plague this country, clearly!
Give me a break! Biden confuses his family members, and even the high office he is running for (he actually said “I am running for the senate”).
Biden will lose. He is unfit mentally. The system must change. Many of us have already moved on to an individual like Bernie.
Don’t you dare say you are surprised if Biden wins the nomination and loses the election. The DNC would rather have Trump than Bernie. REAL change is coming soon, whether you like it or not.
4
You have already helped wreck one political party; stay out of ours.
5
On a lighter note, Biden as a President would be comedic gold without the evilness or incompetence: he would provide enough fodder to late-night comedians with his goofy gaffes ("They switched on me!").
Heaven knows we could use some good-natured laughs, without the laugh being on us.
Trump notes he'll hammer Joe on Ukraine, morning, noon and night.
Similar strategy with Hillary in 2016 on her emails. Hillary dismissed republicans, and never gave it a moment's notice, with a dismissive back of the hand swat at that gnat. She never sincerely apologized nor explained what happened on her email issue. Resulting in republican talking point after talking point on her untrustworthiness. Resulting in battleground states going towards trump. And resulting in Hillary's election night beautiful blue U.S. map victory stand stood upon by John Podesta, telling all at 3am to go home, since Hillary would have a statement in the morning....
Joe, don't make the same mistake as Hillary did.
Make an apology. Now, or at least soon, admit mistakes you and Hunter made.
Honestly and forthrightly, chronologically, comprehensively, without varnish, explain what happened on this Ukraine stuff. Hold a non-stop, drop down, drag them out press conference...answer every question, until there are no more questions. Let it take hours; bring a chair.
When it's over, grab a beer with some close friends.
Doing that will take the wind out of Trump's sails, if he has any blowing his direction, and would go a long way towards your getting over this hurdle.
And then you can debate Trump on substance, repeatedly scoring points on your having better positions for the vast majority of Americans on the myriad of policy issues that affect us all.
And then, you will win this thing.
1
"we're doomed" Who is republican David Brooks referring to?
The neoliberals and the DNC will be fine no matter what. In fact, they'll be able to raise more money if Trump gets reelected.
Listen to a more coherent Joe Biden talk about why Bernie is the best chance to defeat Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=emb_logo&v=kQKePS9dTd0&fbclid=IwAR18aBhtaskutlsvf72cvt53lraAnEN_hdFRfHz-5ufnDdSYYNPHnVDoF-o&app=desktop
1
Biden talks about his ability to work with Republicans in the Senate.
The ACA did not get one single Republican vote. Not one. Not even after Republicans and lobbyists were allowed to tinker with the bill and kill many of its cost-saving measures. Biden couldn't convince a single Republican to vote for it, even though passage was assured by Democrats.
Then look at Merrick Garland. Where was Biden's mythic charm on that one? We couldn't even get a hearing for an eminently qualified, center-left judicial nominee.
So please, let's not pretend that Republicans will suddenly become reasonable because we elect good old Joe. That is, as moderates like to say, a unicorn dream.
4
"Biden’s Rise Gives the Establishment One Last Chance"...
...to use the right liberal politics that created Trump to stop Trump?
Sorry, Brooks - your right wing establishment policies got the US into this mess; they won't get us out of it.
You're part of the problem. A vote for Biden is a vote for Trump.
3
Yes, David Brooks has issued what many of us are concerned about. Former Vice President Joe Biden is the last best hope to
Rid us of the most incompetent President in the living memory of those of us who were born when Franklin D. Roosevelt was President.
I'm a far-left "Progressive," but I think Biden is our best bet.
David Brooks, this column is one for the ages. I thank you for writing it. And I am a tough critic of your commentary. May it catch the notice of the DNC who has not had a good management day since the last time Howard Dean was in charge. (2005--2009)
Mr. Brooks, as much as I love your columns, I do wonder how much of your advocacy of Biden’s election really helps.
We need the younger voters and Latinos who have voted for Sanders’ revolution. How is any advocacy by a Republican going to accomplish that?
Do not repeat 2016's miserable turnout! Vote! Your vote only counts if you cast it.
Let's hope we have 90+ turnout in November.
When Biden loses to Trump, who will be blamed?
The Russians?
The misogynists of the Democrat primary voters?
The racists of the Democrat primary voters?
The Democrat elite decided it would be Biden, because he was the only one that could attract enough minority voters. No way was Bernie going to be sanctioned.
But, what if Joe literally or figuratively stumbles? Who is the backup?
If Joe picks a VP soon, that tells me, if Joe defaults, the VP selectee will be the nominee. Not Bernie. Or, they could call in Hillary. Not Bernie.
This could be a case where the Democrats vote for a nominee, that no one voted for in the primary. Or, you could look at it another way. The nominee didn't have to raise or spend a dime to win the nomination. If that is the case, there is someone that collected a billion dollars in donations that have yet to be repaid. She is not Bernie.
It’s time Mr Brooks you clearly either say ‘ vote for Trump’ or in current situation ‘ vote for Biden’ (if Trump as you sometimes claim is not your choice) but please stop analyzing and finding faults with anti Trumpers.
David, "if he foul this up, we're doomed'. No, if Trump is re-elected we're doomed.
The idea was that Nancy Pelosi would throw Joe Biden under the bus, in her quest to impeach Donald Trump.
Now we are left with Joe Biden.
Under the bus.
The Senate hearings on Hunter, of whom few heard before the impeachment, are bound to proceed.
1
In South Carolina and in 10 of the Super Tuesday states a diverse and informal coalition voters saw the light and chose a path they hoped would lead to an attempt to heal the nation.
While campaigning has Sanders once shown he is willing to compromise? Many people saw that and thus went for Biden at the last moment.
4
Brooks is not quite right: if Biden wins, then so does the establishment, but Sane Democrats then still have a chance to fight said establishment once he's done fighting for the banks, the MPAA, and the s'Electoral College. But if the loser stays in the White House, then the establishment that said loser is proudly also a part of will be in power FOREVER, and Democracy would die not in Darkness but in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue. (Of course, I root for Option C: Bernie.)
3
I think that some of the denigration of Joe Biden's intelligence is simply a result of his being a stutterer and obviously not as comfortable as some in the debate venue. My memory is that he stuttered during his vice presidential debates, and always known for his verbal gaffs. His real political skill has always been one to one, and even as brilliant a man as Obama found him an important adviser
6
@Ed
Review old tapes of the stutterer, as one suggested.
Brooks is a stalwart for brain-dead centrism. He is smart enough to recognize that the regime he would like to restore lacks credibility. His answer to the multiple crises that have subverted the old order is that all will be solved with the restoration of peace and quiet.
He ends by saying that a victory for Biden “…doesn’t mean that legitimate crises that are driving the Sanders voters — or the legitimate crises that are driving Trump voters — will go away.
“Their problems will still be all our problems. And if our current system can’t address them, then that system will be swept away.”
This is Brooks’ specialty.
On the one hand, he is happy to concede the substantive argument that there are “legitimate crises". (But, please don't ask "why?")
On the other hand, Brooks opines, the thing to do right now (and always) is to keep the power structure intact.
For Brooks the sacred temple must not fall into the hands of those who are not fit to rule.
The proof is Trump, and Brooks' conclusion is that Sanders must be stopped. They are equally usurpers.
For the sake of stable order, perpetual silence is golden.
14
Old Chinese Proverb- "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step". Ben Franklin expressed skepticism way back when he stated that the new constitutional republic would ONLY work if everyone agreed to follow the rules. At that moment in time Europe was still ruled by kings and queens. Not long after the Nation fell into civil war, Reconstruction to this very day has still not been completed. I want 95% of what Bernie S. talks about, but unless he hypnotizes Americans to do what he demands we do (immediately of course), I don't see a pathway to get there. It would take decades to achieve the unity of purpose he dreams of,
with corporations restructuring out of the goodness of their Board of Directors. Bill Clinton proposed fines be imposed on polluters, raising taxes on wealthy earners, while encouraging innovation and job training. Hilary drew up a single-payer health plan. Wall Street has some bad actors, but it still represents hundreds of businesses of various sizes and purposes.
Talking about the evils of the "political establishment" is a blanket condemnation of the two-party system. YES, get money out of elections, and make it easy for citizens to participate and vote. The law demands that we do that, and voting rights supersede Citizens United. But as Franklin said, it won't be easy with plenty of sleazy individuals trying to grab power away from "We The People". He knew what all of US must now realize- it's the greatest challenge we face.
1
You speak of voter disaffection as if it were coming from the young, Socialist, Sanders supporters. I suspect that as they age, their thoughts will change. (Mine did, as did most of my 70 something friends, many of whom were anti war activists and supporters of other liberal causes in our teens and twenties.) As a 70 something I see coercive, anti democratic behavior and advocacy as the call of youngsters who are very much like me in the 1960’s. They frighten me. I hope they see the light and wise up like most of my generation has.
3
If Biden is not elected, the country is finished.
If Biden is elected and cannot govern, the country is finished.
Democrats MUST take the Senate. It is actually more important than the Presidency.
10
The rise of Joe Biden can be attributed to a combination of the democratic establishment in the form of Jim Clayburn and the left wing media period. Bernie Sanders scared them all to death and so had to be defeated. When will the electorate learn that they are being led to a predetermined conclusion. In 2016 it was Hillary Clinton who was supposed to be our next President. It didn't work out so a full on assault on President Donald Trump was launched and continues to this day. Now it is Joe Biden who is the being readied for coronation by the powers to be. The odd thing is that I am not sure who is behind the movement pulling the strings. Is it the democratic establishment telling the media or is it the media informing the democratic establishment. I get the feeling that it is the big money behind the media ...Soros, Bloomburg, etc. The frustrating thing for them is the fact that a man like Donald Trump with his unconventional approach to all things political can actually upset their plans for control of our government. Let's hope he can continue to do that. It is fun to watch.
4
@Fred: I find it strange, as to how you muse about Bloomberg, Soros and the left-wing media.
Let's continue this discussion after either Biden or Sanders is nominated, when tbe real action takes place with Charles Koch (likely in memory if brother David) and Sheldon Adelson, along with Citizens United throwing money at Trump's campaign; with FOX News and the rest of the right-wing media cheering ffom the sidelines, and see which side is the bigger hypocrite.
1
@Fred Speaking for all sane people, it is sickening to watch.
As a Sanders supporter who voted for Hilary in 2016 I do not see that "love" from the Biden camp, at least not yet. The pro-Biden press and the big money and the DNC need to ponder this question - can you afford to alienate the Sander's base? Because right now - that's what you are doing - big time. If the Biden machine was smart - it would pick up a couple of pieces of the Sander's platform - climate and health care, to bring people along. But I do not see this wisdom anywhere. I see ridged centrist play-it-safe ideology, treating Sanders about the same Trump would. And down the line - the DNC will learn nothing from 2016, as it runs the risk of repeating the dynamics of 2016.
8
@1blueheron. What would you say to a Biden/Abrams ticket? (We can’t do Biden/Warren because we can’t afford to lose a Senate seat to one more Republican.)
Also, have you researched Biden’s current platform? Because it sounds like you haven’t.
Biden was “not my guy” but at this point it would be great to see Sanders drop out in a show of unity- not as a Democratic Party- but rather in a shared desire to have Trump lose in November.
6
Again, your argument is based on the same premise of Establishment vs anti-establishment, Right vs Left that has defined political discourse since the Cold War.
The system is rotten to the core and the electorate is sick and tired of the same old, same old partisan politics that got exacerbated since the Great Recession -let alone Citizens United. It became obvious that the system was completely rigged and that the sinister forces of Capitalism have gotten the grips of power in their hands, which subsequently accelerated the process of extinction of the middle class.
So no wonder why Sanders has captivated such a large segment of the population with his powerful message of redemption and fight for justice for all.
Unfortunately, his fight has become rather Quixotesque, just by looking how quickly the democratic party re-joined forces against him.
Biden, if elected, symbolizes the perpetuation of the status quo that is corrupted to the core...
7
If Bernie wants the Democratic nomination so badly, why didn’t he join the party after 2016? What’s illogical for Democrats to support an actual Democrat?
5
"Biden’s Rise Gives the Establishment One Last Chance:
If he fouls this up, we’re doomed."
The equivalent of an unfunded mandate.
1) Biden is a shockingly weak candidate; only the imaginable path to electoral success is a "unity" ticket that pledges high level cabinet positions to Sanders and Warren; short of that, I can't see Biden getting the support - not from the progressive bloc and not from the Democratic Party mass base -needed to win.
Note that this is not about the establishment liberal willingness to negotiate with Sanders; it is about the establishment liberal willingness to do what is necessary to get aboard beyond-last-chance progressives.
2) But even a accepting the unlikely scenario that the shockingly handicapped Biden does not lose to Trump, Brooks' demands upon a Biden presidency - "if he fouls this up" - are the equivalent of an unfunded mandate:
without a mobilized mass base, no president will be able to change a right wing Congress; and only Sanders has such a mass base.
3) Upshot: this 'one last chance' thing is in intellectual bad faith - Brooks alludes to voter "disaffection" and "disillusionment," but is ideologically incapable of pointing to his right wing and Democrats' right liberal complicity in perpetuating the increasingly unequal economy and politics that created a Trump or Sanders in the first place.
6
I agree. And I believer that Mitch McConnell has single-handedly broken most of what was once a working legislature.
11
This looks and feels like the last election the DNC pushing for Biden it worked out so well last time right.
7
How about we stop letting Republicans dictate Democratic Party politics?
10
The Establishment is going to finally realize that it's time for a change. Yeah, when pigs fly. I vowed that 2016 would be the last time I voted for the lesser of two evils. This is the same, tired advice the NY Times, the rest of the mainstream media, and the DNC offer each election. The only thing that matters is to defeat Trump. Sorry, I disagree, and I will express my sadness at the hopelessness of America's future through my single useless vote, my comments in the NY Times that will sway no one, and by eventually moving to another country because I've travelled, and I know there are better places to live.
9
How naive to think that Biden vs. Trump wouldn't be a shouting match. Biden has yelled at people in the audience of campaign events.
7
I fail to underastand how, seen from Mr. Brooks pedestal, the prospective of Bernie Sanders presidency would be the end of civilization. I suppose those cold war era mental conditioning are impossible to remove...
10
I'd remind Brooks that two of the moderate or mainstream Democrats he lauds: Clinton and Obama paved the way for W. Bush and Trump because they were unsuccessful in taking on the radical right. Expect the same from Biden, and prepare for a real monster like Pompeo in 2024.
8
Two recent sources-- Mr. Rogers and Lin-Manuel Miranda:
Mr. Rogers "you don't change people by demonizing them..."
Miranda's song ... "in the room".
You have to be in the room to listen, make the proposals, cooperate and then lead the people, who were in that room, to make change. If you are not in the room, you don't get to play. You have no say....
And if you demonize people not only they won't listen to you, but you may have created an enemy who will build a wall around themselves against you...
5
"Biden’s Rise Gives the Establishment One Last Chance."
I'm a bit sick of the incessant dishonest Sanders talking point that a majority of Democrats are "establishment elite corporate neo-lib." If not too much trouble, David and the NY Times, could you folks please cease and desist. We aren't any of those insults, just cause St. Bernie says we are, just cause we have voted for or will vote for somebody other than Jesus of Burlington. Not very much at all separates the Democrats, in real terms. For example, in 2016 the per capita annual average incomes of Sanders and Clinton voters were virtually identical. (The same number for Trump voters was $10,000 higher.) There are differences among us but they are very small compared to the shared, righteous and just endeavor to clear the temple of what's his name.
4
@Robert
Ya right, we all witnessed how Hillary controlled the teacher’s union. I just sat on a bench with a gal who was an aide and she claimed she had to get out of the environment watching teachers play politics with kids and their parents. I told her she needed to stand up and be a voice.
Mr. Brooks, you are the white moderate that Dr. King wrote about in his letter from a Birmingham Jail. To pretend that the biggest problem in this election is 'shouting' is an unbelievably privileged position. We may, in these next four years, reach 2.5° warming - aka, the point of no return for global warming. To take the 'moderate' position in the face of that isn't just short-sighted, it's suicidal. Moderates will be the death of us all.
13
The true radical position going forward is to maintain the status quo. Saving life on this planet mean vast, robust change NOW.
4
The "Establishment" has more lives than a cat and has more chances than mortals are usually allotted. Yet, here we are and with more than a nudge from the Reagans, Bushes, et. al, that Mr. Brooks has touted.
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine were democratic socialists.
So was FDR, he who saved capitalism from it’s overarching excess by ramping up programs to reduce inequality and affirm the idea of the common good. FDR provided leadership at a time of crisis and moved us forward toward a recognition of the common good.
America’s socialists pioneered public schools, the minimum wage, an end to child labor, Social Security and Medicare.
Sanders recognizes the historical moment that the US must turn away from staggering inequality, declining literacy, a climate crisis and patchwork health care in an age of dangerous epidemics.
Other developed nations clearly understand the principals Sanders espouses: access to health care, education, affordable housing, climate rehabilitation and decent wages.
This is not radical extremism. It's common sense.
15
@HapinOregon It's also a pipe dream. Sanders would be the most ineffective President in modern times. He wouldn't get anything passed in Congress. It's not want you want to do but what's doable.
The crisis is to a large extent Bernie Sanders himself. He is a terrible demagogue who exploits the political inexperience of the
very young voters. Thankfully they tend not to vote because their
experience is so slight. The bipartisan coalition around Biden suggests that that most Americans have Bernie's number, and he is all but finished on the presidential scene. That is an excellent thing. Next Tuesday promises to be another success for Biden and for America.
2
@David
Out here, the typical Bernie supporter is a middle-aged person who saw their towns and people decimated by the policies of people like Biden. But his son sure did ok!
2
All the good gets sucked out of the world but only for a time. It will probably take more time than I have left. Still, it will come. The falcon will hear the falconer again after that rough beast has its moment. We are children of light at some last even if the vulgar have their say and their champions. It does not take village. It takes only one voice in wilderness asking, questioning, the diligence, the of connection, of concern, for that person opposite.
2
lot's of laudatory words about the democratic community..... simply said? all real political debate in this era takes place within the Democratic Party. the republicans have replaced debate with an unreasoning certitude that requires no debate and in fact punishes debate.
5
Yeah, the moderate guy (Biden) facing a loose canon. And some still use that moderation will convert Trump to some humanistic virtues.
1
Surely reasonable people can see that Joe Biden is just cognitively not present. Look at a video of him from his time as VP. If you watch his debate with Paul Ryan, you'll see a completely different man. This Joe Biden will be eaten alive by Trump. Joe Biden is a sure path to defeat.
90
@John Malister Biden is much more likely to defeat Trump than Sanders is. That's all that matters. We don't have the perfect candidate so we all have to agree on which candidate is most likely to win. Trump will attack and attack, and it won't be fun to watch, but the attacks would be much worse against Sanders. Biden will get lots of coaching and hopefully he won't seem "cognitively not present" too often. Biden will get support from many moderates who would never support Sanders.
17
@John Malister Does it matter? Trump can barely string a sentence and probably won't even participate in the debates anyway.
8
@John Malister if cognitive abilities mattered to Trump voters, they wouldn't be Trump voters. The current occupant of the White House borders on the incompetent, yet they elected him. That Biden has lost a few steps from his former self likely won't matter.
10
If he wins, he will accomplish little if anything while in office.
4
@John
That will put him a notch above Tump.
1
There is a 900 elephant in the room and Democrats are tip- toeing around this. We have not yet come to terms with Biden's "cognitive disability" if you will. And it will only get worse if we don't address this serious problem.
14
Thank you, David Brooks for your educated opinions over the years. Today's article is the very best of all. Thank you for being willing to state the truth about the devolution of the republican party when the majority of elected republicans sold their souls to the most dangerous president we have ever know. I never miss Brooks and Shields on Friday nights and thank you for that, too.
it's good to see David is cheering up and starts to have hope...
even in the mist of coronavirus storm
2
I don't think I've ever agreed with David Brooks about anything. Mostly eye-rolling and head shaking on my part. I live in the Bay Area now, and for a long time, but I grew up in a deep red part of California. He usually off the mark about these two demographics, in my life experience.
But he is correct in his analysis of where we are at in the civic life of the United States. In 2016, I voted for both Sanders and Hillary (I'm the opposite of a bro - white, affluent suburban mother, to be exact). Voted for Sanders earlier this week.
I will of course vote for Biden, and hope against hope that he wins and that all of the things Brooks describes in today's column come to pass.
3
There are NO examples showing a moderate Dem can win a general in the last 30 or so years, other than two exceptionally politically, rhetorically gifted and very charismatic guys. THAT, Joe Biden is not.
4
David Brooks says:"If he fouls this up, we’re doomed." NO, NO, NO!! If WE foul this up we're doomed. Trump came completely as advertised. Despite everything, enough voters thought (and still do) that this is some kind of game. Enough people couldn't even take the time to vote. Joe Biden is honest and can start a reboot if he makes it through. Like everything else he will do his best, but he would be the first to admit he's no Obama or Bill Clinton on the campaign trail. WE need to vote him in - it's life or death for the USA as we know it.
4
David Brooks, an establishment, middle-of-the-road extremist if ever there were one, praises "Moderate or mainstream Democrats like Biden, Clinton and Obama [who] are the ones who put together rainbow coalitions: black, brown, white, suburban and working class." But in this colulmn he also speaks of all the unmet and urgent needs: climate change, infrastructure, education, health care. So how good, how successful, how productive, how committed were all those moderate/mainstreamers Brooks so admires if those needs are yet unmet and more urgent now than then.
As for black voters coalescing around Biden, go figure. Bernie: arrested in 1963 for demonstrating against segregation, insisting social security and medicare not be cut. Biden: Shut down Anita Hill, lied about being arrested en route to visiting Mandela, called for a reduction in SS and medicare.
How can it be the poor and underserved, and, yes, middleclass whites vote against their own (sellf-) interest?
8
@Richard Rosenthal
I believe it!
Timely, helpful commentary. Written from a broad historical perspective, but with some compelling statistics to back it up.
1
Terms like "establishment" are useful to pundits but in the end what happened last Tuesday was a righteous uprising of deeply concerned citizens voting for a return to decency, cooperation and honor in our civic and political culture. Those "better angels of our nature" Lincoln preached are beginning to turn the tide against the corrupt Godless Trump.
2
"If Joe Biden wins the nomination but loses to Donald Trump in the general election, young progressives will turn on the Democratic establishment with unprecedented fury. “See? We were right again!” they’ll say. And maybe they’ll have a point."
When Biden loses in the general election (not if: when) I doubt David Brooks will exhibit this self-aware attitude; rather we'll see a deluge of op-eds about how "Bernie Bros" threw moderates under the bus and it's really progressives' fault that we're stuck with Trump again. If anyone disagrees, I challenge you to save this comment, an Outlook reminder to review it on November 4.
3
Today there are 2 other articles I'm connecting with this one. The corona virus and Chinese government "asking for sympathy," and an invesigative piece on white working class "despair deaths" now in epic proportions,
So now David Brooks is saying about Biden, and in full-throaded support for is supposedly stabilizing and safe agenda & candidacy: "If he fouls this up, we’re doomed."
Who's "we"? Is Brooks referring to the "despair death" cases Brooks-BClinton-HClinton--Obama-Biden neoliberalism throws under the bus?
Besides those "despair deaths" (mere collateral damage, acceptable losses to the neoliberalism crowd), there are those not statistically counted in such figures, who do not physically die (at least not quickly or dramatically enough to be counted in the statistics), but die in the sense of being consigned to long term marginality, despair, or misery, under the governmental/punditbureau radar. (Thanks to Nick Christof for giving them a voice, even if he does wrongly support Biden.)
2
What's with people saying that Biden is calm, decent, etc.? I'm not very interested in most of the candidates the Democrats have put forth, but it seems like every time I hear Joe Biden, he's yelling at the camera.
I don't know if it's an attempt to prove he still has 'vigor' in his old age, but it definitely doesn't strike me as the cool, calm, and collected persona described in articles like this.
6
Uh, sorry, David, but, I don't really trust much of what you write anymore. You're a Republican through and through.
4
"Meanwhile there were astounding turnout surges in middle-class and affluent suburbs. Turnout was up by 76 percent in the Virginia suburbs around Washington, Richmond and parts of Norfolk. Turnout was up 49 percent over all in Texas. Many of these new voters must be disaffected Republicans who now consider themselves Democrats."
The educated and well-heeled have always voted in greater number in every election and have always vote against or not at all when a 'populist' of any stripe is on the ticket.
3
I am a Bernie supporter but would go with Biden if he had Warren as the VP running mate. He needs her on the ticket!
63
@JK
He needs her? No, the US needs her. Biden cannot work so closely with a brillant and strong woman.
7
@JK I'd prefer Yang, but I expect if he picks a progressive, it will be Warren.
But I also doubt he'll pick a progressive. Moderates are triumphant right now. They believe they have won, which they think means they are right.
Biden will pick Stacey Abrams or Kamala Harris or someone else whose identity appears progressive but whose politics are not. That's how moderates think.
7
@Roland Berger Yes, the US needs her! And Biden would be fine with a brilliant, smart, strong woman. Look at who he is married to!
3
The country must put a Full Court on KY to eliminate the thorn in the Senate, Democrats must get the job done. McConnell must go, and a few Republicans with him. David Brooks sounds today like his News Hour days!
whatever happens the election will come down to 3 or 4 states and 100000 voters again. ff Biden is the nominee he needs to step up and tell these ex Obama voters why they should come back to the fold. Sanders knee this in 2016 I wonder if the rest of the Democrat party do?
Liberals here at the New York Times just do not see you or refuse to see what is staring them in the face. Joe Biden, and don’t take my word for it take former defense secretary Robert Gates who worked under President Obama, that Mr. Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy Issue for 40 years. He was the only one to vote against taking out bin Laden, and if President Obama listen to him Osama Would probably be alive and hiding somewhere today. Do the Trump hating liberals not see his cognitive issues? I have dealt with aging parents, and the symptoms are glaring. Good luck with Joe Biden.
5
@Mitchell myrin
I know, I’m losing my mind because of it!
1
Just to be clear, you mean the establishment as in Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Andrew Cuomo. If Biden is the "last chance" to save that establishment, then I say good riddance to him and his sort.
2
Months ago I wrote in response to a NYT's column on the Democratic candidates, "No more old white men." I was a supporter of Harris, then Pete and then Liz. The more I see and hear Bernie the less I like him. I also once stated that, "Biden is like that old comfortable pair of slippers." Now I see Bernie like a pair of Crocs. They will do the job but lack the comfort this nation is looking for. I also think who ever wins the nomination will have to carefully select a VP running mate.
2
Politics will always be about persuasion, not compulsion. The reason that communication is broken in the world is that young people have not learned that, and the methods they use to talk to each other do not allow for listening, empathy, and dialog.
Maybe Biden's victory this year and the subsequent success of his administration will show people how it should be done and give them a role model for the future.
@Herr Andersson "Politics will always be about persuasion, not compulsion... young people have not learned that" - Ha - about a zillion republicans have apparently not learned that either, Friend. Wishful thinking.
1
The flocks and schools are the voters with the wool pulled over their eyes by corporate media. If they had truthful information they would behave like mammals, not fowl or fish.
The current system is functioning fine. It's designed to serve the rich and will continue to do so until someone like Sanders, or way less nice than Sanders, takes it apart.
5
The post-Reagan Democratic consensus - socially liberal, economically austere for the working class - created Sanders and the people who vote for him. They manufactured disillusionment. Time for a New New Deal.
2
The "Establishment" has done a lot of good over the years. Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights acts, legal protections for women and gay people, Obamacare, Children Health Insurance Program, the entire New Deal. None were perfect, but over time have been built on and improved.
2
I particularly liked Peggy Noonan's insight in her WSJ column this week that Sanders is labeling Black women in South Carolina as "the Establishment." He makes "class warfare" a little confusing.
In Texas there were no hot races in the Republican primary in many areas, so thee was every reason for political moderates and conservatives to vote in the Democratic primary for Biden or Bloomberg. That accounts for much of the increased turnout. As Texas eliminated straight ticket voting, I expect many of these folks will vote for Biden given that choice, but also vote for many Republicans down ballot.
We are doomed if we lose the election, whether it's the establishment or the "revolution" candidate. It doesn't matter who is the candidate, Democrats need to realize that this election is not just about obtaining the presidency. It is about the future of our democratic republic, and I am not embellishing here. A Trump presidency means not only losing the executive branch for four years, but also the Judicial Branch and Legislature as well. How you might ask?
- Setting aside the fact that Republicans have stacked the courts in general the past 4 years and had two supreme court nominees, the next 4 years could determine possibly two or more supreme court nominees. Democrats ALWAYS underestimate the impact of the judiciary. A Republican stacked court system will weigh on you in ways we're already seeing, such as upholding:
- Point #2. Voter suppression, which will prevent you from winning back the executive and legislative branches, or at least make it exceedingly difficult. Take a look at the millions of purged voters and thousands of closed polling stations across the country in the past two years alone (via the court gutting the voting rights act), not to mention obviously discriminatory gerrymandering and district pack further suppressing the vote.
Let the GOP controlled executive and judicial branches fester another four years, and you won't have enough "eligible" voters left in the right areas to put Democrats back into power at all.
4
I'm going to vote for Bernie in my state's primary because I know where he stands on the issues that I care about and I am a retired boomer. There is a reason why the young are following Bernie and not Biden. Joe, who I like, is just too old school and conservative in his policies. The young see right through him. Nonetheless, we must UNITE THE VOTE whoever the democratic candidate is . . . My only fears is that the disaffected youth supporting Bernie will not do so if Biden is the chosen one. If this is the case . . . we will lose as we did in 2016.
4
Biden is go along to get along.
Bernie is make this world a better world.
You have the will and the power; don’t just settle, but do the needed work now.
7
Trump's big mistake was not dealing with infrastructure first. If Biden wins he should do infrastructure fist which all parties can agree on and then move to taxes. With a trillion dollar debt, what are the Republicans going to say.
Everybody wins with money spent on Infrastructure.
3
The Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (@ Stanford) in The Hill last fall, and, more recently Thomas Friedman (NYT) present possible scenarios for the Democratic leadership to create a winning coalition that looks and thinks like America, despite the many divisions exacerbated by ... well, never mind by whom.
I won't take up space by recounting those scenarios, but I'll say that they are, to me, the most hopeful suggestions I've seen and I hope that Senator Warren is contemplating them deeply as she considers an endorsement.
Rather than an endorsement, she should help her party step into the convention with a unity slate. It could well save the future of democracy here and abroad.
One last chance (for the establishment) to do what? Take the money and run? Because that's what seems to be happening!
Joe Biden has to come up with something better than "for a little bit more Obama". While pretty much anything is better than the orange one we currently have, Biden needs to show that he can and will change the country's direction even if the Republicans keep the Senate. And, right now, he doesn't seem to have that in him. And that nagging doubt is what keeps Bernie Sanders' campaign alive.
5
My problem is I don't see a way forward. I don't think Sanders's idea of an eternal campaign to rouse the political and class conscious of the oppressed to such a degree that it overwhelms congress has any chance of happening--both at the level of an awakening and at the level of making congress actually try and govern. The Republican party is steadfast in its 'no governance, let the rich pillage the corpse of America while we harness rage at the very dysfunction we cause' philosophy. But this is also a problem for compromise. You simply can't get the things this country needs through the congress. The Obama presidency is testimony to that. As soon as they were done being cowed by the thought that there'd been a ground shift in our politics with his election, Republican entrenched themselves and wandered ever farther along the destructive path they've been on since Reagan. And Obama wasted that brief moment thinking he had brought change and trying to work with them. Then the rest of his presidency had to go around the congress and was thus limited. Biden will probably be much the same.
I see no way forward with either Biden or Sanders. I think your 2024 nightmare is likely our reality unless unseen change does save us.
2
@CS. Ah, but what if Bloomberg sunk money into ensuring McGrath beats McConnell? What if Warren became Senate majority leader?
5
Defeating McConnell would be wonderful, but it doesn't make a D the majority leader. You also have to defeat Collins, hold every D seat, and knock out a few other Rs. Doug Jones is very vulnerable. Trump's going to come after him hard. Send whatever you can to help his campaign and that of Sara Gideon, Collins' opponent.
Maybe being the nominee will keep Biden from endorsing Rs in Congressional races.
2
Can someone convince Joe Biden, he needs to sincerely address the Burisma scandal of his son Hunter Biden, rather than seeming offended by it when pointed that out? If he addresses it, that can scandal can be put to rest. Otherwise it will linger in the voters mind, as a thorn, unnecessarily.
One other thing he needs to slow down while he speaks. There's too much push of speech. When he hurries he fumbles, says things he doesn't mean.
Nobody expects a "perfect" Joe Biden. He doesn't need to prove anything. He doesn't need to put down Bernie Sanders, when Sanders blames him hoping to capture votes. The votes meant for Biden will be there without his uttering a single word, if he doesn't mess up. The fear his supporters have is that he would "mess up." That was why Mike Bloomberg got in.
4
@A.G.
Biden’s stuttering may account for the appearance of “stumbling.” I imagine his style of speaking is primarily a technique for avoiding stuttering. Watch the movie, “The King’s Speech.” You will see some of the techniques used avoid stuttering.
1
The highly successful effort to smear reformist Bernie as a revolutionary by the Democratic Party and the corporate media will only make the millions of young voters that support him give up on the fixed capitalist election system and become real revolutionaries.
8
@Red Allover
I am not an establishment Democrat. Sanders while a eloquent sincere champion of the common people was unable to build a strong coalition to win Super Tuesday. The 18-29 year olds failed to show up in large numbers. We shall see if he can manage to build a large coalition the next big round of primaries. But, whoever is the final nominee must be able to do this to beat Trump in the crucial swing states. Trump must go!
@Garry It looked like Sanders had more than enough strength to blaze through Super Tuesday. The party wisdom decided we needed Biden, who was politically dead after Nevada. I wonder what would have happened if they instead gave the voters cover to vote Sanders? The flocks and schools would be united with the revolutionaries. Trump actually WOULD go.
3
For Biden to be a success he would have to bring a public option to Obamacare. That was the original plan all along. The insurance companies fought it because they know they have an inferior product. They would not be able to compete.
Once the public gets a choice then basic private insurance will begin to fade away. And it won't take long for the majority of Americans to switch.
7
Yes Mr Brooks, in fact more than given another chance to the establishment he will give just another face perhaps more polite and well behaved but the same substance.
3
Excellent article, David, and I particularly like your comparison of the movement of Democrats last Tuesday to a flock of geese or a school of fish. My only quibble was with your description of it as “seemingly leaderless.” On the contrary, what inspired me to join the flock was precisely the self-effacing, unifying, perfectly timed leadership displayed by the next generation of Democrats, as embodied by Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke and, especially, Pete Buttigieg. What they did was downright magical—politics at its best. It certainly put a spring in this septuagenarian couple’s feet, as we headed to the polls.
3
How is it that America is so precisely politically split down the middle that the polity votes like a pendulum? Where is that shared national vision? Are we sheep? Are we trained or by instinct guided by commercialism towards the next shiny new thing?
Can we agree and act collectively on just one simple thing in the Hippocratic Oath to not cause harm? Let us actively advance human civilization to significantly ethically evolve beyond the day we were each born to when we die both individually and collectively.
3
@Joel H Most Americans don’t want Sanders’ vision.
On the day after Super Tuesday, this (white) evangelical pastor and lifelong Republican made the very first political donation of his life to the Biden campaign. Now 60-years-young, I'm beginning to understand I have always given a candidate's moral character greater weight in the voting booth than their political agendas. In this sense Joe Biden reminds me very much of the great Ronald Reagan.
4
Youre quite right, Reverend. Both faithful and steadfast servants of the corporate oligarchy Joe and Ronny are indeed quite similar. If only the liberals supporting Biden had your insight.
1
Have not read the Brooks column for some years.Coming up on four.. .Some force of growing anxiety and mixed resignation has prevented me from enjoying the rarefied air of expectant if muted optimism that emanates from the classically trained deeply disciplined intellectual mind from New York.Some expectant force compelled me, after a morning of reading the progress of a complicated disease organism burning its way nationally through an unresponsive ineffective presidential response,that perhaps, just perhaps the time had indeed come to embrace reality.We will see.
1
Mr Brooks, it is wishful thinking that Biden would drive change, or that Mitch would cooperate, absent a POPULAR MANDATE for change. Let us see if Biden seeks and wins a specific mandate in the remaining primary season, if not Biden is doomed to lose to Trump, as Clinton did.
8
This is the Brooks approach to the information in David Leonhardt’s and Stuart A. Thompson’s column also in today’s Times, How Working-Class Life Is Killing Americans, in Charts. It is a bedrock-shaking picture of the state of our country and the prospects for the future of the nation if we pursue change in the way and at the pace mainstream Democrats have been advocating for decades while Republicans and their wealthy overlords American blithely wreak havoc in the lives of human beings.
10
"There would be no choice but to somehow pass his agenda: a climate plan, infrastructure spending, investments in the heartland, his $750 billion education plan and health care subsidies."
Health care subsidies, while a good thing, will not solve the health care cost crisis: health care is a drain on the economy because our regionally monopolized provider and fractured payer system lead to the exorbitant pricing of a non-discretionary good. Only the fundamental reform of a single payer insurance system can control prices. That is why Sander's supporters are so skeptical of Biden's centralist incrementalism. And you should be too.
11
"Their problems will still be all our problems. And if our current system can’t address them, then that system will be swept away."
And it can't happen soon enough.
5
Why should anyone vote for Dems? They can’t back Medicare for All? What do they do with all of the money? At least the Republicans reduce our taxes so the private man can afford health insurance.
1
@rebecca1048 Anyone who makes enough money that a reduction in taxes is all that's standing between them and paying for healthcare never had a problem to begin with.
12
Most people get their health insurance through their employer. For that “private man” or woman out there buying their own insurance, Obamacare has made it happen. Don’t be fooled again - tax cuts are not going to save you health insurance. Single payer is.
7
@Gman This is true, which is why I won't vote for Biden unless he supports single payer loudly and often.
1
"It was like watching a flock of geese or a school of fish, seemingly leaderless, sensing some shift in conditions, sensing each other’s intuitions, and smoothly shifting direction en masse."
More like three moderate candidates dropped out and endorsed him. Then uninformed voters who have only been paying attention for three days hear Biden's name (knowing it already) and vote for him.
There is no "community".
6
Republicans are not interested in fixing society's faults unless they get the credit and can individually profit from the fixes. They are interested in stopping Democrats from doing anything that will reduce business power or make Democrats look good.
As long as Republicans have major influence within the Establishment, it will be at war with itself whenever it tries to fix things. The fixes will be sabotaged or ineffective or at best too expensive because everybody in the Establishment gets a piece of the action and because they are repurposed by entrepreneurs to make money.
Republicans must escape not only Trump but also their pre-trump habits, or they must be marginalized. Otherwise they will use their position as part of the Establishment to make sure that the Establishment's one last chance is squandered.
5
Could it be that we hunger for normalcy, calm and less chaos in our lives? Might it be that someone who has weathered many a storm in his life feels like a wise elder? Are we fed up with midnight TWITTER storms and constant turmoil? Is it possible to sweep away the utterly corrupt sycophants that are the defining feature of highest level of US national government?
We owe a great debt to Bernie for raising urgent issues to the center of US policy debates and he will be remembered for lighting a response of hope. However, as a senior I welcome a steady hand over revolution.
4
@seniorbabe I appreciate the sentiment, but if you actually think that any of that is going to stop, regardless of who wins, you are very, very wrong.
This is the social media and Twitter era. People are going to fight no matter what. If Bernie's supporters seem nastier online, it is solely because he has more enthusiastic young supporters, that's it -- because everyone online is nasty.
If Twitter was in wide use back when Obama was running for President, you better believe it would have have the nastiest, harshest election you've ever seen.
We are never going back to the days when three national news anchors on three networks told everyone in the country what to think. Nowadays, everyone gets an opinion, and gets to shout it out to the world. Things online are never going to be civil, calm, or normal again. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
3
@kryptogal
Oh sure - they’re nasty, they’re also not getting $87K a month for doing nothing!
Thank you for at least pointing to a long game. So many Dems are acting as though Trump is an anomaly, we just need to beat him and then we're good.
I'm not sure why they think that. Who are they thinking the Republicans will put forward next time?
9
I've read and heard from any number of Sanders supporters (many of whom are friends) who claim they didn't vote for HRC, who lost 'largely because people were tired of establishment politicians who didn't truly address life or death issues such as healthcare." They say Biden will fail to do the same.
But many of those who voted against Clinton or declined to vote at all are too young to remember HRC's history on universal healthcare and need to be informed:
HRC was the chair of the task force devising the 1993 healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton. Its goal was to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans, which was to be a cornerstone of the administration's first-term agenda.
People made fun of what HRC accomplished because she was "acting like a co-president," so it went nowhere. But she was the first to create a modern universal health care plan.
So I say to those who believe a moderate candidate will yet again ignore their needs, that only a revolutionary will deliver the universal healthcare Sanders promises, to reconsider and stop painting moderates with such a huge brush. Moderate Democrats do care, and if we manage to turn the Senate and get rid of Mitch McConnell, will be able to pass legislation that counts. (Just think, Elizabeth Warren for Senate Majority Leader!)
Even if you won't vote for Biden, vote down-ticket for the Senate and House, and go blue no matter what.
6
The stakes were pretty darn high in the 2016 presidential election but will be even higher in 2020. For the Democrats. I believe Mr. David Brooks is correct in his analysis that a 202 loss would do great harm to the party. But I believe it will be more like a loss of confidence, a loss of faith and that voters will simply drift away in disgust. It would be two losses in a row to a corrupt carnival barker. To use a bad sports analogy. It's like being in the Super Bowl, 4th and goal going in for the winning touchdown and twice running the ball up the middle and getting stuffed each time. Guess what happens to the coach. In 2016 Democrats insisted on running an establishment type who was easy for the Republicans to paint as an elitist and globalist at time when everything else in politics was going populist. Many said don't do it but the Dems did it anyway and lost. Not just any plain old loss. A disastrous loss not only handing the presidency to Trump but handing a thriving economy over to Republicans. IF Democrats nominate Biden and he loses to Trump the Democrats will only have themselves to blame (not Bernie Sanders) and the party will never be the same.
8
@Unkle Monkey
" IF Democrats nominate Biden and he loses to Trump the Democrats will only have themselves to blame (not Bernie Sanders) and the party will never be the same."
And yet the Democrats will blame Sanders anyway if Biden looses to Trump, never mind that Biden, like Hillary, was an incompetent candidate with the wrong values and solutions.
After this election cycle progressives for the poor, the working and middle class should form a 3rd party.
1
Biden can win if he describes Trump as he is: The con man leader of a cult of cruelty.
Those who say that the Democrats can't do anything with McConnell as Senate Majority Leader are missing a crucial point: The Democratic House has shamefully abdicated their responsibilities and their power. Pelosi has been getting good but totally undeserved press for taking on Trump. In fact, her negligence has allowed Trump and McConnell to take almost complete control of the agenda.
All spending bills originate in the House Ways and Means Committee. If they would just zero out all discretionary spending for Kentucky, see how long it takes for Mr. McConnell to change his dictatorial ways. It is infuriating to see the House Democrats cravenly abdicate their power.
Dan Kravitz
4
Neither Sanders nor Biden can beat Trump. Biden seems to have dementia and Sanders is too extreme. I was hoping that Bloomberg would be the nominee -- I would vote for him. But now I will have to vote for Trump who is a lot better than Sanders or Biden.
1
And Trump is not too extreme?
That ll teach em.
I am so tired of writers like Brooks referring to the movement Bernie has empowered as the monolithic "Bernie Bros." It is belittling and willfully obfuscates the actual demographics of the coalition. Please do better!
9
@Nathan Bernie’s core demographics are young, angry, and not very diverse.
3
@John They are incredibly diverse, look at any photos from his rallies. And they have every right to be angry.
Biden's core demographics are old, scared, and have been wrong about basically every single thing over the past two decades.
9
@Nathan
No doubt, I’m an old gal, but you can call me “bro” if you want to!
1
C'mon. We absolutely need a woman vice president this time. Either Elizabeth Warren or Amy Klobuchar would be excellent and worthy choices.
5
Elizabeth Warren is needed in the Senate; Massachusetts has a Republican governor who's not likely to appoint a Democrat to replace her.
5
I’m praying and hoping that this convergence will happen again in November. We must united to defeat the current administration or our future is doomed.
#Vote
3
At this point Biden is the clear leader and could get the nomination. Winning in November is still a big question. Biden is always his own worst enemy and a gaffe machine. Tricky Trump could easily outmaneuver him and get another electoral victory. I hope that Biden has some good advisors and the establishment keeps him in check to not make those blundering errors. If anything Biden should learn not to embellish and not to copy someone else. It is hard to change a 77 year old man but that's what most Dems wanted and they got it! So Biden please don't blow it!
1
You guys learned nothing from 2016.
Biden has the exact same coalition that Hillary had: black southerners, old white people, and moderate suburbanites.
Biden has the same weakness in support as Hillary did: almost no support from young voters and little from working class whites without a college degree.
Let's not forget that in the general, Hillary lost most of the states that she won in the primary -- including the entire south, where she handily beat Bernie, just like Biden did.
The electorate in the primary (and mid-terms), is vastly different from the electorate in the general. Only politically engaged people who read the news vote in primaries -- most everyone votes in the general. There is no correlation between primary and general wins.
The young generation has solidly rejected Biden. On Super Tuesday, only 17% voted for him, and 58% for Bernie. Flip those percentages for those over 65.
Too bad most older people vote GOP in the general. The ONLY times that Democratic candidates for President have won in the past two years was when young voters supported the candidate: Bill Clinton and Obama.
We had thousands of articles analyzing the grievances of the white working class after 2016, and we'll have thousands about the young after 2020.
The over-65s so opposed to "socialism" while they enjoy the benefits of their beloved socialized Medicare and SS programs come off as rank hypocrites to the young.
And Biden yells just as much -- it's just incoherent.
8
Only time that Democratic presidents have won in the last *40* years, that should have said. Never without major youth support. Because older people are most Republicans.
Again, the primary electorate is nothing like the general electorate, so don't make any inferences. Even the highly educated people I knew didn't know when primaries were, unless they happened to be interested in politics. Everyone in the country knows the one day every four years that the country stands still and votes for President. If you think you can win with a Democratic candidate that young people soundly reject, good luck with that.
3
This only works if young people actually vote in greater numbers - so far, they haven't.
2
where do you get the idea Biden doesn’t have support of white non college educated men?
I have dozens of friends and relatives who voted for Trump. at least half say they would switch if Bernie were the nominee, but not for any other Democrat. I am not a Bernie bro, but my admittedly unscientific sample convinces me we are toast unless Bernie is the nominee. Trump will chew Biden up like so much dog food.
9
David, your GOP won! Our plutocracy will continue, any marginal change by Biden if any at all will continue to disenfranchise those who feel the system is rigged. The pool of voters will be less and less giving the GOP the chance to reemerge with another right-winged demagogue, but more intelligent, less treasonous and corrupt. There are a lot of Trumps queuing in the GOP! The democrats myopia will be there undoing.
The wishes of voters who believe in a just society vs what can actual can be accomplished is the greatest mismatch of our politics. Warren was the only candidate that sees this and called it a rigged system which is that those with greatest resources to fund politicians are the ones the rule our politics. Until we have public funded elections we will continue to have government for and by plutocrats! As elections become more expensive their strength will grow exponentially unit we have no democracy!
We will lose the majority of younger voters and continue to do so as they get older especially when they believe they can never achieve their parent's economic status. The GOP knows that thier strength is a diminishing voter pool, while democrats don't have the courage to really make a difference for them. Perhaps it is not so much courage for democrats to make our lives better but thier economic incentives to keep our rigged system.
3
Brooks, always so wrong on so many levels, never disappoints. I'm amazed by how much people fear change, so afraid they will give up something instead of gaining the opportunity to share the wealth of the country more equitably. Pretty sure we'll be returning to the 90's after this election, and then having learned nothing, we'll repeat this same political discussion in four years. Not sure if the poor can wait that long, much less the planet. People should more carefully consider the viable option for a political revolution rather than the real thing - the clock is ticking.
8
This is Brooks' best article yet.
If Biden is the Democratic candidate, he'd better win against Trump. If not, the Democratic Party will collapse.
If Biden is president, he'd better deliver for the working class, both Trump-supporting and Sanders-supporting working class. If Biden reverts to his history of supporting big corporations and the rich and neglecting the working class, the Democratic Party will collapse.
I doubt Biden knows how to discard old habits and instead to sincerely help the working class and to ignore the call from the rich and big corporations for continuation of their privileges.
2
You fail to mention how the GOP, not Trump, vilifies and destroys the very institutions you laud, perpetually obstructing the passage of all things you say must be passed to save America. Trump rules because the GOP is a right-wing authoritarian party.
Republicans have exploited fear, hate, and paranoia for over a half century. Ronald Reagan demonized the idea of good government stating "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem", and "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I’m here to help."
Sanders, supposedly all about black Americans and women, has proven to have very limited appeal with either group. He appeals primarily to urban whites, specifically angry educated white men.
As the Times just reported, Sanders' closest ally, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, only won her seat in Congress because wealthy white gentrifiers voted for her. She lost overwhelmingly with every other constituency, including working class blacks and Latinos.
Sanders after losing South Carolina, and 72 hours later losing Super Tuesday, stood up ranted about how he only lost because he'd dared take on the "Corporate Establishment" which had voted against him.
It was breathtakingly false, and hard to distinguish from a Trumpian post-truth rant.
Biden won because a massive number of black voters and women came out for him, (and rejected Sanders), yet Sanders would have us believe they're the "Corporate Establishment".
3
Whew, I am glad the NEW Democrats are coming from the Right so that when I have to leave the Democratic Party if they elect another spineless Corporate Democrat then I won't be missed.
8
It sure does seem that people may be hopeful for a period of relative calm after four tears of the Trump Administration’s perpetual “smash and grab” dumpster fire.
I have to say, however, that it was disconcerting to see the increase in the stock prices of health insurance providers and defense contractors.
Biden seems to learn over time, and I hope that he disappoints the corporate elites and grifters if he finds his way to the White House this time around.
3
Yes, there will still be problems to solve but, getting rid of Trump comes first on the list.
2
Friends tell me, Oh Biden will be smashed by Trump. I disagree.
I would argue that Joe Biden's obvious decency, years of service, and even his gaffes will stand up well against Trump's coarseness, ignorance, and mean spiritedness.
Biden is like a breath of fresh air. I wasn't a supporter and cast my vote elsewhere; I wish he was feistier, had a quicker wit and sharper mind, was 20 years younger. All of this is still there but for the first time in a long time I feel as though I can breathe. Joe Biden might turn out to be just what the doctor ordered.
4
Phew is right!
And now time to realize that all this decades long left/right dilemma hasn’t been on purpose but it was purposeful in distracting us from the real issue ... those unattended agenda went unaddressed because most of our money is going into the “two trillion” in military capability Trump threatened to use in Iran but didn’t.
Our country’s humbling does not have to be humiliating. As historian Will Durant notes, Rome built no walls until then did no good.
The English, Spanish, even Portuguese and Dutch were world powers at one point and gradually adapted when their empire was unsustainable.
All the talent and treasure we have poured out has not “won “ any of the two hundred interventions we’ve undertaken since 1945, unless you count cakewalks like Grenada and Panama.
It’s a big heads up that the last president who told us war is a business that we need to get out of was a military general waited until his last day in office to say it.
We will continuing conjuring this “progressive” agenda until next face up to where we need to reallocate resources to pay for it.
Now is that time.
2
Brooks is so very excited about a Democratic "establishment" candidate (ie, Joe Biden, the guy who has always acquiesced to Republican demands), but in the end, after influencing voters with his wordsmithing semantics, he will vote Republican.
5
Good column! I felt that your ending was particularly strong...the problems of Trump and Sanders voters are our problems, and can't be ignored.
2
Well, I am relieved that you aren't over-hyping this Biden turn-around, for click's sake! And I am equally relieved that you are giving "The Establishment" (and Civilization itself?) this one last chance.
But, momentous things have the vexing habit of happening in their own way, defying predictions (like several of your own), and complicating the future even as they seem to clarify the present and the near-run, do they not?
Crossing fingers and hoping that a workable sanity will prevail is good clean fun; prognosticating the fate of the Republic on a weekly deadline is mere clutter.
1
Mr. Brooks, The Trump Slump will be followed by a Biden Bounce. The Democrats always fix the economic follies of the Republicans. Always.
3
But that doesn’t mean that legitimate crises that are driving the Sanders voters — or the legitimate crises that are driving Trump voters — will go away.
Their problems will still be all our problems. And if our current system can’t address them, then that system will be swept away.
Since 1980 it has been the GOP and right wingers that stand in the way of resolving these problems.
3
Infrastructure spending. Biden should do that first. It's necessary, it would put people to work in better-paying, union-oriented jobs, and would make the inevitable tax increases more palatable.
6
Sanders still has as good a chance as Biden at getting the nomination.
My fear is that Trump will destroy Biden by relentlessly keeping the focus on the Biden Ukraine relationship, warranted or not.
It's all about perception management, and with Trump doing the management, it becomes manipulation, and my oh my, can this carnival barker ever manipulate Americans.
Biden, in my opinion, will not survive the 24/7 onslaught, and Trump will get his second term and opportunity to finish undoing our Democratic Republic, all because we again handed him the weapons.
Aside from all the other worthwhile reasons why Bernie Sanders is the right choice, nearly all polls show him trouncing Trump, 60 plus out of 72.
So, we can fill our heads with yet more visions of Democratic moderates saving the day, or save the day for real by nominating Bernie.
5
@Mel Farrell -- Of course Trump will pound on Ukraine. After the impeachment, Democrats can't pretend it is unimportant. And Trump won on impeachment, in the Senate, and with his voters. His numbers have never been better.
What exactly is "the establishment'? Who are "the elite"? Does every Democratic voter who does not support Bernie, including a large majority of African-American, qualify? If so, that's about 2/3 of all members of the Party.
Unfortunately, Bernie won't bow out and throw his support to Biden when it's clear he has no chance of the nomination. The reason is that Bernie isn't really a Democrat, and never has been. Bernie is all about Bernie and his "movement." He has convinced people to send him money every week, and he spends most of his time bad-mouthing all the people who have been working as Democrats their whole lives. He has convinced many of his followers that all Democrats who don't support Bernie are "corporalists" who are not "pure" enough. He promises everyone free healthcare way beyond what any other country provides with a public system, free public college, free student debt forgiveness, free childcare, free preschool, a guaranteed job for everyone at a minimum $15/hour + full benefits, a minimum salary of $65,000 for every teacher in the country, increased social security for everyone, paid family leave for everyone, and more. It all sounds great, but Bernie can't just waive his hands and make it all come true. He admitted he doesn't even know how much all that will cost, and the figures he puts out don't add up. The danger Bernie poses is not that his ideas are bad because they won't happen anytime soon. The danger is he will again divide the party.
7
"Establishment" may be, for some, a naughty word. But if that term can be defined at least in part to reference "those in charge" then I'd suggest that Mr. Sanders is interested in simply exchanging one establishment--one he would lead--for another. Further, I sense in his use of that term the same intent that I sense in Mr. Trump's use of "deep state." Mr. Sanders is, likely, no fraud. I believe he is, likely, sincere. But he is a sincere unreconstructed 60's radical who has never achieved mature nuance, and who evidences a two-year-old's insistence that the immediate world bend to its wishes. I regard him as a near miss, thanks to the powers that be.
3
About those "legitimate crises" driving away Sanders and Trump voters: I thought Trump was running on a great economy, meaning no one left behind! How can anyone be disgruntled with the economy? What the Democratic shoal of fish or flock of birds are seeking is DECENCY!
3
Newsflash: The elites own the board. Their claim on the world's resources is airtight according to the current set of rules.
This is the natural endpoint of a world without an accessible frontier.
There are two strategies for dealing with this at the macro level: violent revolution or using the political process to compel them to share enough of what they own so we can have decent lives.
After the revolution, someone will be in control, but it won't be Bernie Sanders. Napoleon pushed Robspierre and his associates out of the way, and you see how that went.
Sanders says "give us a lot". Biden says "give us some". Trump says whatever he wants, but he's giving more to them.
There are numerous strategies for dealing with it on the individual level. You can be useful to them, you can do commerce down here where ordinary people live. You can try to be one of them, but unless your parents are upper class, your chances are slim. There are still opportunities to live well and obtain the trappings of wealth but they are diminishing, and they won't get you into that club. The Pritzkers and the DuPonts will be polite but they won't let you in on their deal.
Take a hint from Dr. Zhivago. Adapt yourself.
4
I am surprised that none of the pundits have noted the obvious: The Democratic primary was front loaded with conservative Democrats that included Bloomberg. They all have dropped out handing their delegates to Conservative Joe. Unlike Bernie, Joe needs a bunch of porters to carry his baggage. If he beats Bernie -- if! -- count on Trump to remind us of Joe, his baggage, and the porters.
Having said that: March 15 -- next week Sunday -- is the next debate between Bernie and Joe. I suggest to wait before writing obituaries about Bernie's campaign. But this piece was a fun read. I was missing a reference to "A galaxy far, far away …"
5
@Yahoo
Love your comment !!
I don't look forward to reading the same column 4 years from now, nor do I appreciate having to read it over and over again all these years. More of the same. Biden/Trump will not do anything to reverse, or even stall, the trend lines in this country. Biden's "incredible surge" is an uncritical examination of the state of affairs. This is not a hopeful moment. When people run in circles its a very, very mad world.
7
I watched the town hall with Trump. He seems to be "on the ball" and is never at a loss for words. Biden seems to have a problem with communication. Biden would be a horror during a debate with Trump.
6
Remember what happened the last time a centrist democrat ran against Trump?
A lot of Trump supporters are among those left behind by the US economy and I don't think Biden can believably speak to them whereas Sanders can.
8
David, your insularity is glaringly obvious with the statement "tens of millions of Americans feel that their institutions have completely failed them". It's not a feeling to be assuaged; it's a fact -- we HAVE failed them. The same issue of the Times has a long piece on how deaths of despair have been rising over the past 20 years, especially among the young and disenfranchised. I know many intelligent and hard-working young people, college graduates among them, who cannot see any path to the kind of comfortable existence you (and I) have. They don't feel, they know that the institutions have failed them, and their reality won't change until the institutions receive a great shake-up and either orient themselves toward serving ordinary humans or go away.
5
I wish Sanders knew how to push a real movement--one that could elect effective Senators and Governors to replace the fawning Trump-swabs of the Republican majority. Heck, if he even had a plausible younger heir who would make a reasonable vice-presidential candidate to pair with Biden, that would help a lot right now. Sanders's problem has been that attention to such details hasn't really been his strength.
I don't share David Brooks' enthusiasm. Trump will pound Biden relentlessly over Ukraine and his son Hunter's involvement with Burisma. Do you remember Hillary's e-mails? And you don't think Bill Barr will help start an investigation to swing the election? Come on, David. You're not that naive.
I agree that Bernie is a risk, but as a Democratic Floridian, I can tell you unhesitatingly that the State will go for Trump if Biden ultimately wins the nomination. Young people will stay home and not even bother to vote for him.
It may be that Democrats will overwhelmingly vote for Joe, but independents and Republicans, even if they're wary of another 4 years of Trump, will still not vote for Biden. The devil you know is better than the one you don't. Joe is way too old-school, and ultimately that fact, along with the baggage of Ukraine and Hunter will hand us a humiliating defeat if Joe is nominated.
Sanders was our only chance to win. Now, in my opinion, we're about to lose the White House again AND keep the Senate Republican. I bet we even lose seats in the House.
As POTUS likes to say on Twitter, "Sad."
5
I believe Brooks is making a style over substance argument for Biden. It is true that there are people who benefit from keeping the system as is and of course they have the money and power to do so. It is also true that they are a lot of people who are suffering a lot in order for these well monied and powerful people to continue to have these things.
Of course, this monied and powerful people will make promises: things will get better, we’ll do things differently, etc. The rich and powerful - and I include Brooks in this group - get to shape the society they live in. They shape EVERYTHING about it.
Metaphorically, it’s like a man in a heterosexual relationship gets to choose the kind of relationship it will be: mother and son or, sadly, master and slave. If a man wants to be a man in the relationship, he must be or become the equal of the woman. Every day a man will make choices that shapes his relationship.
The US has shaped the world. They had the power, money, and will to do it. I find that Brooks et al like to erase the meaning and impact of their choices. They seem to want to remove the seriousness of what they do. But many people are faced with no choices or bad choices that have and will have serious consequences on their life, including losing their life. Make no mistake: politics is about life and death, just maybe not yours.
Trump is not our only problem. The Republican Senate has steadfastly refused to give an inch, even going so far as to deny a sitting president a Supreme Court nomination. They are the most dangerous radicals in this nation and they are a real threat to democracy. They appear to have zero interest in compromise. I'm not sure if Biden gets this--I fear that he is living in a more collegial past when fair compromises were possible and the Republican party had some sense of decency and honor and acknowledged the importance of truth and science. The biggest mistake Pres. Obama made was taking too long to decide that the Republicans were not interested in working with him. If Biden becomes President, I hope his eyes are open on day one.
3
Progressives have a lot of work to do to win over this moderate. It's more about policy than process for me though I value both and appreciate their interplay in moving the democracy forward. I differ a bit from Mr. Brooks in that I believe the moderates have always been there and were just waiting for the chance to vote. Most of this group is not on social media or taking over buildings...but they do vote. Sanders supporters generate heat but shed no light. Their fully throated anger is out of proportion to their voting patterns for the 18-29 demographic. Additionally, their tactics of savagely attacking democrats online and promoting a "burn it to the ground" mentality rings hollow with most voters. We live in a deliberative democracy that has the capacity to make itself better and demand more elected officials for sure and we have the mechanism for doing so...it's called voting. Part of living in a deliberative democracy is also eschewing purity tests which seems to be the litmus test of choice for obtaining Progressive votes. You can't always get what you want but when that happens you also don't take your ball and go home and you don't cast a vote (3rd party) which the net effect of is moving us a step closer to McCarthyism. Life just isn't always perfect. Additionally, we need more from Progressives than 3 word slogans that pass for them as fully formed policy prescriptions when in actuality they are aspirational moonshots. Progressives have a lot of work to do.
4
You say progressives have a lot of work to do to win you over, so this 63-year-old progressive will give it a try.
First, I agree with your point about younger people not voting. I started voting as soon as I was old enough and made it a lifelong habit, so I am disappointed that young people are not going to the polls in larger numbers. At the same time, it's easy to see why young people may have given up on a system that has done little or nothing to address climate change, to provide access to health care and adequate levels of education, and that promotes a distribution of wealth so lopsided that it threatens democracy. So, yes, more young people should vote, but maybe more older people should vote in ways that would give our understandably cynical youth a reason to hope.
Second, you complained about progressives having only short slogans. But Warren had detailed plans for multiple issues! Pages and pages!
Third, we can throw around labels like "socialist" or "progressive" but if you poll people on the individual issues, it turns out that they want health care, they want a more equitable wealth distribution, they want more educational opportunities, they view racism and sexism as real evils, and they are increasingly concerned about the climate crisis. If we could forget the divisive labels, it would be easier to reach consensus and actually start to solve problems.
3
I don’t understand why so many Democrats repeat the Republican mantra that only Biden can beat Trump. The talking heads, the media keep repeating until the whole party is shaking in their boots, right where Trumps wants them. Where’s the evidence? In my view Warren was the more prepared, articulate and presented a clearer vision than the rest of the many debaters. Whoever wins the nomination will be debating a President
who has to defend his 4 year record. The passage of tax cuts, the granting of pardons, his appointments an so forth. If the media (questionable) does its job it will try its best to elicit his plans and the plans of corporate backers and fellow 1%ers their view of the future.
The status quo is going to be hard to change, they have all the power of wall street, the pharmaceuticals, the insurance companies, the tech companies, the military complex, and the vast majority of corporate board members. It would sure be nice to see the opposition at least pretend to be coming a position of strength instead running around with their hair on fire saying only one person can beat Trump. Its like the DNC is sneaking in the backdoor to make sure there is no confrontation in the weigh-in, shaking in their boots before the big fight. The democrats don’t seem to match-up well with Trump, he continues to beat them like a drum.
4
If moderates in both parties could figure out they have a lot in common and would be stronger if they left the far ends of the political spectrum behind and joined together in one center party, they could dominate politics.
2
I am really tired of attacks on individuals with labels - elitist, liberal, conservative, etc. Could we please stop using labels and listen to positions again? Sanders is not the right person at this time as his shouting at people doesn’t help to convey some very good ideas. We are all in this together. We need to reach a consensus (not a compromise) on where we are going and that can only be done with discussion and reasonable exchange of ideas. Biden is a better (not perfect) choice to drive that road and get a democratic Senate and House to get things moving again - embrace science, address climate change, fund infrastructure to allow for better jobs and incomes, fix (not repeal and replace) the ACA. A healthy, employed, more just and equitable America would be a truly formidable agent for change at home and throughout the world.
4
David, every young politically aware person I know is absolutely despondent at the idea of Biden being the nominee. I am one of them. We just can't believe that the older people in our party still won't listen to us.
The boomer democrats have their Medicare, but they won't share it with us. They have their property and homes, but we're priced out. They have their pensions, and we never even bothered to dream of having that. They have their Social Security, and they're voting for the guy who is going to help them pull up the ladder behind them.
Bernie running on the Democratic ticket is the only thing keeping me in this party. Once he's gone, so am I- even if he loses and endorses Biden. I just can't keep supporting the party that thinks they're entitled to my vote simply by virtue of being the "lesser evil". I would have voted for Warren as a unity candidate, but even that was too much to ask for I suppose.
10
I well remember the shock felt by my elders, in their 50s, who lost their jobs in the 1980's. They often lost their pensions and many could not find another job in their field. In short, their careers were over. They came up in the ranks after fighting in WWII and worked for companies that took pride in investing in their working force. The shift that occurred then is still morphing in that direction. Your historical perspective is shortsighted. But more importanly, think of voting like currency. If there is a sufficently large voting block that makes its desires known, repeatedly, and politicians who fail to deliver are replace then you have the power to transform how government operates and how it spends its money. If you refuse to vote because you don't feel respected and you are too busy to be political in support of where the direction of this country goes, then you have ceded power to the very people you say have done you harm. In the most general sense the office of the President is far more one of window dressing than it is about dictating domestic policy. Congress holds greater power because that is where the decisions of where to allocate resources are made, and who gets to be a federal judge. Your state and local governments have far more sway over yours and my everyday life than any President. Politics is dirty tiring work but failing to engage in it won't ever change even one thing to make this country more fair.
2
Your sentiments are understandable, but the reality is that people under 30 historically have not voted in large numbers and so their interests tend to be ignored. If you want change, work to figure out how to pry your fellow young people away from their screens for a few hours every two years and vote. In particular, showing up for midterms and state and local elections is equally if not more important as voting in Presidential elections.
If people under 30 had consistently voted in the same numbers as older people for the last 40 or 50 years, we would not be in the situation you are describing.
4
Why was the turnout among young folks so poor?
This is so well said. I love the acknowledgment that the outrage at both political extremes is valid and almost always rooted in real-world suffering at the hands of a political system that has consistently failed us and is hanging on by a thread.
At the same time, it's a huge relief to see Democratic voters prioritizing putting someone in office who is best suited to make actual headway in improving the system, as opposed to someone who talks the talk - more like roars the roar - but shows little to no inclination to work with Republicans so that change can actually occur. We can't just wish (or yell) these people out of existence, and yes, unfortunately that will often mean working with the various and sundry "rats" in government referred to by another commenter. It's apt to call them that, but the fact is they are currently running the country, and will continue to do so if we don't elect someone who can work with them instead of telling us to "pick a side" and further polarizing our country.
I want practical progressivism. It's easy to rail against the system. It's smart to vote for the person who is most likely to improve our lives. Otherwise what's the point? Do we like being angry so much we want to stay that way, or do we want to see the change we're demanding actually start to happen? Pick a side, I guess.
8
"It was like watching a flock of geese or a school of fish, seemingly leaderless, sensing some shift in conditions, sensing each other’s intuitions, and smoothly shifting direction en masse."
You're describing lemmings, David. Or perhaps hive-mind insects. Pod people wouldn't be out of line, either, but there's nothing impressive about this.
4
Mr. Brooks states ... "There would be no choice but to somehow pass his agenda: a climate plan, infrastructure spending, investments in the heartland, his $750 billion education plan and health care subsidies." Have Republicans agreed to this?
4
I have felt this way about our government for a long time. They're not helping. They are actually making matters worse. No one is looking for a hand out but they're in charge of our basic institutions. They take our tax money and they don't use it properly. I was with Elizabeth Warren from day one because she got it. She understood what people needed to make their lives better. And now look! We're back on the treadmill again.
3
... but if he nails it we are good. Warren as VP, Harris justice, Abrams HHS, and an All Stars cabinet will give him the advice he needs and get us out of the deep dark well we are in.
8
Warren needs to stay in the Senate; Massachusetts has a Republican governor. It would also be helpful to have someone who is under 70 on the ticket.
1
I was quite relieved when I heard Tuesday's results, because even though Bernie has some ideas I agree with I knew he would never win a general election, and even if he did, he'd never get agreement on anything from Congress, which is where our real problem lies.
As to bringing the progressives to the party, Joe might consider Warren as a running mate, and if elected give her responsibilities that match her strengths: reforming Wall Street and corporate greed; and expanding the Affordable Care Act to what it was supposed to be until the Republicans managed to get Obama to water it down so much to get their votes that he never got anyway.
The key to everything is to win the Senate and then for Democrats to attack all the issues they have neglected every time they have had the majority. My fingers and toes are crossed and I'm down on my knees every night praying for that!
4
Well, if the election filled you with hope, your column has filled me with hope. Thank you.
Also, eye brow raising surprise. It astonished me that you argued that a Biden presidency would have to go way beyond a return to normalcy and have to address the real concerns of too many Americans who feel left out and betrayed by American institutions - the so-called establishment. The agenda you suggested is my agenda as a Democrat.
Is this a new David Brooks or have I not been reading you as closely as I should have.
5
With all due respect to Mr. Brooks, his warning about the establishment's last chance is 12 years late. The Obama-Biden administration was the establishment's last chance to right the wrongs building up from the Nixon era to the Bush-Cheney era. And Obama-Biden, despite the enthusiastic support of most of the world, was the worst political let-down in political history.
9
Actually, that title still belongs to Jimmy Carter (which is why he’s spent the remainder of his life basically going for sainthood).
For a former conservative to use class war language like "the establishment" is somewhat strange. The "establishment" is EVERYONE except for some hard left millenials and die hard liberals who tried to convince everyone that a socialist revolution is warranted in our country. We all went to the polls and soundly rejected this idea. Biden still might lose the general election because he has moved too far to the left to appease the apparanatchiks of the hard left. IF he is elected as a center left president, Biden needs to work with and compromise with center right Republicans to competently move our country forward.
1
Im a former Warren supporter, who has been battling the elite in this country for years, and I was a Bernie Supporter in 2016, but I think at this moment in time, Biden is the guy. The country needs stability and a sense of normalcy right now, and though Trump is probably not going to be the person who is running against Joe in November (he will be in jail--ill take any bets on that), Biden vs. Pence I think would be good for this country. I say this as a guy who has been about betrayed by this country as one can be, I may be 1 in history in that department, so I probably won't be living here in the long-term, but I do think this is Biden's moment, Sanders folk love to lecture but they struggle often to connect. Biden has got some flaws, but he is a good man, and even if by some MIRACLE Trump is still on the ballot in November, Biden would be more of a sure-thing than Bernie--Bernie's time to win was 2016, 2020 he should not have run and should have let Warren take up his mantle. I respect the man, but see his campaign as somewhat of a vanity one in the same vein as a Tom Steyer or Bloomberg one, only different in style. We all have to be pragmatic, and Big Gov is not the only way to impart big change.I wish I was allowed to create some of the start-ups that would bring about positive capitalist-driven change to our society, but I am not, not here, so that is why I am leaving. There is too much to forgive,but Biden's the guy I think for this moment. That much is clear
3
Tulsi Gabbard has accrued only two delegates but she's showing no signs of dropping out. Why?
She's staying in the public eye, talking about healthcare and education and the other Bernie-ish issues. And she's still popping up on FOX, playing up to the moderate Republicans voters.
The answer to all of this seems obvious but many are ignoring it.
One question for Mr Brooks:
Will incrementalism stave off the climate disaster that science tells us we have around eleven years to make the major changes needed to prevent it?
4
It will take Joe some time to reset the character of our country both within and without to represent the values we hold. In my opinion, it is only when some sense of ethical norm is re-established that his administration can begin to develop a new progressive vision for the future. It will take awhile. The current administration has done a lot of damage.
6
The "Establishment," in this case the Democrat Party is not a four letter word. It does however, "have a horse in this race" and a "self-interested set of positions", which often conflict with the wishes of its membership.
It would be wise for the Party and its Presidential candidate to recognize this and clean their own house. The average Democrat sees a decades long history of too much accommodation to the perks of the wealth class regardless of which party is in power.
Should a Democrat President and Congress prevail, it would be interesting to see a President, having received Trump's Imperial Presidential Prerogatives, act forcefully to regain democracy for the people. He could then demand reasoned legislative restrictions on Presidential Power, re-establish the Balance of Powers, and pass legislation needed to prevent a repetition.
With a SCOTUS right-weighted, legislative action via a Democrat majority Congress is required to achieve balance.
Good-bye Trump, Hello Democracy!
3
Please talk to the GOP Senators about this. It's clear who has been holding up any kind of progress on our problems for a dozen years, including all through the Obama years and, now, with Trump, a refusal to take up any proposal that the House sends them. How typical that it is now up to a Democratic president (Biden) to save us.
9
"It's better to work the room than storm the barricades." Yes! We need less war rhetoric and more love and kindness. That's why I go Joe and so should every American who wants a climate of love and respect to return to our homeland. A president with fewer words and more constructive action. That's Joe. A president who can build a coalition. That's Joe. A president who WILL reach across the aisle. Joe. A president with a vision for a unified America. Joe. Joe will seek policy changes that benefit everyone. But with the storms of climate change and world disorder upon us, the president become's our umbrella, his soul the fabric that protects us. This is less about policy and more about character. There is only one choice to make for America: we all need to go Joe. Thank you for a great column today.
8
It's all well and good to say the Democrats have to bring about change or the next wave of populism will be much worse, but how about addressing the Republican-led Senate and Mitch McConnell. As bad as Mr. Trump has been, McConnell, in his decision to block any and everything that President Obama wanted to do, set us on this path. If Mr. Brooks wants to see things happen, things that he says will save the Republic, his next column should focus on how Mitch McConnell needs to come to the table, or stay home in Kentucky post 2020.
6
One hopes that with Biden's ascendency at last an adult has entered the room.
The last three plus years have been a nightmare with a Twittering idiot running amok.
Biden is a decent man who can bring a calm maturity to a nation that is literally floundering without a social contract to bind it together.
Trump has been a horrible divider. Never in my life have I ever before witnessed a sitting President who did not seek to bind the nation together. Never before have I seen a President who engages in vile ad hominem attacks on elected leaders in Congress.
We need a restoration of simple decency in our society. I hope that Joe Biden is given the chance lead that restoration.
9
Biden is an anachronism. That is not going to change. The DNC is a corrupt nest of neoliberals who value money over life. That MUST change.
Bernie for President!
3
Agree with Brooks. We get the President we deserve. Plus, how can anyone watch the incompetence of the federal govt “responding” to Coronavirus and still want Bernie’s plan for the Fed govt to run our entire health care system? Trump is a buffoon, but he isn’t the primary reason our response has been awful. It’s as predictable as gravity: large govt organizations with no competition become increasingly bureaucratic and ultimately incompetent.
@Rich Every other developed nation in the world offers universal health care. Ask people on Medicare how much they "hate" government run medical care. And look at our current system and tell me that it's working. You are simply making sweeping statements of what you want to be true, with no facts to support your ideas.
you might change your opinion if you had a better understanding of what our federal agencies have actually done up until tRump when he gave the store to his pals. And now, we have genuine bureaucratic incompetence and outright theft of our national treasures.
"The politics of the last four years have taught us that tens of millions of Americans feel that their institutions have completely failed them." Try this instead == tens of millions of Americans know that existing political institutions have failed them. Know by experience, not by thought experiment, or postulation. Know by how much bread is on the table, how big the bills are, and who the government bows to, again and again. You better hope BIden's puppet-masters get their act together.
2
Gee David, I hope that if Biden wins the Democratic nomination as you and other "moderate" Republican columnists so desire you all will switch to lecturing your fellow Republicans why they shouldn't vote for Donald Trump. Is that a promise?
6
Wow David. To say that in your entire career you've never seen anything like the recent enormous support for JB is astounding. Let's hope it continues.
4
Joe? Foul it up? Say it ain't so Joe?
2
He will. Count on it...
3
oh for goodness sake, hold onto your tighty whities..There are many many systems in the western world that are the same as what Bernie espouses..There is no doubt t hat captialism, the profit motive, cannot rule a society - it just puts it's finger on the scale of those already having wealth and is skewed to giving more wealth to the few..But what that doesn't get is sometimes - in some spheres of our universe- the profit motive does not work..Preservation of the environment is one of them..Healthcare is another..Why don't you get this Brooks??
4
If Biden takes down Sanders, all of life on earth is doomed.
2
That is an insane statement. Bernie isn’t some kind of messiah. He will not fix your problems, nor is he singularly qualified over anyone else to bring change; quite the opposite I’d say given his reluctance to build the coalitions necessary for rule in a democratic republic.
"It was like watching a flock of geese or s school of fish..."
Great visual and analogy. Now everyone who's ever posted "Vote Blue" in the NYT better join the flock and school come November. If not, the birds and fish may not survive another 4 years.
1
Democratic
President
House
Senate
This is what will heal our broken country
9
“…The politics of the last four years have taught us that tens of millions of Americans feel that their institutions have completely failed them…
As have the economics of the past 20 years, as 3 successive POTI juiced their economies and re-election prospects with a trillion dollars of debt and another trillion of futile vainglorious military commotion each year…
All obfuscated by trillions of dollars of government-enforced socialist redistribution from working-class people to non-working-class people while the rich exempt themselves from the whole charade…
There’re working-class people out there who’re risking the house they’d managed to afford by working 2 jobs, to get insulin their spouse needs…
While Medicaid makes an absolute mockery of that work-ethic, and – dollar-for-dollar – is probably the least efficient and most corrupt payment model on the planet…
Bipartisanship alive and stabbing, inside the beltway…
Look at the elimination of SALT deductions – and the extortionate Medicare surcharges that kick in at middle-class retirement incomes…
Now, we’re going to get $8B of face masks and earmarks while we drive our travel and hospitality industries into the dirt…
Was a time, I’d fix things for a living…
Walk into a high-tech mess where it’d take 1-2 days to grok the top 5 things that needed fixing, and how…
And I would…
Was good – but not that good…
Not 1 original thought in 4 decades…
Just connect people – and get them out of their own way and denial…
Mr. Brooks, sadly I don’t share your optimism. We current have three aging dinosaurs that all well past their “best use by date” vying for the presidency. The current idiot occupying the Oval Office is 73 years old with the mind and temperament of an infant. And then we have Biden at 77 and Sanders at 78, neither is very inspiring. Really, this is the best America has to offer? I’m not sold on any of them.
I’m old too, so my concern is not about age discrimination; I get it that 70 is the new 60, but it’s just time for new leaders, new ideas and a realistic future. In knew when it was time for me to retire from my profession and give new generations a chance at leadership. In my lifetime our best Presidents were the youngest - JFK, Clinton and Obama; all three offered hope for the future and inspired our nation.
I’ll still vote for the Democrat, which ever relic from the past wins the nomination, but I’m not optimistic, I scared for the future of our nation and our democratic institutions.
4
Our ability to vote on the merits of a Presidential candidate have been stolen for the 2nd time. Senior white males generate the least Trump-fueled hatred and vileness among voters. “Can beat Trump” is a euphemism for this.
If Brooks is serious about wanting to return to a working government that resumes getting things done for America, he should work tirelessly between now and November 3 to help elect Democrats across the board. Only when purely partisan obstructionist Republicans are a small minority in the House and Senate and we have a Democratic (and democratic) President will the country return to normal. Now is the time for any truly patriotic Republicans to #WalkAwayFromTheGOP.
4
I think this is wishful thinking..
1
Comparing Sanders to Trump, describing their their “putrid shouting “ as equal? Groan.
If Brooks wasn’t rich he might have a clue why progressives are sick of the Democratic part serving its bankrollers instead of its constituents.
3
Saying we're "doomed" if your preferred script isn't followed isn't exactly turning down the volume. Heed thine own advice, Mr. Brooks, calm down. I think you are hyperventilating.
Joe Biden if you are reading this hit Trump for his feeble response. Say we need a cough ban, if you have a cough, by law you stay home, send somebody else out to shop for you, if your cough is light , and you must shop than you must wear a mask, the department of public health should get it to you. Japan is bringing this under control, for gods sake , let’s do what Japan is doing, please Mr Biden call him out...
Save US.
1
McConnell in every way possible has been the great Trump enabler and Constitution destroyer. Keep your eyes on the prize folks - the Congress and the POTUS must be Dem all the way in 2020 - just to get back to normalcy.
4
A doddering hack of a politician, associated with every acclaimed misstep and public shakedown of the last 40 years -- all the adult wisdom shown to be disgraced self-serving cant -- as a figure of national deliverance, and long past his discreditable prime?
What a preposterous fantasy world David Brooks inhabits. The rich really are different.
6
It’s rare that I agree with David Brooks unhesitatingly but do so on this piece. “Intersectionality is in the center.” Nice.
1
They foul it up and I’ll be the first sans cullotte. I’ve already ordered my pitchfork.
1
Just remember Mr. Brooks that with your hardly balanced op-eds of late, you're also part of that establishment.
3
Sadly David your dead wrong.
Democrats are settling for the best of the worst democratic candidates in decades.
Biden’s toast in Nov... wrong on most issues, no coherent message other than “I ain’t Trump” and declining mentally.
3
Doomed - nonsense Brooks! Trump will win and we will get more common sense solutions dealing with illegal and legal immigration, Israel, welfare, etc.
1
Bernie supporters need to take a deep breath.
Joe Biden is passed the expiration date of American males (76 YOA). It's entirely possible--perhaps even likely he will die in office. It is a stressful job when done properly, The Dear Orange Leader's 400 vacation days, notwithstanding.
His VP choice becomes staggeringly significant. The difference between Amy Klobuchar and Stacey Abrams is both exponentially and existentially significant. Hold your fire til you see whom he picks. If you can't go in the front door, why not go around back?
There's more than one way to skin a cat.
2
@Laurence Bachmann And Bernie is how old?
Hope?! Me, too!
The establishment’s man cannot string a set of words to form one coherent sentence. When he does open his mouth, he lies brazenly. Good luck!
2
"If he fouls this up, we’re doomed."
Brooks got that right, at least.
Quit with the false equivalency of "Bernie/Trump"; I understand the point you are trying to make, but it doesn't hold water. Trump is a narcissist whose only concern is himself. Bernie indeed has a radical agenda, but you cannot deny his motives to his core are to make life better for all. So yes, I will grant you that they are both unconventional, but one is an altruist while the other is an obnoxious sleazeball.
4
Also in the Times today, an analysis of "How working-class life is killing Americans". https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/06/opinion/working-class-death-rate.html
Would it really be so bad to have a president who cares more about the working class than about protecting the status quo?
4
Is there any way you could stop using hackneyed cliches like "the establishment", the "rainbow coalition", and "Bernie bros"?
1
One question remains, will the "Hunter Biden" and Obama legacy baggage be as strong a weapon for Trump as "servegate etal" was against Hillary?
1
Are you feeling OK David?
I agree with almost everything you say in this column. I will go check my temperature now.
Yup, they should all be out to pasture (if I read you right) but we gotta pick a horse, Mr. Brooks. I’m goin’ with Sleepy Joe—the nag that’ll do the least harm.
3
These comments reek of Deja Vu @2016 - and, we all know how that went. I cannot believe the delusion.
2
I think Joe Biden needs to remember "bigly" that James Clybourne of South Carolina saved him and turned his election process around. Maybe the unfulfilled promises of all the Black sacrificing for this country can finally be rewarded. It would seem fit.
5
The Republicans had a triple plan to use in this election (socialism, immigration, abortion). They just lost the big one, which was socialism. As an example, I know in my congressional district NJ-7, Tom Kean was chomping at the bit to label Tom Malinowski a socialist (fyi Malinowski supports Biden). Now Kean has got nothing.
1
Ever try helping him out?
Could you and/or the headline writer stop talking about "the establishment?"
We socialistic progressives who believe in moderate means are tired of being stereotyped.
1
"I don’t know about you, but the election results this week filled me with more hope than I’ve felt in years," writes Brooks. I resemble that remark.
1
Amazing. Here's a candidate whose word salad increasingly makes it clear he is over the edge of dementia. He is incontestably corrupt and has been so long before he met Obama. He is a breathtaking hypocrite who put others' children in jail for life while coddling his drug-addicted son. But Brooks sees this as hopeful for the establishment?
2
Biden is a very weak candidate. So is Bernie. We could honestly just flip a coin at this point; to actually be effective, it's best to focus on down-ballot races.
1
Did you see Bill Clinton’s latest excuse for having sex with an intern? Please Joe keep the Clintons as far away from your campaign as possible. The Clintons are a cancer to our party.
1
David, I heartily agree with everything except the false equivalence between Sanders and Trump. I have never doubted until now that a US president, D or R, ideologically like or different from me, has sincerely believed he was acting in the best interests of the country. I certainly wouldn't have any doubt under a Sanders presidency.
If a Biden presidency means addressing the climate crisis with either denial or tokenism; the economic well-being of the middle and working class continues to stagnate; continued pointless and costly in blood and treasure military adventures; racial divisions prevail where on the one hand, one after another after another questionable deadly police shooting of a person of color goes without consequences and meanwhile, a thirty year old picture of someone wearing blackface can ruin a career; decent health care remains inaccessible to many; a college education is available only to the wealthy or those willing to accept indentured servitude, then yes, there will be hell to pay in four years.
2
Fox is already talking about Biden's senility.
2
Gridlock avoided? Who does Brooks think we are? marons! Even if Biden wins the nomination Republicans will continue to obstruct his agenda as they did when he was VP to Obama. And now that Biden is older and far less sharp, I am confident he will give away the entire store this time around. He may be polite and friendly, but Republicans will play him like a piano as they did regarding the tax cut for the rich.
2
I don't suggest that Sanders is the answer to all prayers, but I do say that Biden represents the status quo. This means soft pedaling on the existential climate crisis, continuing to have the financial sector determine both foreign and national policies, and control of our politics by big money. None of this has been good for America in the past, and it will not allow us to return to our ideals and the ideas that made America great. It is true that a campaign between a liar and a shouter will be unpleasant, but since the limited electorate has taken all the women off the stage, that is what we have to cope with.
2
I am not a Brooks fan at all, but he makes some excellent points for a mainstream columnist about what is at stake for the US if Biden wins the presidency and does not deliver significant change for downtrodden folk.
I remain convinced though that Biden does not have a reforming bone in his body, he is essentially a creature of the distant past. If the exceptional Obama oversaw growing inequality and deprivation, Biden will not be able to orchestrate the far-reaching change that is needed if we are to avert cataclysmic disaffection and division.
In addition, he is beholden to far too many interests for his utterly unexpected turn around, and each of these will fight for their pound of flesh.
I still do not believe that Biden's verbal incoherence will withstand a resurgent Trump. Unless Trump is stumbled through other means.
1
The Establishment Democrats will foul up. Count on it.
While Biden seems like a decent man, his message of an "Obama Redux, "will not work: no one will win with a carefully-tailored appeal for half-measures meant to recall the status quo ante. (Plus, "Uncle Joe's" questionable cognitive abilities might prove disastrous.)
We will be stuck with four more years of Trump.
4
Since the DLC Democrats took over in 1992, the Democratic party has been trying to become the party of Wall St money, college-educated liberals and wealthy suburban moderates. They deserted their FDR-MLK-LBJ roots of fighting for the working poor.
Hillary ran on trying to get GOP suburban moderates to vote for her in 2016. She did everything possible to reject the progressive wing of the party and bring in center-right Republicans into the Democratic party. The gambit failed as Trump won Republicans and Independents by a big margin and Trump is now Prez.
Now Joe will try the same thing again in 2020. DLC Dems seem to think that the stars are finally in alignment. Wall-St money, college-educated liberals and suburban moderates are going to deliver victory even as more and more younger progressives desert the Democratic party by staying home or casting irrational protest votes.
For the sake of US democracy I hope the gambit works this time but it is far from certain.
It is very likely that after Biden loses in 2020, there will be a critical mass (40%-45%) of the FDR wing of the Democratic party that will split from the Clintonite Wall-St money wing of the party sick and tired of its incompetence. Those who voted for Joe Biden who cannot finish a single coherent sentence and has a horrible legislative record Trump will rip to shreds hoping for a "return to stability" will get anything but.
4
Really nothing surprising in these events, nor in Mr. Brooks's "insights". Too many people are either frightened of Bernie - their lives are pretty secure, they'd rather it all stayed that way - or frightened he'd lose to Trump as too radical. So let's see who's left...hmm...Biden it is. The safe choice in both senses. Let's get Trump out of there, scour the DOJ and federal agencies of Trump's corrupt appointees (invariably out there along for the ride for their own selfish agenda), restore institutions, and then we'll consider something a bit more adventurous.
Biden means well and tried to be decent, but beyond that he is no profile in courage, has few core principles and can be easily swayed or enticed by others, and at the thought of "compromise". So, fingers crossed, given that he wins, he'll need to be watched closely.
We see the internet memes all the time saying "They had one job to do...". Well, if you're not a supporter of this administration, you have one job, to vote for a change. The Democrats appear to have realized this and are coalescing around Joe Biden. He's a flawed candidate, but he's now the best chance for victory, and change, in November. However, Democrats have an eight month road ahead. The disinformation campaign and the tactics to dampen the voter turnout in battleground states will be ruthless. The real test ahead is whether the "Anyone but Trump" voters stick together and vote together. I fear that if Trump loses by the same margins he won by in the purple states in 2016, he will force court challenges and pursue every means possible to retain power, and the Republicans in Congress will do everything they can to support him. For anyone who wants Donald J. Trump to be a one term President, a decisive victory in November isn't desirable, it's necessary
2
I don't know David. It seems that if we could look at the current political climate & say that Joe Biden is our "savior from disaster" doesn't sound like a cause for cheery optimism. I'm in the wait & see column.
1
Young people didn’t turn out to vote. I don’t think they realized this means they won’t be able to blame their miserable circumstances on the Boomers anymore.
7
Yeah, the onus is all on Biden.
How about: “if supposedly ‘never-Trumper’ Republicans don’t actually vote Democrat — especially now that they’ve got the more moderate candidate they were all clamoring for — we’re doomed?”
How about you take some responsibility for putting us in this mess by providing decades of intellectual cover for GOP “policies” — all of which have suddenly been completely abandoned by the party and proven to be nothing more than a long-term scam — and now do the absolute bare minimum for your country by voting for literally the most middle-of-the-road candidate Dems could possibly run in 2020?
But oooh if Biden makes a misstep - *he* led us to doom. Give us a break and talk to your own party.
5
Two breaths of fresh air: David Brooks and Joe Biden!
"I've known Joe Biden a long time. We know Joe. But more importantly, Joe knows us." -- Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.
2
Kinda makes Nancy Pelosi's move of impeaching Trump a genius move.
3
If your "young progressives" decide to sit out the election if Joe Biden is nominated then he may , in fact, fail to get the necessary votes to win the electoral college vote. Millions of people who could vote and don't and who we can't accurately identify are in a silent conspiracy to allow gerrymandering and the obstinacy and antebellum attitudes of the Republican Party and the others too numerous to mention who support the ignorant, racist and sociopathic regime occupying the White House (except on weekends) like the weasels and stoats of "Wind in the Willows", that beautiful allegory, did.
We must all stand up to the repression and suppression of those who prefer to deny our human rights rather than allow them their extra scoop of ice cream or tablespoon of lard.
Who is the Establishment. Isn't it you, David?
5
Please drop that garbage “establishment” language. It doesn’t apply to the Democratic Party.
2
I'm glad Mr. Brooks finally voiced what is just as important as extricating Trump: "...bring change or reap the whirlwind."
Bill Maher believes that if the next candidate doesn't make economic conditions better for the Sanders/Trump malcontents, the NEXT demagogue won't be a fumbling moron. He'll KNOW how to form and wield an autocracy.
Either we end the age of billionaire worship or we end this experiment in democracy.
Hitler and Stalin were barely a threat as much as our own ignorance and callous greed are.
3
You’d think the country that defeated the Nazis and never leaves an American on the battlefield would be able to do what every other country has done and takes for granted as one of the basic cornerstones of civilization, access to healthcare. You’d think the candidate who is running on a spiritual sense of love they neighbor, uniting the world for a climate future and family values would resonate with anyone who isn’t an utter psychopath.
5
You’d think the country that defeated the Nazis and never leaves an American on the battlefield would be able to do what every other country has done and takes for granted as one of the basic cornerstones of civilization, access to healthcare. You’d think the candidate who is running on a spiritual sense of love they neighbor, uniting the world for a climate future and family values would resonate with anyone who isn’t an utter psychopath.
4
Everybody is talking as if Mr Biden's nomination is a fait accompli.
I am not so sure.
The Milwaukee convention is scheduled to start July 13. Coronavirus permitting.
And next Mr Biden must win in November. Fox News will be pushing its Ukraine line (Hunter Biden etc) incessantly.
2
I don't know about anyone else, but David Brook's opinions strikes me as so pathetically off the mark that I find them risible.
2
"working-class Trumpians and disillusioned young Bernie Bros"
Mr. Brooks should be sent out of NYC to a collective farm until he learns some manners.
2
Being a conservative Trump supporter, it appears that the Democrats are just as racist and misogynistic as I am. Didn't take long to eliminate the fairer sex and people of color, did it? Well, then, the good news is that we have common ground and begin the healing process. Can I have a hug?
As Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said, “there was a feeling.”
lol. as if the owners of us of a Inc. ever let real Change happen! denuclearize USA now!
1
“There would be no choice but to pass his agenda.”? Dream on David. How do you always get it so wrong? Yes the Republicans will all of a sudden respond to civility just like they did under Obama? Look for Uncle Joe to cave in on everything and run the most befuddled, compromising administration since....well...Obama. (Nice guy, but only delivered the hope...not the change.) People are looking for a real leader..a person who stands for something and yes...occasionally shouts and demands results. That is what the Democrats never understand as they have historically brought a blow dryer to a gunfight. Sorry to say, but not one of those agenda items will get passed and the Repubs will continue stealing the Dem’s lunch money and sabotaging progress to hold onto power and deliver only to their rich friends while manipulating the truth and playing the propaganda game like the pros they are. If the economy tanks and we have a pandemic that Trump can be blamed for, Biden could win, although I expect his debate performances will be uninspiring and inadequate. But if he gets in, look for Biden to be pantsed regularly by the never-sorry Repugs and a center right SCOTUS appointment. I also expect a president Ivanka coronation in 2024. Sorry David, The old order no longer works and change is the only option. There is no returning to normalcy. The genie is out of the bottle. Trump is the symptom, not the problem.
3
I don't think you could find a person in government whose votes have done more to destroy this country then Biden but I guess now that he is senile it will be the party bosses making all the decisions anyways.
7
Of course you love him, he is nothing but a Republican. Tell me one Liberal idea he ever espoused? Bah, you all deserve Trump for 4 more years.
2
Joe Biden didn't have time for the Mueller report. https://twitter.com/jeneps/status/1125861628040204288
You'd think the mainstream media that was so obessed about the mueller investigation would want their candidate to have you know read it.
He did have time to in 2018 to help a republican get elected to the house: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/us/politics/biden-speech-fred-upton.html
But yeah a $15/hr job guarantee in every county, low to negative interest rates, medicare for all, the green new deal, and like the existence of Palestine would just annihilate democracy like you say.
3
What a pickle Dems are in:
though Biden unifies,
his chances against Trump are slim:
the country loves Trump’s lies.
America loves show business.
A good reality show.
It loves more make belief, not less.
Excitement. Blow by blow.
Biden trips over his tongue.
Not a villain. A good guy.
Too many things, though, can go wrong
and badly go awry.
The whole thing a bad movie is.
When everything is told,
his time is up. Let me say this:
Joe Biden is too old.
In a debate, Biden will lose
as he did heretofore.
The poor man will tie his own noose.
And Donald Trump will score.
Only two things will save our Joe.
One is that I am wrong.
The other one a virus is.
TRUMP WAITED FAR TOO LONG.
That one the voters won’t forget.
It fears Covid-19.
If that gets out of hand, my bet:
Trump will be a has-been.
Biden’s new campaign slogan: Biden, the choice of billionaires.
3
One of David Brooks’ best columns. He is at his best when he is generous.
1
It’s a shame! The only thing I see , is bunch of SELFISH PEOPLE. It’s too bad!.
1
You think he will make his son ambassador to the Ukraine?
4
Brooks is drifting into Peggy Noonan land with all this whimsy.
3
Didn't we get that chance with Clinton... then Obama? What else in the current, or last 40 years, of Democratic politics makes David Brooks think that Biden will be the catalyst for the top 20% to do something to help the bottom 80%. The problems have been accelerating since the 1980s, and Obama could barely raise the Medicare tax to expand health coverage. I hope Biden raises axes on the top 20% and stops taxing capital at rates far below labor, and doublies down on a carbon free infrastructure system, but it is hard to see him as more than looking twice as far backwards. Didn't we get that chance with Clinton... then Obama? What else in the current, or last 40 years, of Democratic politics makes David Brooks think that Biden will be the catalyst for the top 20% to do something to help the bottom 80%. The problems have been accelerating since the 1980s, and Obama could barely raise the Medicare tax to expand health coverage. I hope Biden raises axes on the top 20% and stops taxing capital at rates far below labor, and doublies down on a carbon free infrastructure system, but it is hard to see him as more than looking twice as far backwards.
This is like Olympia Snow saying that she voted against convicting Trump becasue he's "learned his lesson".
1
Says David: “For those of us who believe in our political system, it’s put up or shut up time. The establishment gets one last chance.”
First sentence: True. Second sentence: Not so much. The establishment had its last chance with Obama. With Biden it’s deja vu all over again, an eroding status quo but without charisma.
Sanders is the last gasp of life for the Dems, having abandoned their best shot with Warren. It remains to be seen if the “centrists” can shut Bernie down. But they certainly are mobilized.
2
David says here quite explicitly that a Biden presidency needs to enable substantial change or reap the whirlwind.
Problem is, everyone knows the whole point of electing Biden is not to enable drastic change but to return to the status quo - giving a few measly crumbs for progressives in the hopes they’ll pipe down.
Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock can tell you that whole point of electing Sanders is to bring real drastic change with regards to healthcare, our economy, justice system, - the institutions that are failing us, and mitigating our impending collective environmental catastrophe.
So, despite whatever David thought he was writing, I appreciate the implicit endorsement of Sanders in this column.
2
I’m a 27 year old Vermonter who voted for Bernie because of the income inequality that is crushing nearly everyone I know. Most of my millennial aged friends are living 3 or 4 to an apartment. I have several friends who have had to decline pay raises because they would lose their Medicaid coverage. We are being crushed between outrageous housing and healthcare costs, and we are rightfully angry at the system that has failed us. If the Democratic Party ignores my demographic, the fire next time will be epic. We desperately need change now and we are far too savvy and educated as a bloc to wait on it. Hear us, now or you will sorely regret it later. It’s rare that I agree with David Brooks so fully.
7
It's really something to see the desperation of the pundit class to hold to a "center" whose polices (and lack thereof) have carried us to the point of (a) ignoring a truly existential threat to the planet and our civilization until it was too late to stop, (b) the gutting of the American economy with respect to 90% of its citizens, with a greater concentration of wealth at the top than in France before the French Revolution. We are a society which has done nothing to educate, house, or even feed its people; we are functionally illiterate, broke, and facing a far worse likely future than any generation before.
I'd say we're already pretty doomed, Mr. Brooks, and the fault does not lie at the feet of the radical left or radicle Trumpites but at those of the complicit, moderate, professional class of which you are a 30+ year spokesperson. Thanks for nothing -- and good luck with more middle of the road policies which all but guarantee an actual revolution, of the worst kind, in the next few decades.
4
I’m probably not the first commenter to say that 4 more years of assault on the remains of the middle class will be more than “doom” for many. Almost 50 years ago my high school civics teacher described the bright future in store for us: Study hard to get a (lifetime) job with a solid company (GE and GM were mentioned), followed by a carefree retirement. Having worked our way up the company advancement ladder, all our children would complete college and we would end up financially secure with multiple cars and homes, not to mention vacations in Europe. Our peaceful and gentle end would come sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of our country retirement house. This version of the American Dream ended when the first energy/gas crisis shortly followed my civics classes. There are many additional causes for the loss of the US quality of life listed by other commenters to today’s opinion articles.
Add to this the outright hate for the imagined enemies of the working-class (“the educated”) by the President’s supporters I read in the comments to David Leonhardt and Stuart A. Thompson article today, I wonder how long the economic, moral, and spiritual decline will take to claim the rest of us. Will we join the red tide of the “deaths of despair”, or will there be “Charlottesville Solution”?
For many reasons, I’m not looking to the future the way I once did in civics class.
3
No one seems to be thanking the two candidates that enabled this turn-around by being the grown-ups in the room. Thank you Amy and Pete and Michael and Elizabeth. This is the first time I can recall this "do the right thing" in national politics. Congratulations each of you.
I am for Amy, actually, as many of you were for Pete or Elizabeth or Michael. But I think we all see that it is now or never to offer an integrated all-in attempt at a moderate candidate for recovery from Trump WHILE STILL having the opportunity to turn the Senate and keep the House. We need this trifecta.
To Sanders and his supporters, I hope you see a path to this way, too.
Won't it all depend on the House and Senate? If Mr McConnell remains the Senate majority leader and continues to put party before nation, then nothing will come of a Democrat administration in Mr Trump's aftermath.
Those now notorious words about ensuring your opposition to a single term.
2
I wish the Republicans coalesced around a moderate candidate in 2016. Instead you have a moderate arm with 5-7 heads each trying to prove that they would be the moderate flag bearer. One can argue that is the difference between Republicans and Democrats , one group does things for the greater good at the sacrifice of the individual, while the other extols the virtue of individualism. Instead we got President Trump.
If this means the republican and democratic parties were to split into a extreme left faction, an extreme right faction from the democrats and republicans respectively, America would be in a better place.
Your welcome America, now prove to the world that you would choose reason over a kleptocracy.
If Biden gets into office on a wave of "hope-timism," and his first move is to install a Davos-y establishment dud like Tim Geithner into a cabinet position that's begging for a shake-up...then we'll know.
2
Have you no sense of decency?
3
The lies keep coming from corp mouthpieces like Brooks. The real issue, the real problems facing America will not be solved by the criminal 45, 'moderate' Biden, or Bernie.
They will not be solved because Brooks' party, the radical, Koch owned, anti science GOP has infested every aspect of government from Congress to the WH to the Supreme Court.
45 is an easy target for Brooks or George Will because they get to wash away their sins by saying he is an anomaly.
Well he isn't; he is what the GOP has been since Nixon: loud, corrupt, nakedly anti democratic, and openly hypocritical.
You and your ilk are the problem; till you vote every one of these terminates gutting American democracy don't pretend to care about civility in politics.
11
"Biden’s Rise Gives the Establishment One Last Chance" -Editorial headline
As it the capitalist, corporate media establishment had nothing to do with $tatu$ Quo Joe's rise.
I'm predicting, but not wishing for a complete public mental meltdown for Mr. Biden before the primary season is over. He's not well.
Heck, he called a sympathetic questioner a "lyin' dog faced pony soldier"!
6
Well said...
1
Yup, David. You got that one right: you are in fact doomed.
1
When it all gets swept away, David Brooks, I hope and pray that more than anything else, you finally get swept away too.
4
" The establishment gets one last chance"
Wow, David. Is that FEAR in your voice?
1
As a concerned Northern neighbour I’m thrilled the angry old white man looks like he will lose to the friendly old white man.... hopefully FOWM picks someone as a running mate who is more representative of non-old white men in your still amazing country, filled with some amazing human beings.
2
Oh stop with the name calling and your Republican hissy fits. You got what you wanted - an assurance that Trump will be re-elected. You got what you wanted - an assurance that we will probably not have a female president in your lifetime. You got what you wanted - capitalism will reign supreme, until all those unfortunate, non-billionaires are gone because they couldn't afford health care. You got what you wanted - a permanent, uneducated underclass to mow your lawn and do your dishes. You got what you wanted - old white men in charge of everything. I will never read your column again.
9
I find David Brooks pretty insufferable much of the time, but it's insane to say that he wants Trump reelected. And I got quite a different takeaway from this column; it seems that for once he realizes that things really do have to change. Bernie is not the only person capable of effecting change, and it's doubtful that even if he won the presidency he'd be able to enact even a small fraction of his proposed policies.
2
Doomed, Mr. Brooks? Hyperbole not welcome.
Good riddance to the "current system". May it take Joe Biden's non-discharable private student loans with it. Throw those promissory notes off the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
4
What could go wrong, David?
What a choice! Two angry old white men who can’t build teams or coalitions or a gentle kind man. Give me gentle and kind over bullies any day.
@Carlos His war voting belies the kind gentle illusion.
2
I just finished reading the three related articles in the NYT on how Bernie wanted a sister city for Burlington.
He had over 100 countries to choose from.
Which one did he choose?
The USSR.
They naturally embraced their American comrade and used it to promote Communist propaganda in America.
Way to go, Bernie!!!!
1
@Simon Sez This is Trump-level conspiracy-thinking. So I guess to you Norway and Sweden are communist regimes? Btw sister cities have no political connotations whatsoever.
1
Mr. Brooks, you're either a fool or believe your readers are gullible idiots ready to embrace a tottering political hack - Joe Biden - that even in his prime years made disastrous political decisions for working Americans.
He supported NAFTA, Wall Street deregulation, giving 1.4 billion Chinese communists free access to America’s consumer markets, endless Mid-East War that consumes over $6 trillion dollars and counting …. And after nearly 50 years in the U.S. Senate and more than 30 years running for president …. You want us to believe Joe Biden is the right guy to change America for the better.
Those of us with long memories and still have our wits aren’t the fools you think us to be.
7
@Betty Ann
Are you voting for Trump? You want more of this?
Trump told 16,000+ lies, makes racist statements - supports white supremacists, a misogynist, a xenophobe, used campaign funds to pay off playmates and porn stars who he’s had affairs, groping women is OK, 16 women accused him of sexual harassment, colleagues and staff convicted of crimes, had Ukraine find dirt on a political rival - asked China to do the same, doesn’t believe Russia meddled in the 2016 election - doesn’t believe they will do it in 2020, put immigrant families in detention facilities, wants coal to come back, loosens environmental protection laws, pulled American forces out of Syria so Turkey can kill Kurds who helped American forces fight ISIS, done nothing about healthcare except to try to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, admonishes our NATO allies, cozies up to dictators, doesn’t believe in climate change, was pro-choice - now pro-life, made fun of American war heroes, made fun of a disabled journalist, calls the news media enemies of the people, doesn’t read, can’t string a coherent sentence together, won't release his tax returns, his children work for the federal government, enriches his resort hotel business with tax payer dollars, gave tax cuts to the rich and ballooned the deficit to trillions, starts trade wars with our allies, starts trade wars with China that hurt American farmers so he gave farmers tax payer subsidies that total much more than Obama’s bail out to auto makers, etc.
1
You have failed us, as well. But you were able to turn it into a career. You have no morals.
6
What David Brooks means to say — in all his putrid political punditry — is that he is a Neo-Liberal hack, indoctrinated by the most pathetic anti-socialist propaganda of a generation, who doesn’t care to address the nuts and bolts of Left economic theory — either because he is lazy or just not intelligent enough to see beyond his own ideology — and most importantly, Brooks would rather have Trump than a low-key Left politician. What Brooks does do well is paint a very clear picture of why those of us on the Left absolutely should not support Biden. Primarily because what neo-liberal hacks like David Brooks truly want, but can’t admit to themselves is, in fact, Trump.
4
Join us Trump supporters. The DNC has betrayed you again. I invite you all to join our side and vote Trump in November.
1
1. I agree, Dave.
2. I’d sure like to see you going after your side in anything like a similar fashion.
3. Would you mind smacking Ross Douthat, by which I mean seriously reminding him of what his Christ stood for?
Thanks.
3
How to win for sure: Draft Michelle. Biden-Obama 2020. Pass it on.
1
What in gods name is intersectionality?
It's a theory but not a practice. The kids on campus love it.
1
Trump will eviscerate Biden on his mental and cognitive decline. It won’t be pretty.
3
Agreed. This is our chance for a return to normalcy. Don't blow it America.
2
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."
-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 16, 1963
8
After the euphoria dissipates, Democrats will soon realize that Biden is still the same senile old fool he was before South Carolina primary.
8
As usual, Mr. Brooks, you are wrong.
Because the two party system doesn’t work we are doomed to autocracy and oligarchs running the globe.
Biden and Bernie. Omg!!!!
Sorry this “ ok Boomer “ is writing in a female candidate.
Shame on the primary process.
Shame on both parties preventing fair elections for wage earning taxpayers.
No !!!!!we lost already.
How dumb!!
'the Establishment is doomed?!' - Amen!
i am quite happy to see the back of Brooks, Krugman, and all the clueless NYT prognosticators, now that Trump has taken care of the blowhards on his side - Lindsey graham, mcconnell, even Fox news falsifiers can go to h ll.
if Biden gets elected only to build the exit ramp of the establishment, so be it.
And no, I dont support Bernie Sanders - i support socialists, even communists, but under no circumstances will I support liars.
Yes, Brooks, you and your ilk are doomed, but biden's return reassures me that some undefinable human decency, human spirit of the American people which I thought was lost, seems back again.
That is enough. you can go wherever you want.
"If he fouls this up, we're doomed." David Brooks
What "we", David?
3
The Third Way Democrats have failed over and over again.
They've presided over half a lifetime of rape and pillage of the young and working classes.
What makes anyone think the old dog will learn new tricks?
1
@Fried Shallots The old dog may learn new tricks, but the leopard won't change his spots. Guaranteed.
Many Trumpers voted for Biden. None want a neo Marxist in the White House.
Well said. The current American crisis in democracy fits quite exactly into the outstanding book by Adam Gopnik: A Thousand Small Sanities- The Moral Adventure of Liberalism.
He has 3 chapters- the Far Right critique of moderate liberalism- it's too weak (Trump), the Far Left critique (Sanders)- doesn't go far enough, and what moderate liberalism is. The Trump chapter starts off convincing you nothing happens without a strong man in total power and ends destroying that concept. The Sanders chapter starts off convincing you only total transformations count and ends leaving you wondering why you ever thought so. The liberalism chapter recounts how nothing good in modern life (abundant food, longer life, modern health care, peaceful democracies) happened without moderate liberalism. A book for our time, right in line with this op-ed.
@Arthur Lavin, MD Mr Gopnik must be severely short-sighted. Most of the democratic progress the world has seen in the twentieth century has been from the left side of the political spectrum. What did the US do internationally? Support Pinochet, rig the election in Italy in 1947, large-scale political surveillance of alliance partners (e.g. the norwegian prime minister Einar Gerhardsen), and so on. Moderate liberalism has defended the status quo, never reform or progress.
1
The big surprise of 2016 was when Trump won. The surprise of 2020 will be when Trump loses.
Pollsters have trouble figuring out who is really going to vote. People lie about that, because it looks bad to say you aren’t going to vote, and sometimes you don’t even know. You think that you might, but then on Election Day, you can’t push yourself to really do it. But sometimes you truly are motivated.
A lot of people will be very motivated to actually and really vote against Trump. He is going to lose.
But it doesn’t hurt if people continue to worry that he will win again.
1
It is likely that Biden will foul this up to give Trump a landslide victory, but that doesn't mean we’re doomed. Although Trump's unPC speak might be giving heartache to some, his policies have been mainstream and really helped America and the world. In almost all polls, Americans say America is moving in the right direction and their situation has improved. I am not sure that Biden is capable of carrying that optimism forward. Trump would have achieved much more if Democrats had not been obsessed with phony investigations and impeachment, which produced nothing.
2
If men could get pregnant this would be an entirely different scenario. Not so many Bernie Bros refusing to vote blue, one would imagine.
The Clinton machine created “Bernie Bros” smear is going to backfire big-time just like HRC’s “Deplorables” slur did in 2016. Keep using it at your peril, traditional/establishment Dems, since you won’t beat DJT in November without progressives and working-class voters. Don’t say you weren’t warned when you lose a second time to the world’s worst president.
3
“Their problems will still be all our problems. And if our current system can’t address them, then that system will be swept away.”
Actually all of us will be swept away if we fail to address/reverse the most pressing problem affecting life on our planet, the climate change crisis.
1
Warren.brilliant,bipartisan, bills passed, knows enemy elite-corporate menace that Biden comfortably canoodles. She is change and hope for disappearing middle class....harken us back to 1960’s 70’s 80’s when one parent worked -didn’t need public assistance to feed family or put kids through land grant university without debt, kids didn’t need to live at home til his age (26 for sure) for healthcare and a roof. Stay in bad marriage and job for healthcare bennies.
employment figures ala Wal Mart Target UPS’s temp labor pool.Worker Insecurity-changing schedules every 2 weeks- 2nd job hurdle, laughable benefits (full time Wal Mart workerS go blind -no $ for cataract surgery). bogus employment stats Obama- Trump tout.
Biden.Middle class demise will grow- NO roll back TRUMP tremendous tax break top 10%,paltry middle class tax break expires in 2025.
Alzheimer’s career politician monied swamp thing Biden cares zip about us. Our kids don’t snag $50,000/month gig.Unqualified druggie Hunter Biden did.
Trump gone, but back to seeding a revolution.
Clintons NAFTA: Americans compete with Chinese Mexican laborers. Call centers Nicaragua, North- South Carolina’s(politicians ensure ATT wages low),India, Philippines...Obama’s quid pro quo Goldman Sachs jpMorgan Chase, Hillary Sec State global fund Obama blessed.
Millionaire Repubs 4 Biden. ?South keeps racists-misogynists in power when majority is Black.Clyburn, Well-oiled machine
4 corporate monsters own US media against Warren.
3
Joe Plays Simon Sez
Work for Joe Biden to make him the pres
Smart as a whip, he plays Simon Sez,
Plays cards with his buds, footsie with women
Does what he can, make sure it stays hidden;
Barely a touch, a brush, not a “Weinstein” -
Hugs and hands on, but no younger than nineteen
Joe keeps it zipped, keeps it tucked in his pants,
He’s Gotta be careful with his implants;
But I’m voting for Joe, he’s better by far
Than what we have now; he’s blacker than tar.
Joe reeks of Ukraine stink. In addition Obama’s former physician says Joe is not a well man, should include an MRI in his health report because of two past aneurysms. In addition Joe has an irregular heart beat and takes a blood thinner as result to lower chances of a stroke.
Biden is literally unfit to be president.
3
Trump is going to chew Biden up and spit him out.
Biden has dimension and cant form full sentences. We will be looking at you NYT for helping to hide this fact.
You really need to keep them tax cut dont you. Hillary 2.0
2
"Biden’s wins this week, and his incredible polling surges in states like Florida that are soon to vote, make it likely that he will win and Sanders will lose .."
Standard dribble from the Brooks, Stephens, Friedman tag team. The NYT team is desperately working hard to prevent a Sanders presidency. Why? Because Bernie Sanders would re-make US foreign policy to be based on international law, UN resolutions, and human rights ..... a disaster for the path Israel has chosen.
6
Mr. Brooks, please go to sleep until the election.
1
OMG, David you must be relieved after last week's scathing article.
I'm a "retired" baby boomer, a long time liberal Democrat, and a native of Delaware. While I like Joe, I have always been disappointed with his fealty to the financial industry and to the old idea that Republicans will compromise. The financial industry is a parasite, sucking the life blood out of the working men and women of this country. It needs serious and severe regulation and the big banks need to be broken up. And let's recognize that Republicans are lost forever. They are a rump party of radicals, racists and Christian extremists. No compromise is possible, nor should it be sought. And if Joe is to save the country he must bring not only Trump but all those who enabled him to account, if not criminally, then politically. Only then will we avoid the doom that Brooks fears.
3
I agree one hundred percent that the America of normalcy is over should Trump win again. Everyone that considered America a place where women have a right to choose, education is a priority, healthcare for Americans is reasonable and job hiring is based on ambition and skills rather than gender and color, should realize the damage that Trump is hell bent on destroying those objectives.
I talk to many Trump zombies, they are not Republicans, the latter believed in the republic to some degree or another. The Trump zombies believe in " by any means necessary" We must learn to wage war as our opponents do. The infighting must come to an end. Now is not the time for revolution, it is the time to band together and win this election.
1
What do you mean, ‘we,’ kemo sabe?
1
I am sick and tired of Bernie and his supporters calling Joe Biden an establishment tool. This is a democracy Bernie and if you become president, you will have to work with Congress. You can't just dictate Medicare for all, or roll back Trumps tax cuts, or make college free. All of you Sanders revolutionaries need to quit looking for a savior, put on your big girl panties, and figure out that no society or government is perfect and compromise isn't a dirty word. We have to get rid of Trump and Joe Biden is our best shot at that.
2
Wow. An instinctive community of democrats whose unspoken will is reflected in the Leader. The Nazi term for that is "Volksgemeinde." Look it up.
2
Do you understand how pathetic and offensive this is to almost anyone who’s not you?
1
David Downer . . . geez . . .
1
Biden is the last chance for America to save ourselves from irreparable destruction done by this stupid occupant of our White House .
2
"If Biden wins the White House but doesn’t deliver real benefits . . ."
There's the rub -- and the reason Dems must take back the WH and both Houses of Congress. McConnell has shown he will do his utmost to keep a Democratic from succeeding, country be damned.
If Republicans retain control of the Senate, they will be the reason real benefits aren't delivered.
1
No, Super Tuesday pretty clearly demonstrated that the "Establishment" (which I take to mean rational, middle-of-the-road politicians who do not consider compromise to be a moral transgression) is not on its last legs, and that is a good thing indeed.
The US electorate has no interest in the kind of far left lunacy that gets such disproportional airtime these days.
It is about time that publications such as the NYT realized that people like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez are, just like Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders, an aberration, not an indication of where the country is headed long term. Just like the Tea Party faded from prominence, this too shall pass.
2
No vote for Biden in FL for me, I already wasted my mail in vote on Mike. Which is just what I did four years ago on Jeb, who pulled out before the FL primary also. Now to switch back to the GOP for the local primaries this summer.
1
The young people need to stop staring at their phones and get to the polls if they want to be heard. It's not enough to post on social media; you have to get to the polling place and cast your ballot.
2
Biden is the clear choice for conservatives like me.
He is interested in decency, not vulgarity; institutionalism, not personality-cults; prudence, not barbarity. Biden wants to tend to the establishment, not tear it down. Conserving establishments is the hallmark of conservative politics.
I understand that Biden's appeal for me is precisely why certain progressives (e.g. Bernie-Bros) dislike him. "Establishment" is his virtue for some, his vice for others.
Although he wasn't my first pick for president, (I have a soft spot for midwestern lawyers), I hope Republican partyism does not stand in the way of conservatism, and progressive anti-establishmentism does not stand in the way of this institutionalist.
Our frail hope resides in his frail hands.
4
America needs a moderate who can do what Biden did in the past six days, bring a earnest coalition together consisting of Moderates of all stripes. As much as I liked all the candidates with the exception of the one who gave us trump in 2016, pragmatism with my fellow liberals and common sense conservatives will make Biden a runaway in the primary and the General.
2
He's gonna foul it up. America needs new blood and a renewed spirit of Freedom. This country was founded and has excelled beyond the Founders or anyone's grandest expectations. It was done with the people having control of their lives, destiny and creating their own opportunities. Not a government confronting you at every turn or the people expecting the government to pick them up every time they fall. Look at the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch and yes, even the Judicial Branches of our Government. They have stayed long past their expiration dates. They continue to rant about the opposition for thirty, forty and yes, even fifty years. Having had all the time to do something, they are now telling the people what they are going to do. They still can't tell you anything they have done. And the voters keep putting these mouthpieces back in, time after time, to no result. We, the people have the government we elected and the government we deserve.
David is right about the hopeful week. It will not last long. They will drown the country in fictitious claims about Biden and corruption. Leaders with authority needs to stand up and call this out by not supporting the senate investigations. Also, social media leaders should grow up and play a constructive role as a filter, not the role of the amplifier to increase nastiness. Negativity will drown the turnout since the coalition is still fragile and open to decades of issues that can be pinned on Biden to reduce turnout. Leaders need to create a firewall and be vocal.
1
Even if he wins and the Senate goes Democratic, Biden's agenda will not be enacted, except in small measures, any more than Obama's in 2009. The best we can hope for will be a rebalancing back to normal vicious partisanship. If Republicans hold the Senate, nothing will move. We can hope for stopping the horrible policies adopted by the Executive branch since 2017 and an opportunity for the next wave (more left/populist) to gain momentum, build a mass movement and challenge for 2022 and then 2024.
"If Biden wins the White House but doesn’t deliver real benefits for disaffected working-class Trumpians and disillusioned young Bernie Bros.."
He won't.
"Some people are saying a Biden presidency would be a restoration or a return to normalcy. He’ll be a calming Gerald Ford after the scandal of Richard Nixon."
Unless you were a straight, white man back then, you were not calm when Ford was elected, you were oppressed. Your sense of history excludes most people.
"But I don’t see how that could be. The politics of the last four years have taught us that tens of millions of Americans feel that their institutions have completely failed them."
Everyone but the elites have felt that way for 40 years. Biden is an 80's Republican. He's essentially a trickle-down "centrist" who'll be in the thrall of big business. How is it conceivable you think he'll help the healthcare crisis?
3
@Richard
I don't want to rain on your parade, but Gerald Ford was never elected President. He was appointed by Nixon to replace the disgraced Spiro Agnew, who resigned after being exposed as a grifter. Ford lost the next election to Jimmy Carter.
3
Right you are Mr Brooks ! Two institutions in particular have been failing millions: our educational system and its evil twin, social media, especially with the latter’s mutation from 3 TV networks to the pervasive and addictive “smart” phone.
Mr. Brooks, you write: "The angry and putrid shouting that has marked the last four years — and that would mark a Trump vs. Sanders campaign — might actually come to an end."
I think that any contest, i.e. Trump vs. anyone, will be marked with behavior that will shock us, even now, after having seen Mr. Trump in action for so many years. And the anger and putridity will come from one source, and one source only.
3
By any measure Biden is a worse candidate than Clinton II. Trump, on the other hand, is still Trump -- and the incumbent to boot.
1
If the winner is the elite of the Democratic Party the looser will be young Americans and the coming generations all over this planet
I am Swedish and this is none of my business, and I have no idea of everyday life over at your place and I certainly can’t speak in the name of young Americans ... but still, let’s make a list of what they don’t have compared to their parents and their peers in countries with comparable economies.
Their salaries don’t last the same way as their parents did , they certainly don’t have the same chance to live the “American Dream” as their parents and they have to pay off an enormous national debt left by their parents and still manage to pay for a restoration of worn down infrastructure.
Their peers abroad are enjoying an affordable healthcare, possibilities to take payed leave to care for toddlers and also payed vacation and they are allowed to stay home to care for sick children and care for themselves when they are sick. Studying is affordable, usually free, in most other countries and pensions are more secure .
.... and they have to endure all the hardship a wasted environment and a climate going rough will cause but that goes for all other young people
As I said, I will not and cannot speak in their names but this is de facto what they are facing
If I was one of them I sure would not be that enthusiastic over political candidates with more embalming fluids than blood in their veins promising to just continue on the same track as before
5
Let's be clear about this, David, Mr. Biden securing the nomination is only the first step in righting the wrongs visited upon us by not just Trump, but the cowardly sycophants in your Republican party who have not only enabled and empowered him, but now unleashed him by refusing to see justice done. Listening to Susan Collins' mealy-mouthed drivel, to say nothing of unhinged rants by Jim Jordan, among many others makes me ill, and it should you as well. I have read your columns for a long time now, and despite our large differences of opinion on policy, I know you to be thoughtful and decent. Can you say the same for the current crop of Congressional Republicans?
Defeating Trump is far from enough to clean the rot in the GOP. They have disgraced our country and themselves with their despicable actions to shield Trump from accountability for his dangerous, unhinged "leadership". All patriotic Americans must speak with nearly one voice in declaring to ourselves and the larger world, that world that used to look to us for leadership but no longer, that this is behavior that will not be tolerated! To any of you who have considered yourselves Republicans in the past but don't approve of the events of the last four-plus years, I implore you to send the strongest possible message to your party by voting for every Democrat on your ballot. Just this once. I'm not trying to turn you into Democrats. But I am saying that the message you can send by turning them out, will be heard.
1
You bet they are on thin ice with me as a life time Demarcate in my sixties stop with the young Bernie Bros 'I'm fed up! What I'm seeing is the DNC money interest taking over. Can you say moderate republicans . Why should young people care! Looks pretty shady to me when you had a guy acting dead on the stage to winning all these states?. Wall street and the insurance industries are happy because Biden will not change thing for them. The DNC better come up with a plan fast if they want to keep the other half of the party. They want we Bernie backers to vote for Biden I'm not so sure they will return the favor.
1
What the last 4 years have told us is the Republican party has turned into a viscous, racist, Kleptocracy that a very large minority of the American public is strongly behind.
We no longer have a real 2 party system that requires building diverse interests into a majority to govern. We have 1 party, the Democratic party that has to build an overwhelming majority to win the day in a very flawed republic that under-represents the majority.
It's a very tough task in a diverse country to build consensus in 1 party. It takes conservative, liberals, socialist and a multitude of religious, racial and ethnic minorities to put aside their differences for the sake of basic decency.
If we restore decency in the next 4 years it will be more than enough.
For 21st-century America it has not been a question of the so-called establishment against the revolutionaries, and it has not mattered so much – until the past three years -- who occupied the White House.
When George W. Bush was the president, the Bush/Cheney military adventurism overseas mattered, but the domestic front did not have the stark divide we see today.
When Barack Obama, an enormously popular president, was in office, the polarization hardened within two years because of the obstructionist the Senate under Mitch McConnell and the kneejerk opposition of the House under John Boehner.
The most logical plans of the centrist Obama for prosperity and protection of the most vulnerable Americans were blocked by Republicans whenever possible.
The division increased several times over, when Donald Trump unexpectedly won the presidency and was quickly revealed to be a lover of autocrats around the world and an ignorant, self-absorbed and undeveloped man capable of unquenchable personal corruption and amazing cruelty.
Throughout this, a radical and sometimes violent anti-abortion, anti-woman group of religious zealots and profiteers grew to wield power.
Our representative democracy is in great danger, and Joe Biden must rescue it. He’s an old man, but with our help – Democrats, Independents and old-fashioned Republicans – he’ll do it.
The Obama years may have been great for many, they were HIGHLY disappointing for the working poor -- THAT is the main point that Biden supporters and "centrists" fail to realize.
What Biden supporters also don't realize, is that to Bernie supporters, the house fire is not the attack upon democracy, but the DAILY financial struggle in their lives. Bernie is the ONLY remaining candidate who presents proposals to alleviate such struggles IMMEDIATELY. News flash: When someone is TRULY poor, the most important things in their life are: 1) figuring out how to pay the next expense, and 2) figuring out which bill will be skipped in order to meet the next expense.
If one is sick and needs a certain medicine to save their life from imminent death, it is completely rational to refrain from drinking from two cups of medicine if NEITHER cup contains the medicine that will HEAL you! To suggest that such people should just "get over it," "fall in line," and "get on board" to fight "The Fascist" is arrogrant at best, but definitely ignorant of the reality of the focus and struggles of the working poor (who are far more educated than you assume).
Worrying about "fascism" is a problem for the privileged few who are financially secure (News flash: Outside your "bubbles" of life, MOST Americans are struggling financially). I just want to be able to pay my bills and breathe a little. I'll worry about enjoying life down the road.
3
But if the "establishment" follows Brooks's prescriptions for the economy, we're really doomed. Despite speaking in soft tones, he's still an ideologue who ignores evidence, i.e. - he still believes in trickle down.
1
"The politics of the last four years ... institutions have completely failed them. The legitimacy of .... by a thread.”
Interesting observation without necessary fame of reference. Same idiocy will be reinforced if we fail to say that certain media and Democrat have spent the energies on non existent Russia hoax but has not probed many more serious allegations against Trump like sending Flynn to coordinate with Russia to change Russian behaviors at the UN for the benefit of another country not approved or suggested or even known by Obama administration, core conflicts its of interest between Kushner ,Friedman and Middle East ,kowtowing to Saudi ,or the continued business interests of Trump. Trump’s tendency to rely on false intelligence to threaten foreign leader like Assad and bomb Syria ,continued involvement in Yemen , constant race baiting at home ,his arm twisting of Fed ( and trying to force Fed again into some wild good chase of bolstering economy ,when the real purpose is the re- election contingent on surging Dow. ) and emoluments from family business or mixing of family business should have been repeatedly addressed . These are the issues which American can relate to and develop faith in the institutions . Trump had his ally - the media with false focus and the democrat .
Mr. Brooks, you, like me, are old enough to remember when Reagan was too old and radical to be elected president. He won, anyway, and introduced an electoral paradigm shift that continues to this day. The Dems, rather than learn from this, continued nominating losers like Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry and Gore. The only exceptions were Clinton, who owed his win to Perot, and Obama, whose rhetorical gifts were unrivaled. By going with the "tried and true," Dems have once again shown their congenital inability to take risks. Prepare for four more years of insanity.
2
Interesting and thoughtful, but skips over the true cross-current of recent events. Only a few days before Super Tuesday, the consensus was that Sanders had this thing in the bag. Now Brooks is writing that Biden does. If a few days can swing an entire nominating process, who feels safe predicting future results? And who wants to liken their actions to fish swimming in a school? Why not lemmings parading off a cliff? Listen, folks, it's whiplash we're talkin' about here.
1
Biden's rise was a result of panic caused by the realization before super Tuesday that a socialist democrat could be the nominee of the democratic party and he could lose to the enemy #1 of the Democratic party, the 45th president of the USA. The democratic establishment with the exception of Hillary Clinton are backing Biden, giving him a pass for all his flaws and comments, looking the other way for his gaffes and past racist comments in a spirit of Biden can do no wrong and do no harm to the nation.
The question is not whether Biden fouls this overnight and sudden love by the establishment but how often will he foul up. Will he be another George W. Bush who initiates a war with a country that had nothing to do with 911 but instead takes the eyes off from the real culprits? Not knowing which side his wife was standing next to him may be a joke to him but I will not be laughing if he repeats the colossal blunder in this century that Bush made.
I don't think we as in the USA, are doomed if Biden continues to be the laughing stock just like Mike Bloomberg, I think it will be the Democratic party that will be doomed with a possibility that the party will lose lock stock and barrel, the majority in the house, lack of majority in the senate and inability to take the white house.
I have been saying all along that if the Dem. establishment makes defeating Trump as a single most important and only goal, it will lose no matter what and the only reason why Bernie remains viable.
2
Biden's nomination will usher in a sense of nihilism among the millions of people whom our political system has failed. And his loss to Trump will magnify that nihilism to horrifying proportions.
Don't say nobody warned you.
5
I am so sad, so tired of hearing angry people repeating out-of-context, simplistic, completely misleading versions of something they read somewhere that "Joe Biden said!" or "Joe Biden won't do!" or "Joe Biden this-or-that!". Please, please, go to Snopes, go to the complete real videos, go to Biden's on-line detailed agenda, consider the whole historical context and ultimate results of whatever snippet of a remark has offended - or has been altered to offend - sensibilities. Please consider his long career and extraordinary decency and commitment to the public good. He is committed to racial justice, fair wages and working conditions, the maximally achievable health care asap, urgent environmental measures to achieve net-zero emissions, infrastructure repair & improvement, reversal of Trump's unbelievably stupid and destructive gutting of government institutions, on & on! And has a deeply knowledgable & canny willingness to work with whomever will work with him to get this done, or work around them/bring pressure to bear if they will not. He knows everyone, and I believe will bring the BEST into an administration committed to serious results. Please, please, no more caricatures.
1
Eyes on the prize, people. I don't love Biden but stopping Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell, and the constant assault on the separation of church and state, the Supreme Court: these are the things that count right now. Trump is dangerous of course, but he's basically a fool. It's those powers who are behind him who have transformed our government for the worse and who are truly terrifying. I don't like Biden or Sanders, but the math says Sanders almost certainly won't win, so get with it. Vote Blue, even the Blue who doesn't give you exactly what you want. It's called growing up.
3
Your subhead reads, “If he fouls this up, we’re doomed.” I take it “he” is Joe Biden. But is “we” the country, or the establishment, including Brooks? If Trump is reelected the establishment will be just fine, in fact in line for another tax cut. Nut the country would be doomed. But I really take issue with the “he” part. It isn’t all on Biden, it’s on all of us, including Brooks. It’s time for Brooks to stand up and endorse Biden in the primaries and in the general election. And endorse every Dem running in a competitive senate race. It’s what Brooks needs to do to save the country. It’s also the only way to save his beloved Republican Party. Only a thorough defeat will cause the Republican Party to pull back from their current course of racism, classism, and autarchy.
1
"The legitimacy of the whole system is still hanging by a thread." Ah, c'mon. Hillary was awful. Democrats stayed home, maybe also thanks to Bernie's limited support for her. Seeing her now makes me nauseous. Twice as many Democrats will vote in 2020 as voted in swing states in 2016. Biden/Klobuchar or Biden/Warren. Landslide.
3
The change has to start at the very root and given the history of capitalism in the US, unlikely. Even more than healthcare or wages or free education, there has to be deference to the individual's expectation that his/her work has some permanence and his/her own place in it and not face day-in and day-out uncertainty. The labor unions, not the market, played a part in humanizing the work place. So, the market - I am told - abhors uncertainty but the same market thinks nothing of the uncertainty it imposes on its workers, who could be fired or have their healthcare/pension systems changed at will.
How to effect this change without bringing back unions? The government could pay the wages for a period of time while the worker continues in the job - not unemployment insurance, not applying for stop-gap medical insurance, but simple continuation of the job at some cost to the market. Yes, the market will be inefficient by some measures but perhaps the overall well-being of the citizens could be higher and could be more important.
1
We are not Europe. We are a much larger and diverse country with a much different history. I believe we will eventually get universal health care but not in the way Bernie wants. I think constant improvement on the ACA will lead to substantial improvements until we pretty much have universal health.
3
I believe the common denominator amongst the Democrats following Biden’s South Carolina win is that Trump & Family must, at all costs, be removed electorally from the White House and that, while some of Sanders idea might be enticing on face value, they’re perceived as being too extreme by many Democrats and, more importantly, by most Independents. The choice thus becomes a simple one: Biden or Trump.
2
Finally, we have a leading candidate that knows how to give the corporate interests what they want. And he’s a nice and honest guy.
2
The difference between the Democratic party and the Republican party is that the mainstream of the Democrats never could absorb and accommodate its hard left wing (Sanders, McGovern). The Republicans however ceded the party to its hard right wing in governance (though how they can support a president who gleefully allows Russia to take over in the Middle East, cuts and runs in Afghanistan etc. is beyond me). The bottom line is that the party that is able to sell itself to the electorate as the centrist party can win this time. Bernie and his fraction of voters can never be part of that centrist party. So yes, they may lodge their protest vote with the Greens, but it isn't a loss worth crying over because no potentially winning Democratic candidate would ever have had their vote anyway.
1
David Brooks, You described what I experienced on primary voting day in words that felt perfect and insightful, and I thank you for them. Until that day if anyone had asked me who I intended to vote for as my choice for a Presidential candidate on the Democratic side I would not have named Biden. But the timely withdrawals of Klobuchar and Bettigieg and the vote in South Carolina all came together for me and I suddenly saw that they had created a path to a Democratic presidency in 2020. This insight ushered in a sense of political calm and feelings of hope for our future that I had not felt for some time. I then knew what I had to do. it was like a gift.
3
I’m a little worried about Biden’s age, but I am convinced he is the best candidate to defeat Trump. His pick for VP will be critical.
It will be a difficult four years ahead, and we don’t need a Sanders-type demolishing of the whole system. We need to address the probable recession (driven by Coronavirus), lower the deficits, repair relations with our allies, and see if we can get back to some level of bipartisanship and civility. Democrats need to accept that we’re in a 50/50 country. If we want to get anything meaningful done, we have to find common ground with others. Rural vs city, Democrats vs. Republicans, white vs minority, rich vs poor.
4
Mr. Brooks is ignoring a fundamental piece of the Establishment equation he espouses. Nowhere does he address how he, or Biden, or the general public can get the current Republican establishment to return to small d democratic politics where there is discussion, concessions and compromise. Without that critical second part of the equation all hope of anything more significant than "four more years of things not getting worse" to quote Steve Earle is wishful thinking.
1
Reading the comments, it seems as if few readers understood David Brooks point.
Great inequality is at the root of the support Trump and Sanders enjoy.
Based on his record, Biden will be a very moderate president which seems to be his main appeal to many NYT readers. He will strive to return the country to where it was three years ago, but he will not significantly address the despair of many working class voters or young people.
Biden has been largely out of the limelight for the past few weeks. Before that, he did not exactly shine. He was largely shielded from criticism while in turn, Warren, Buttigieg, Bloomberg and then Sanders became the front-runners.
Now that Biden is the front runner, be prepared to be under-whelmed. His election is far from a sure thing.
Whether or not Biden gets elected, the forces of populism will only grow stronger.
3
I think you must be right about the turnout being due to crossover. People like me who are in the majority non voting party obviously aren't going to turn out for a Biden.
I think you've put the case for revolution more clearly than I've ever seen in the various (actual) socialist media such as WSWS, Jacobin, etc. But you've also described a thing that just ain't going to happen. When in any historical case has a moribund order taken such a chance, no matter how clear the alternative? Especially one still full of a sense of its own unprecedented power?
A mass movement to a Biden doesn't foretell an immanent revolution to me (i.e. in '24), so I also don't think this is the actual last chance. As a review in the Atlantic on Piketty's new book makes clear it is welfare and not inequality that is actually the issue, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see the first trillionaire before people ever take the state power into their hands in this country as you imply.
2
It must feel very surreal to the many black voters who won South Carolina for Biden to be considered "the establishment."
It's moot who wins the presidency with McConnell as the greatest obstruction to getting anything done.
It's almost more important than dumping trump that democrats take the Senate and keep the House.
If they can't, and trump wins reelection, then that will be authentic, genuine, 100 percent doom, Mr. Brooks.
4
There is no way he'll win. This is Hillary all over again. Democrats will never learn!
2
Chile was the most democratic country when in the early 70’s it elected Allende. We know how the right wing helped by the CIA handled that. Seventeen year’s of Pinochet the dictator followed the coup on 9/11/73.
I love Bernie’s ideas but the country is not ready.
And his refusal to drop the “socialist” won’t help.
We need anew deal to save democracy.
Trump is the greatest threat.
Social justice and environmental voters need to live for another day. Vote Biden and keep commuted to the struggle.
For once, I completely agree with a David Brooks take. This is indeed the time for what is left that is sane in the political establishment to show what its good for, show it has some bare relation to the needs of the governed, or reap the whirlwind.
1
Even though the primary season was way too long, I felt the denouement last week was abrupt and very unsatisfying.
The debates were uniformly awful. Biden seriously under-performed until the very last one, and I would defy anyone to quote one sentence or thought Biden made during the course of the campaign season.
I also think the female candidates were shortchanged from the get go. Someone apparently concluded that the Dems needed to whittle down the field to one moderate/progressive versus a far left liberal, which left very little room for candidates new to the national stage, such as Klobuchar and Harris. These two polled weakly because they polled weakly in large part because neither were as familiar to voters as Biden or Warren or Sanders. I'm left concluding that Biden will be a very weak candidate because he's locked into the past, doesn't seem to think women have a role in national politics, and hasn't had aa new idea in decades.
If he wins, it will only because of Trump-a-mania. And unless the Senate turns over and the House remains in Democratic hands, the next four years under Biden will be barely remembered and little missed.
Still, that's better than Trump by a long shot. I just feel we need to lower our sights and vote to break the fever of the nation's worst ever Administration. In the end, Biden is the choice of the impatient and panic-stricken, who were left with him or following Sanders to ruin.
3
I think we have Mayor Pete to thank for what Mr. Brooks describes as the rapid turning of the tide and coalescing around Biden. What he did on Sunday in quickly and eloquently endorsing Biden lead the way. It showed a selfless approach that put the larger interests ahead of his own personal feelings of the moment. I think he leadership should be acknowledged as it was the right thing to do, but also served as an example, which is what leadership is about. Thank you Mayor Pete. And I am not religious but I am really hoping Biden keeps watches his mouth, presents some new ideas, and takes this last chance to wrest our country back from the Trump disaster.
4
@ Bruce: I´m not an American but have followed these events avidly - you suggest a Biden / Sanders ticket but, what about a Biden / Warren ticket? She may not have the delegates but she would certainly energize a Biden presidency.
1
Mr. Brooks, I agree with everything you said.
Am a very liberal voter who supports Elizabeth Warren.
But, will vote for whoever wins the Democratic Nomination.
Have family and friends in Kentucky who have always voted Republican but who are tentatively curious about Biden - and - who his VP would be - they are beginning to consider voting for Biden - they would never vote for Bernie.
We, as a country need to Heal - Need to come back together.
We are all so tired of the toxicity, verbal abuse, thinking only of ME (Trump) instead of WE, the people.
We, as a country are soo yearning to Heal - to come back together - respecting each other's differences - but, United, as Americans -
We, as a country need a President who is a coalition builder.
2
Well said. It is time for us moderates to deliver the change the country needs. We have had enough chaos with Trump and don't need more from the Left. It is time to roll up our sleeves and do the hard lifting.
2
Some new Democrats, including, apparently, David Brooks, may be coming from the right.
But the new ideas driving the Democratic party are coming from progressives: increased minimum wage; universal pre-K; tuition-free public colleges; supplemental federal aid for education; a national infrastructure bill for financing--including guarantees of bond issues--port, rail, highway, and bridge & tunnel repair (as well as new construction); and the multi-beneficial programs of the Green New Deal, such as alternative energy initiatives (wind, solar, river, tidal), high speed and commuter rail, and the extensive creation of jobs tied to each.
Calling Obama a third way centrist or moderate ignores the fact that he astutely and forthrightly used his political capital to advocate for and gain passage of the Affordable Care Act, despite moderates' advice to wait until a second term. That was progressive leadership in action.
Forget the parties, we must figure out where we would like to go, then figure out who would be the best one to drive us. We citizens are splintered.
I am a baby boomer. it is this group that is divided into 2 categories. The first segment wants to continue with the changes of the 60's including improvement in civil rights for black and brown citizens, the continuation of government subsidies to minorities and the poor and less power and influence by those who are wealthy.
The 2nd segment argues "enough is enough, we did our best and if anyone is left behind it is not my my concern". further, the world is more competitive. All nations have recovered from World War 11.
We are no longer the king of this hill called Earth. There are more "equals" than ever and many of us don't like it.
The second segment has some valid points that should be taken into consideration and much of this group are Trump supporters. A large part of their frustration is due to the fact that we as a nation have spent hundreds of billions to solve our social problems while the problems still linger and the fortunes of the working class has deteriorated. Many in this group blame the recipients for the lack of effort on their part.
Much of this blame must be borne by the poor implementation of the social programs by our elected officials. They pass spending bills and once passed there is little accountability. Accountability was bought by Citizens United and gerrymandering. Both need to be repealed.
My sentiments! Except that Bernie supporters' radicalism is not a Khomeini-type that up-ended a system.
"Democrats are not just a party; they’re a community."
Welcome to our Party, David. It's always been like this, and it hasn't been easy to deal with the values we share in common.
Often we look confused, because we try not only to solve problems but to be aware of all the science and relevant points of view. Those change everyday.
We look ineffectual because we have compassion and a strong need for social justice. We don't like otherwise great solutions that are not fair to some people who unjustly get stuck with the bill.
We may look naive because we have a strong moral center, most of us, and certainly collectively as a community, although that center is also shifting.
But Republicans have none of these limits. They go right for the jugular every time. That's why they're better strategists than we are.
They have no constraints to fence them in. Whatever they need to do to win, they do it.
Now you Republicans have given us Trump. And you have second thoughts about being a Republican because Trump has made you realize you can't be a Republican and a good person too.
You want to be a good person.
Okay, Welcome to our community, David. But understand what that means.
You won't look like a master of the universe to your Republican friends. They might call you a wimp, or ineffectual.
And you have to muddle through elections as massive numbers of people get passionate about the wrong guy or the wrong idea.
That's just how we do it. Time to have faith again.
1
If Biden beats Trump and the Democrats win the Senate, then much could be done. If both those things do not happen, not so much.
Still, getting rid of Trump would be great even if the Republicans retain the Senate.
2
Mr. Brooks, telling your readers that we are all "doomed" if this or that doesn't happen really isn't helpful. Whether Trump, Biden or Sanders gets elected President I am pretty confident the Republic will continue on---mostly because every other form of government is worse. If you (Mr. Brooks) have lost hope in America I can be sympathetic. I feel that way too sometimes. But I don't blame that on any President or politician. Our problems stem from our own decline in morals, lack of a sense of civic duty and the ability to listen to one another. .
4
If I were Vladimir Putin I would be busy stoking the fires of anger that drove many young Berniemaniacs to sit on their voting hands in 2016. I expect anti- "establishment" attacks on Biden that may cross the line of civility. Last night on CNN's Cuomo program I saw a blast of angry self-righteous indignation by a Sanders surrogate straight out of the movie Network. It must have buoyed both Putin and Trump.
2
It never fails to amaze me how Brooks can combine worthwhile analysis with unexamined assumptions and utter naiveté.
Yes, if Biden becomes president, there are lots of disaffected citizens out there—on all sides—who will be even more disaffected in four years unless they see results. This part is perceptive.
But that doesn't mean Congress would have "no choice but to somehow pass his agenda" (nor that that agenda would be enough to solve the problems we face even if passed, but never mind that). Has Brooks not noticed that today's Republican party has devolved into a death cult? Passing anything that would help the American people is not on its to-do list. So long as 41 senators from the least populous, most reactionary states have any say in the matter, this country will go down in flames before they let a Democrat do anything to save it.
Discrediting the very concept of effective government doesn't undermine the Republican message, it *is* the Republican message. If the GOP can block anything constructive from being done, they'll proudly run on that in 2022 and '24.
And Brooks views political dynamics through very selective goggles. In particular, his concept of "intersectionality" does violence to the word, and he blithely ignores the very real work done to build diverse support coalitions by Sanders and Warren, conflating that grass-roots process with the kind of dealmaking involved in "building alliances" with the likes of Jim Clyburn.
2
Nothing is one last chance. How grandiose!
Wouldn't it turn out great if 'The Establishment' went ahead and passed a bill that forbade special interest legislation and everything that passed going forward received real democratic approval based on real common sense, as in sense in common?
1
Ah, the Pollyanna impulse never leaves...
My take on this week (more the effect of Super Tuesday - South Carolina went for Biden largely due to Jim Clyburn, though the result acted as a catalyst for Super Tuesday voters): The coalescing you note was a mostly due to fear coming to the fore, in two main ways:
Fear of not defeating Trump. And, yes, you're right that black voters are more moderate (to address them as a bloc for a moment). But, as is the case with many white and other POC moderate voters, more than ideology it's because at the gut level they want the relative security of incremental change (and even a forestalling of things getting worse, perhaps much worse, under Trump) rather than a riskier bet on momentous change. With the stoicism of long repression and slow, halting liberation, they take a longer view and are pragmatic.
That pragmatism was impressed upon me when I read months ago of a small, informal political discussion group of black women, one of whom, when asked her choice among the declared Democratic candidates, responded, "A (straight) white man." And was seconded by murmurs of consensus.
Second, fear of the coronavirus and its economic fallout. The extremely sobering reality of the COVID-19 pandemic hit home last weekend. That caused a psychological contraction, a risk aversion.
This election, as many, is all about fear - its reality and its manipulation. Voters will have to apply a clear eye and heart through the fear. And be alert to lies.
3
I have been browsing through the comments on several of the op eds. I get the sense that few of the commenters have a clear idea about the "legitimate crises" that Mr. Brooks is talking about. They do not seem to know what the crises are or what Biden will do to address them.
It seems that for many people replacing Trump is the only issue. It is not. If you replace Trump but do not deal with the "legitimate crises" things will get worse in four years.
3
"It was like watching a flock of geese or a school of fish, seemingly leaderless, sensing some shift in conditions, sensing each other’s intuitions, and smoothly shifting direction en masse"
Or a flock of sheep.
5
Joe's wins surpassed my wildest dreams in a good way. I had written him off. Started looking around. Settled on Mike. But, Joe knocked at the front door just at the perfect moment. Long way to go. Thank you Joe.
3
Decades ago, Dad told me, "Democrats line-up, Republicans fall into line." Democrats are for the worker, Republicans for the business owners.
Democrats were lining-up for Medicare, Medicaid, etc.
Republicans seemed to think they were lining-up, falling-into-line for enlisting in the next battle.
Nowadays, seems Republicans are lining-up for those sweet, sweet, lucrative government jobs/contracts/etc., usually war-oriented.
Bernie is desperate to be the "better-party" leader, outside the Democratic Party. The Independents, failed-Ross-Perot-supporters, failed-Nader-ites, etc., etc. Laudable, but not quite a "team-player." Not all America is the size of Vermont--a little pond.
But, yes, I'll vote for Bernie should he end up being the choice at the Democratic Party convention for President.
2
Mr. Brooks is not the only person to make too much out of the election of a president. Our troubles can not be fixed by one person. We need 538 people to realize that the self-serving party-first politics of the last 25 years has created an environment of "can't do" instead of "can do." Congress must awaken from its slumber and realize that party first always put out country second. The principle that congresspeople must accept is that no one gets everything they want in politics. But if Congress could relearn the art of compromise the nation might get what it needs, cooperation. The future is not determined by this president or the next Mr. Brooks. The future(or the next populist) is predicated on the 538 souls in Congress that either continue with gridlock or take a new approach and work together for the benefit of all.
2
@dudley thompson I'm a 93-year-old white Democrat grandfather who hopes he'll be around to vote for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for president in 2024. By that time she will be recognized as a voice of reason expressing the views and hopes of a majority of Americans.
3
535, Dudley. And HRaven, it's highly unlikely that AOC will represent a majority of Americans in only 4 years time.
I wish I was as certain of what I want as many commentators in this election cycle. And, for me at least, what I want is actually secondary for what I believe is good for our nation.
I live in a pretty Republican-dominated county. Some of my neighbors are die-hard Trumpistas. I saw a yard sign earlier this week that read, "Trump 2020, and Forever." (So much for the 22nd Amendment.) Many hold their noses on Trump's otherwise unacceptable traits, and claim they are voting their pocketbooks. These are the traditional business-class Republicans, and they have reason to be happy. The tax cuts, the foreign asset amnesty and deregulation have all put their profits mostly into their pockets, instead of into infrastructure, business expansion and a host of jobs, as was promised. So they got what they wanted. I don't believe that what they got was really good for the nation; it was simply good for them.
Mr. Trump has convinced a whole lot of frustrated Americans that it was good for them, too, in spite of lots of evidence to the contrary. Job production - shrinking. GDP - anemic compared to the Obama years. But my neighbors are prepared to believe the President's marketing, and like him or hate him, Donald Trump is an innovative and convincing marketer.
Into this the Democrats are throwing Mr. Sanders, who wants to sound like something in between a revolutionary and FDR, and Mr. Biden, who wants to sound like the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Is this the best we can do?
1
With 15 or so candidates offered up, the Democratic Party still failed to produce one candidate who was personally engaging and who had an understandable and enactable set of policy ideas. The big print media, centered in wealthy and liberal urban areas, did as it always does – it treated the competition as a combination
beauty pageant and horse race. The broadcast media dod what it now does – treated the primaries and debates as reality TV, looking for enhanced ratings. I live in in institutionally Republican rural NY, but there are plenty of us liberal voters. Yet we too are treated as flyover country. I eventually gave up on major media news: lots of shouting and pushing to have their thoughts and opinions heard, but not much understanding of the non-urban world. I am not surprised that Biden did so well where he did, many of those folks are like me. We want change from the horrors of Trumpism, we want our and our families' lives to have opportunity to improve. But we aren't talked with or listened to unless we live in Iowa or New Hampshire, decidedly unrepresentative sections of the county – but where the horse race is easy to quantify and where sound bites and beauty pageant video snippets are easy to come by. As a life long liberal and political junkie, I find even the Time's coverage relatively uninformative and frequently late to the party.
5
Right now, the only focus should be on unifying behind Joe Biden as quickly as possible, as soon as it appears that he will be the likely nominee. Because the verbal 'slings and arrows' that are going to be sent in his direction by his Republican opponent probably can not be understated, and he is going to need all the support he can get to achieve a win. Any issues that might come up afterwards can be addressed in the mid-terms. or via the '0-24 elections. But at least, at that time, we could look forward to their being resolved within the context of a constitutional democracy.
6
Thank you for another good essay. I am praying that Joe Biden can continue on a roll. I am also praying that he will win the nomination and the election so one can sleep at night knowing we have now a decent, caring, & competent President. There will also be a critical need for more seats in the Senate and House to flip from the "Trumpites" to people who really want to serve this nation and deal with all the issues stacking up. Another hope is that the Republican party is so diminished that it can be reestablished as a reasonable rational center-right party with people such as Mitt Romney and Willian Weld as the new leaders. Then this nation can have representatives and senators on both sides of the aisle who will be able to engage in reasonable and rational debates on what are the best alternatives to work on so many issues.
I come from what was "the Ruhr Valley" of the USA, the Youngstown, OH area. People with no college degree or even no high school degree could find good paying jobs in the factories or the services that kept those places humming. My father was a farmer with a day job as to Teamster truck driver. My mother stayed at home until I went off to a private university. Some how all three of us children went on to college & two graduate degrees. In visits now to Ohio, many of the factories are gone. People are desperate for decent jobs. Many counties flipped for Trump. The Democrats need to make the case they care about the working class.
4
@Wald Gronovius
Well said. I'm originally from the same area, Akron, and well know that the "Rubber Capital of the World" doesn't make tires anymore. Growing up, it was three shifts a day, seven days a week. Now a single Goodyear plant makes racing tires and that's it! I agree that a lot of the Trump vote was a desperation vote by desperate people. We can only hope that those still-desperate people have seen the havoc that has been caused by our despicable "leader", along with no improvement in their circumstances, i.e., still no jobs, and will try a different tack this time.
1
TRA,
Thank you for your comments. The Democrats really need to focus on the Midwestern counties that flipped for Trump. For Wisconsin, from a recent map in the NY Times, it appears that over 20 counties flipped. For Ohio, 7 flipped. Mrs. Clinton's campaign acted like the Midwestern firewall was totally secure, so why bother to even appear there. 2016 was an election and not a coronation. Her campaign manager, Mr. Mook underestimated how desperate so many Midwestern voters were. Of course, the Clinton surname is associated with NAFTA and Ross Perot comment about the "sucking sound" of factory jobs going south of the border.
The greatest threat to Biden losing to Trump may come from Greens or only-Bernies who decide not to vote for one of the two who will be the next President. Seven percent voted for a third-party candidate in 2016 and even more just stayed home. They were the cause of Trump's win. If that happens again, we should know where to place the blame.
1
After nearly four years of Trump - I think it's pretty simple
- people are desperate to get back a sense of "establishment" and some sort of norms of decency. Bernie's strategy of calling Joe "establishment" will isolate him further and drive more voters to Joe.
It's really too bad that the U.S. is still unable to elect a woman president and more women to every level. It is the most direct path to real change.
1
I've been around a long time and recall extremely clearly what, when and how the term "Establishment" was meant, said and referred to "back in the day." It instantaneously meant an us vs. them scenario. I still have a scar or two from those wild and insane protest days in Madison. We made a lot of noise and ruffled more feathers than there were on the Mallard ducks on Lakes Mendota and Monona.
So, it is with pleasure and a sense of compromise that I don't mind being referred to as a member of "the Establishment". I was heartbroken when the candidate I most valued, Pete Buttigieg. bowed out. But he will be back. And in the meantime, Joe Biden has a golden opportunity to help rebuild what was destroyed in the past four years if he gets elected.
It all comes down to one simple goal - replace Trump with a Democrat. And I am hoping that Democrat will be Biden.
6
Mr. Brooks in this column advocates a leftward shift in governance, increasing spending and taxation where needed to address the most urgent needs of working class voters.
For consistency's sake, he then needs to stop speaking sotto voce and start speaking loudly and clearly against stalwart obstructionists like McConnell and allies, who believe that Brooks is mistaken in this regard and that the system is in no need whatsoever of realignment.
To do anything less will be incoherent at best.
3
Biden has a long track record of neoliberal governance with special attention to bankers and their credit operations.
That won't change.
If he can win, his governance will be along the lines of Clinton and Obama.
Income inequality will keep increasing and climate change will continue to accelerate. Brooks is certainly correct about this: "If Joe Biden wins the nomination but loses to Donald Trump in the general election, young progressives will turn on the Democratic establishment with unprecedented fury. “See? We were right again!” they’ll say. And maybe they’ll have a point."
1
I'm a millennial who would have put Biden 16th or 17th out of the large field of Democrats who originally started out vying for the nomination. I didn't think he had what it takes to inspire turnout and build a coalition.
After seeing his performance in South Carolina and across the country on Super Tuesday, I'm willing to admit that I was wrong and jump on board the Amtrak with Joe.
Let's do this!
5
@Kyle awww. My son will hold his nose and vote for Biden should he become nominee but he hopes a progressive will occupy VP ticket.
1
The young don't have the same understanding as Brooks does: that democracy in America means the oligarchy will have the ultimate power and deside for us. And that trying to get money out of politics is a deeply anti-democratic stance in an american context - sometimes called revolutionary socialism.
Real democracy is a scary thing, best not try it...
1
It's good to know your mind & believe in yourself - this fosters creativity, strength and endurance.
However, even the greatest throughout history did not succeed alone.
Honor every part of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence - these statements were backed by Lives & Fortunes.
Every Right exercised comes with the Duty to acknowledge & accommodate our Fellows & their circumstances.
Our Government exists to achieve objectives that can't be easily accomplished otherwise - these don't always pencil out.
Hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang, or go broke, separately.
Despite aspirations, our Government may not be ideal - commit to improving it rather than diminishing it.
Demand high standards of those who take on the role of Public Servant - and applaud them, for such requires very thoughtful & hard work.
We are only as strong as the weakest link - and that is the link not there.
Expansion of Human Rights is the bedrock claim our Nation has to greatness.
We are People - not corporations, unions, or churches.
Though we all have interests in and obligations to other groups, our Country is all of Us.
1
One last chance? If he fouls this up? What does that even mean? He can't and he won't deliver radical change. That is not what a healthy democracy needs. It needs stability. It needs predictability. It needs transparency. His job will be to convince the bomb throwers on both extremes to disarm and realize that we are all in this together.
Finally someone says what I have believed since 2016: the system has to deliver or it will be destroyed.
I'm hoping Sanders will throw his support behind Biden in exchange for a mild swing to the left. Joe will need Sanders' supporters to beat Trump. And I'm hoping we capture the Senate and boot McConnell off his high horse.
Our problems might be intractable, but with Biden we could get one more chance to try.
Go get 'em, Joe.
4
The “migration” was away from Bernie Sanders as much as it was to Joe Biden. The imperative to save American democracy from Donald Trump and his corrupted GOP made a bet on the far left of American politics an unacceptable risk.
But Bernie’s policies have already won to a significant degree. Healthcare for everybody will be a major plank for the Democratic Party up and down the ballot, even as a complete restructuring of the American economy will need to wait - for now. College debt relief for those who need it will be be a major plank even if the children of the wealthy still have to pay their bills. And public service credit to erase student loan debt will be put back in its proper place and Trump’s illegal refusal to honor promises made quashed. The USA will once again become part of the solution instead of a huge problem in limiting climate change. Elizabeth Warren’s main achievement - The CFPB - will be rescued. Protecting voting rights from the GOP will be a huge priority at all levels of government. And the judiciary’s perversion will be stopped and then reversed as vacancies open.
So, will moderate success be enough to motivate Bernie’s followers to win with Biden instead of allowing Trump to destroy us all? Will they help to save us from McConnell? It depends to some extent, I’m sure, on how Biden conducts himself, who he picks as VP, what policies he champions and how zealously he supports those policies. But it also depends on Bernie and his followers.
2
You're right, the movement is anti-Bernie rather than pro-Biden. I do not believe for a second that any of the nominees who have dropped out honestly think Biden is going to be a great president, they just think he's got a better chance of beating Trump.
What excellent writing:
"It was like watching a flock of geese or a school of fish, seemingly leaderless, sensing some shift in conditions, sensing each other’s intuitions, and smoothly shifting direction en masse."
3
A mistake to right off Bernie so fast. The quicker we get to August the better as Biden is capable of falling as quickly as he rose.
So, the answer is Biden, civility, and hard work to pull the country in the direction it needs to go. That direction includes making sure that everyone has a voice; that most understand how democracy works by persuasion, agreement, and cooperation; and that we react to the needs of those who feel disaffected. I agree with all of this, and I hope to be a part of the solution. Those who do not want to be part of the solution, but rather to contribute to the problem, please step aside.
2
By persuasion, he said. How well did it work in Obama/Biden era? How many Reps were persuade by Obama/Biden to vote for heavily compromised ACA, for immigration reform for the judge selection? How come that the party (GDP) that refused to compromise won the Presidency and the Congress? Should we analyse the reality rather than wishful thinking?
2
I never vote. I wonder how many people like me simply sit on the sidelines, election after election, not really caring what happens, or only caring about it as some kind of protracted theatrical production that is pretty boring, but every now and then gets fun to watch?
1
A good citizen votes. Lazy, bad citizens sit back and watch.
We are not all doomed. There is too much political coverage, too many pundits, too much money involved, the political season is too long. The race for 2020 began in January 2017 with too many candidates, too many debates and too much hot air. Politics needs to retake its modest role in out lives. Small wonder that young people do not watch the evening news on TV. Life is too short. Turn the TV off now, then pay attention in late October, make up your mind and vote.
2
Major reform, too long delayed, will not inevitably arrive as a gift from above. Entitled privilege and the powerful advantage concentrated wealth confers already demonstrates sophisticated resistance.
When a hog is pulled from a feed troff, their scream is ear splitting. No David, the volume will not be turned down if there is an attempt to reduce the rations of those hogging the wealth.
Obama was a betrayal of promised reform, astonishing in its speed suggesting insincerity. Biden does not give even a nod to reform, promising instead a vacuous notion of normalcy, itself a prescription for further delay with ever less chance for constructive corrections requiring time to achieve through changes in the Congress and Courts. And that is only the Federal side of the ledger. State and Local reform is part and parcel of it all. Ask the Koch's. They have been there with eye popping success. It was a 20+ year project.
A classical acronym for saying 'Go to Hell' in Mandarin was: "May You Live in Interesting Times". We are there.
3
I don't WANT "a calming [& boring] Gerald Ford" after the scandal of Richard Nixon, David Brooks! Are you THAT half-a-century too old fashion?
I'm still angry as all hell about tyrant Trump! Heads gotta roll; hence the bigger role for our new head. (All the more reason why a woman would've been GREAT...!!!)
4
Obama orchestrated Buttigieg’s support for Biden’s Super Tuesday win, but showed by flirting with Warren in December, he knows Biden is a weak candidate. Biden voters know him as the electable, nice, grandfatherly, familiar face, decent in the debates. He won Virginia where he didn’t campaign, losing in Iowa where he did.
In the first Presidential debate, Trump will open with an attack on Hunter, which Biden can’t handle, followed by the Iraq war, NAFTA, open borders, and socialism. Biden will dissolve into the meandering, angry guy you can see on Youtube.
Biden believes America is fine, Trump is the problem, he can work with Republicans, and nothing has to change. He’s blind to the historic race, class, religious, cultural, and geographic divide that Trump played to his own advantage and now drives American politics.
Compare Biden as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing the Clarence Thomas hearing in 1991 with his town halls now. Biden’s a muddle-headed old guy, with anger management issues.
The Democratic Establishment and corporate donors sorted through and rejected Castro, Booker, Buttigieg, Warren—better in strength of character, charisma, and connection with voters than Biden. Elitism, racism, sexism, corporate domination, and a black box process spit out Joe Biden. Obama and Pelosi know Biden sucks, and if Bernie wins a plurality, they might switch to him for President. Biden can’t beat Trump, Bernie, like him or not, can.
5
I agree with everything you said, except that Bernie can beat Trump. I think that's a long shot.
If nothing else the past three years of chaos and corruption have shown us our fragility and weaknesses. We've also seen ugliness like open racism and hatred that we thought was disappearing and had no voice re-emerge.
I thought we needed another giant like an FDR or Lincoln or maybe another JFK or Obama to lift us out of this morass. But it looks like Joe Biden is the best we can come up with.
I say Joe, wipe that fake smile off your face and get ready for the fight of your life. Don't say stupid things, let Trump do that. He's much better at it than you. There are millions of us who will help you. Don't screw it up.
4
You`re damn right young progressives will scream at the top of their lungs to the Democratic establishment ,"SEE, We were right all along AGAIN!" There is NO MAYBE about it. So those who are in the process of making sure Bernie Sanders never gets the chance to challenge Trump; in favor of safe Joe Biden; had better put up or shut up. Otherwise those young progressives will burn the so called establishment to the ground. And I for one will be cheering them every step of the way!
3
30 years ago my grandmother told me Biden was a nebish.
things have gotten worse.
sure he sorta is a moderate when he isnt screwing everything up.
sad if biden is all we got today
5
Oh Boy:
Mr. Brooks, I have experienced your worst case scenario before, in spades. 1968 Democratic Convention. Factions within one party attempting to annihilate other factions. Daley and the conventional Democrats inside the Ampitheater, opposing Democrats in the streets (Chicago 8) and inside the arena( Ribicoff). Poor HHH accepting the nomination, LBJ on the phone throwing gasoline on the fire... Weeks later, factions attempting to storm the Drake hotel to “render justice” to Judge Hoffman.
All of this was internal Democratic Party maneuvering. So Mr. Brooks, I observed your worst case scenario, and I regret to say that I supported Nixon in 1968. The sentiment was “ just give us some damn relief!”
Let us hope that things don’t get that bad again. If they do I will throw my TV out the window. I do not wish to see that again.
1
The biggest question raised but not answered in this column is: Can moderates & progressives co-exist in the same party? Given what has happened: absolutely not. It's time we face a fundamental truth. The voters we need to win back the Presidency, Congress, SCOTUS, the majority of governorships & state legislatures, these voters have different values. They're NOT Democratic socialists. There’s no way to bridge the gap, between what the left & the moderate wing of the party wants. They're simply too far apart. I've working-class friends who live in the swing states HRC lost in 2016. To them, Progressivism means trigger warnings, vile college protests & obnoxious academics who posture as their will on earth. They hate these people to their very core. They always have & always will. The far left has been mocking these folk for decades. You are bad for eating factory-farmed meat, owning a rifle, & driving an SUV. You're bad for speaking the language of micro-aggressions, patriarchy & cultural appropriation. Sander's supporters say they'll vote for Biden if he's the nominee but I doubt it. Many will stay home. The purists would rather reign in a GOP hell than serve in a moderate DNC heaven. Our tent has become too big to accommodate all of these competing interests. We can win with or without progressives. We can't win without swing & centrists voters. Sanders isn't the candidate that can attract these voters. But Biden can. Because of this, he has a good chance to win in 2020.
1
Are you talking about those voters Who have us Trump and GDP Congress in 2016?
1
@Bill Brown So, lemme get this straight: you have working-class friends who are the kind of narrow-minded anti-intellectual reactionaries who feed on culture-war propaganda from Fox News, and think their right to drive SUVs is more important than whether they're burning down the planet.
And you think *those* people (who are natural Trump voters, by no definition "centrist") belong under the Democratic tent?... but not progressives who are actually trying to build a better world for everyone?
2
Imagine this scenario: Biden wins the Democratic nomination, is elected president and shortly thereafter is overcome by presidential burdens. He falters--mind and body. He becomes incapacitated. What then? Obviously, the VP would govern. This scenario must form part of the planning vs more of Trump's mocking derisiveness of any person who stands in his way.
1
We need universal health care coverage. Does Biden have the vision or fortitude to institute real change in our health care system that we so desperately need now?
I am skeptical of being able to attain Medicare For All. I am also skeptical of a viable public option unless and until we reverse Reagan and make health care NOT FOR PROFIT again and ban pharmaceutical advertising on television.
That way we can keep our private insurance that people say they want. Control costs and compensation. Regulate the insurance industry. Provide a public option that is medicare for all (who want it) envisioned by Bernie Sanders - we pay tax instead of insurance company profits and excessive salaries with no co-pays, no deductibles, no out of pocket expenses, no surprise out of network charges......
Health care is a human right and societal need. Profit in health care is a perverse incentive. No more gaming the system with every piece of the health care system wanting a bigger and bigger piece of the profit pie. Our health care system is bankrupting us and killing us.
3
@Bear Lass
Hopefully Amy Klobachar and Pete Buttigieg who both sold out to a swamp creature read your comment!
@Bear Lass
I hope Amy Klobachar and Pete Buttigieg read your comment! The sell outs!
The fallacy that Americans can have it all without sacrifice has to be disproved one way or another. It cannot last and the sad likelihood is that the only way it ends in disaster.
America is the richest nation in the world thanks in large part by its abundant natural resources and its benevolent location. So Americans, most of whom have never been touched by the horrors of war have come to expect that living the great life is "free," just part of being lucky enough to having been born here. But the great life comes at great cost. To have individual freedoms, a healthy environment protected from global warming, high paying jobs, health care, provision for the disadvantaged, a secure retirement and protection from terrorism and other international bad actors cannot be guaranteed for all. Our capitalistic system naturally creates winners and losers. And changing technology is eliminating the need for skilled workers faster than it is creating new jobs to replace those lost.
In the end the populists who want drastic change to create a utopia in which everyone's needs are addressed are delusional. If America could drastically reduce its military budget to pay for all the wants of the people it could be paid for, but then how to protect America from our enemies? And 63 million people voted for Trump. These people are not going away or will be converted. They oppose big government, gun control, woman's control over their bodies, etc. Compromise may be the best we can do.
The question is what kind of compromise that will satisfy everybody could it be?
On the night of Super Tuesday, David Axelrod had a very memorable line. I am paraphrasing below.
Millions of people are voting across the country. Millions. They are NOT the establishment.
4
The NYT Daily podcast had a piece a month or so ago about Pennsylvania electoral politics, including an interview with its Democratic, tatooed, fossil fuel job retention advocate Lt. Governor ("Lobby your hobby, vote your job"). In 2016, Hillary trumpeted her goal of eliminating corporate fossil fuel advocates and the jobs they support, which did not play well in PA, and may have been a decisive factor in that state going for Trump.
In a confrontation with a green supporter in the current campaign in PA, Biden said that if she wanted to eliminate coal plants and their jobs immediately, "then I'm not your candidate." He supports a more gradual, realistic approach toward an environmentally sound policy. He advocates a similar approach toward health care.
Both issues are critically important, but cries of "Revolution!" are not what we need today. We need healing. We need an approach that will get Congress on the road toward governing again. And we need a chance to catch our breath after the incompetence, corruption, and chaos that the Trump presidency has given us.
We need to remember that campaigning and governing are two very different skill sets. Joe may stumble on the trail, but he has the experience, relationships, and temperament to be an effective President.
3
@DDP The revolution is about getting money out of politics otherwise the fossil fuel industry, the insurance companies, etc. will continue to call the shots to further their own interests. And when it comes to climate change this means you will get nothing more than incremental changes, but that won't do, the climate crises demand urgent and radical action.
3
We need the leader who can press the Congress to go along with his policies. Biden could not get the public option through Dem Congress in 2009, how will he do it now? Hoping that you can achieve the compromise that benefits to ordinary Americans in the Congress by charming the lawmakers is pure fantasy. The Congress could not pass the surprise medical cost' because of opposition of few Dems and Reps alike. The Congress could not pass the bill of drug import from Canada to decrease prices because of opposition of Dems including Booker who is also talking about necessity of compromise. I guess, Booker meant the compromise that benefits to his backers in the big pharma.
@yulia I absolutely get the urgency. What needs to happen is that a critical mass of influencers, however you define that term, has to get it, too. If you want to "press the
Congress to go along with" your preferred policies, that is more likely through persuasion than the table-pounding that I'm afraid Bernie would bring to the debate. I think we're all tired of shouting across the room. Compromise is not a dirty word when the alternative is no action at all.
The Sanders critique of Biden and Obama is not that they are idealogical centrists, but rather that they are beholden to the Wall Street elites who finance their campaigns and the political elites who populate their staffs. The disagreement is not really about a political vision, or even about core policy. Virtually all Democrats (and a majority of Americans) want to achieve universal health care, an aggressive comprehensive plan to transform to a green economy, and just comprehensive immigration reform.
The disagreement is about how to best achieve these goals. Sanders' strategy is to lay out an ambitious platform while insulating himself from the influence of corporate and political elites. From this starting point, having shifted the conversation of what is possible, and having disentangled himself from the corrupting influence of self-interested elites, he starts from a position of strength, believing that to take on vested interests you have to fight them.
The establishment strategy simply plays a different game. They figure, since you can't beat the power of vested interests, you might as well court it and cater to it in order to bend the elite to your will.
2
A debate between Biden and Sanders can quickly switch the momentum to Sanders again. In a large debate field Biden can hide somewhat, but with just two persons Biden run the risk of being exposed - severely - not just as an incoherent debater but also as candidate who defends status quo and who has a record of defending bad policies.
2