One of the glorious things about the Democrats has always been diversity so vibrant it brings them to edge of ungovernability. The Democrats, when they have been successful, have won at all levels of government because they have brought all sorts of diverse people, priorities and ideas into one tent. Democrats can rightfully celebrate few things more than their commitment to diversity, a source not just of electoral strength, but of a living, evolving, and inclusive political philosophy built on core values that keep the progressive movement in America alive and relevant. That’s the upside.
The downside to the Democrats’ diversity is the formidable challenge it can present for anyone who has to figure out how to cobble together a majority to win an election. When everyone has an opinion, forging consensus can require a highly strategic approach, part analytics and part art. Successful national leaders of the Democratic party dating back to FDR and the Grand Coalition have been masters at uniting unlikely groups whose power could be combined to win elections.
On the heels of the loss in Georgia, it’s hard to argue that Democrats have ever needed a unifying leader more than they do now. Someone whose sole job it is to take on the President and the congressional Republicans every day. Democrats only pick their leaders every three years at the Democratic National Convention. But with stakes higher than at any time in at least a generation—and possibly in the history of the republic―waiting three more years for a leader seems just too long a wait.
Imagine if we had a parliamentary system, and therefore a leader of the opposition, whose job it was every day to offer a tangible alternative to the current government, not just rhetorically, but in the person of an alternative to the present head of state.
Right wing attack ads focused on Nancy Pelosi in the special election in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District in part because there was no national opposition leader who was making the case for an alternative to Donald Trump or the Republican-controlled Congress intent on unwinding every progressive policy enacted not just during the Obama years, but all the way back to Nixon.
Viewed in this way, it’s a miracle Ossoff garnered as many votes as he did, given that he fought the entire election without a national opposition leader on his side. If the election, as many have suggested, was really a vote on Trump, then Trump ran unopposed in Georgia’s special election.
American culture demands a not just a person, but a personality. At the head of their party, Republicans have found a personality unlike we’ve ever seen in the White House. If Democrats expect to take on that personality, they need more than rhetoric—they need a leader with a personality that appeals to all the diverse groups that have worked together to elect Democrats. They need a leader to unite all those groups (no small task in the wake of the last election), plus those who voted for Obama twice but flipped for Trump in 2016, and possibly even some moderate Republicans who will peel away from Trump as the outrages continue to pile up. Arguably, this is unlikely coalition Democrats needed to win in Georgia’s Sixth District and will need in 2018 to retake the House.
We don’t lack articulate, nationally prominent Democrats, but none of them wears the mantle of opposition leader. In addition to Hillary Clinton (amid debate about her future role in the party) and Bernie Sanders, we have leading Senators—Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, Cory Booker, Diane Feinstein, Al Franken and Sherrod Brown to name only a few―- who make the case every day for the Democrats’ political program and progressive values. They also face the all-consuming, 24/7 task of holding the line against the Republicans’ incredible mission to become the party that sold everything, including the planet, to the rich. So, they are probably too busy to take on another big job.
None among these leading Democrats—leading opposition voices to be sure—is the actual opposition leader. Ironically, as some of them consider a possible candidacy in 2020, our longstanding approach to party politics insists that they act coy about their leadership until it’s time to declare their intentions to run for the presidency. As a result, we’re leaderless at a time when we need someone to counter the President and Congressional leaders every day and to speak for those millions who called themselves Democrats in 2016 and, urgently, those who might be willing to call themselves Democrats in 2018 and beyond if only a Democrat were talking to them.
Hillary still has fervent supporters but given the GOP grip on narrative, Hillary can’t be the face of a Democratic party that wins back the House in 2018. Bernie has revitalized the party in many ways, but he fails to attract the crucial, incremental votes the Democrats need to win the well-educated suburbs like the one Ossoff just lost. In fact, Bernie may be an impediment to re-engaging moderates who voted for Obama but not Hillary, and perhaps especially moderate Republicans whose patience for scandal and malfeasance may be exhausted at some point (we can only hope).
Other leaders of the progressive wing of the party from the Senate are probably just as ill-suited to win the moderate suburbs as Bernie is. Their mistake was letting the Fox/Trump narrative take hold over the past decade: Too many voters now believe progressives can identify a good Sauvignon Blanc but not a working class person if they ran them over with their Jaguar. It doesn’t matter how crazy backwards this narrative is, or how much we progressives love Elizabeth Warren or Cory Booker. This is no longer about what the progressive wing of the party wants. It’s about finding someone who can end the Trump era, early if possible, by retaking the House in 2018 and positioning the Democrats for a White House win in 2020. We can’t afford bickering or unrealistic expectations on the part of those perceived (most often wrongly) as ultra-liberal Democrats who can’t win Ohio or Pennsylvania.
For that we need to find an opposition leader who can call out the false ‘working class’ narrative spun by a billionaire known for stiffing contractors and carpenters and caterers. We need a statesman who can speak for the party every day as Republicans in Congress do the President’s bidding. We need someone with political skill and seniority, and a resume as long and distinguished as the list of Trump’s documented lies published in the Times last week. But great stature isn’t enough. We also need someone who the President can’t easily cast as a liberal elitist who’s made a career of ignoring working people. Indeed, we need someone who can call out Trump, Ryan, and McConnell every single day on each piece of their political program that’s designed to transfer wealth to the richest, at the expense of the working people. Talk about a full-time job.
Joe Biden could be that opposition leader. He’s a policy maker with some of the most significant progressive legislative accomplishments of his generation from the Violence Against Women Act to the Assault Weapons Ban, but also with stronger credentials for forging bipartisan cooperation than anyone in public life today. Biden has foreign affairs experience at least equal to, and perhaps beyond that of anyone in either party, and as Trump unravels the world order, this is increasingly important. Biden could be someone at long last, who could grill the GOP about why they are not apoplectic at Putin’s attempts to undermine our elections. And Biden of course has executive experience which will be needed as we enter an era where the very institution of the Presidency has been seriously damaged, and will need to be repaired in the eyes of average Americans.
But the most significant aspect of Biden’s background from a strategic political standpoint might be his ability to call Trump out on his working class hero fantasy that tilted the 2016 election. Those who start in Ohio and drive east, the entire length of Pennsylvania, will see barns and trucks and roofs adorned with the Trump logo. That is, until they reach Scranton. There the Trump signs disappear. Biden’s credibility with the working class is not only unquestioned, but it can be a uniquely powerful for asset for Democrats who want not just to re-take the House and win the presidency, but regain their connection with working people who built this country and the Democratic party.
Biden’s obvious qualifications may be tempered, for some at least, by his age. In 2 years, that will surely be discussed if he seeks the nomination. Like many other things, it may not seem as relevant in the Trump era as things that were taken for granted in different times. Even if Biden’s age were viewed in 2019 as an insurmountable obstacle to the nomination, there is still a strong case for officially or unofficially appointing Biden the leader of the opposition now, someone who can speak with the intelligence and compassion and credibility so lacking in The White House and the Congress where the GOP, as of today, wants to toss 26 million people off health insurance, including seniors, veterans, and most of rural America in Trump country.
We need a proven leader whose job it is offer an alternative narrative to the crazy, unprecedented behavior coming out of the White House and the unbridled greed of Republicans who control Congress. Someone who can talk not just to his district or state, but to the whole country about why the Mueller investigation matters, or how the world is talking about the “Trump Shove” at NATO, or legislation called, with Orwellian flare “Better Care,” is neither.
Waiting three years is not an option. A leading, national alternative voice is needed right now. Joe Biden is best suited for the job.