Two down, four to go before Joe Biden is named the Democratic nominee for the presidential election.
That’s our wish.
Not initially, mind you.
But you work with what you have.
Former Vice President Biden had a whale of a day Saturday by winning the South Carolina primary with almost twice as many votes as the other four candidates combined.
Current front-runner Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was a distant second, winning almost 20% of the vote compared to Biden’s 48.4% tally.
Third- and fourth-place holders, Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigieg, have since dropped out of the race, leaving Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren and billionaire Mike Bloomberg still in the race.
African Americans, young and old, came to Biden’s rescue. That bodes well for the future of his campaign. The black vote comprises 20% of the primary electorate.
After Saturday’s success, other leaders began throwing their support behind Biden, including 50 current members Congress and scores more from former members.
Critics say Biden doesn’t have Sanders’s fire in the belly. But moderates fear Sanders would burn the house down with his cries for revolution.
BIDEN COULD boost his momentum if he named his running mate and cabinet to prove not only his widespread support but also his qualifications to lead the country.
One of President Donald Trump’s key failings has been his inability to appoint — and keep — qualified people in positions of authority.
Biden could have a star cast just by tapping those who have fought beside him for the nomination, beginning with Minnesota’s Sen. Klobuchar as his running mate.
Ideologically, the two moderates are in lock-step in their goals to take the country forward and could attract wide consensus.
Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, gave his two cents of what would make an ideal cabinet, suggesting:
Buttigieg’s military service makes him uniquely equipped for homeland security; Warren’s energy and expertise in expanding health care makes her a natural as health and human services secretary; Sen. Kamala Harris’s tenure as a former attorney general for California makes for a natural segue to become the country’s AG; Andrew Yang’s passion for renewable energy would be a natural for energy secretary, and the current Republican non grata, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah would be a dandy as secretary of commerce.
Friedman picked Bloomberg, not Biden, as the most likely to face off against Sanders for the nomination.
In that scenario, he suggested Biden’s solid relationship with U.S. allies would make him an ideal secretary of state.
OUR FEAR with a Sanders’s nomination is his rush to throw out the good with the bad.
