The Observer - 04.08.2019

Section:OBS 2N PaGe:30 Edition Date:190804 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 3/8/2019 16:33 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

• The Observer
  30 04.08.19 World

Despite setbacks, the

former vice-president

still heads the race to

fi ght Trump in 2020.

But the left could yet

provide a challenge

A small cheer went up as Joe Biden

walked into the Detroit One Coney

Island Restaurant, took off his sun-

glasses and beamed. The candidate

shook hands and talked with diners

for more than an hour while people

took pictures.

The frontrunner for the Democratic

nomination for US president in 2020

emerged from the restaurant to be

greeted by reporters, onlookers and

a young woman blowing a trumpet,

accompanied by a man playing a cello.

“This is a marathon,” an upbeat Biden

said. “We’ve passed the quarter mark

and I’m feeling good.”

It was Thursday and the former

vice-president had just emerged

from the second Democratic pri-

mary debate bloodied but unbowed.

His rivals had attempted to gang up

on him like Julius Caesar’s assassins,

twisting their knives on civil rights,

the climate crisis, criminal justice,

healthcare, immigration and wom-

en’s rights.

After it was over, no one was claim-

ing that Biden had destroyed his foes

or offered Obama-like inspiration:

CBS’s The Late Show host Stephen

Colbert observed that “Democrats

have gone from ‘Yes, we can!’ to

‘That’ll do’”.

But Biden had survived. Supporters

took solace in his resilience, which is

starting to look like a habit that could

yet secure him the right to go up

against Donald Trump in a fi ght for

the White House. Already in this cam-

paign, Biden has been confronted by

women’s claims that he inappropri-

ately touched them, been forced into

a U-turn on government funding for

abortions, faced allegations he pla-

giaris ed sections of his climate crisis

plan, earned opprobrium for his rem-

iniscing about working with racial

segregationists in the US Senate, and

been ambushed on his race record

by Senator Kamala Harris in the fi rst

primary debate.

Yet, instead of collapsing, Biden

retains a healthy lead in the opinion

polls before next year’s caucuses and

primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire

and other states, which will determine

the Democrat who goes head-to-head

with Trump in November 2020.

Two people Biden encountered

at his campaign stop in Detroit on

Thursday illustrated why, in his third

bid for the White House, he is still the

man to beat – but also the many pit-

falls that lie ahead.

A key segment of his support

is older voters, notably including

African Americans. The Rev Wendell

Anthony, president of the Detroit

branch of the National Association for

the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP), explained why.

“Because we know him,” said

Anthony, 69. “And because he was

with the fi rst African American presi-

dent and they have a record on health-

care, working with the community. He

helped the city of Detroit in terms of

the transportation, housing ... When

you put his record up against some of

the others, it stands a measure above,

and I just think that it’s not what you’re

going to do, it’s what you’ve already

done. He’s done enough to merit the

kind of support that he’s getting.”

However, after Biden had embraced

Anthony and climbed into his black

limousine following the event, a

woman rushed towards it shouting :

“Three million deportations! Three

million deportations! We don’t need

your big answers. We need better can-

didates! Where is your apology? ”

By tethering himself to Barack

Obama as he promises to heal the

nation’s soul, Biden has brought the

44th president’s own record under

fresh scrutiny, as was evident at the

debates. The Obama administra-

tion deported more than 3 million

undocumented immigrants, far more

than under George W Bush and Bill

Clinton. Attitudes in the Democratic

party have shifted since then – and

threaten to leave Biden behind.

Care Act , with proposals for health-

care reform such as Medicare for all.

But others in the party fear this

plays into Trump’s hands, fuelling

his argument that Democrats have

become “radical socialists”, per-

sonified by the congresswoman

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her

allies. To this constituency, Biden

seems like a safer choice.

In part this case rests on the notion

that 2020 is no ordinary election.

The Republican standard bearer

is not a mainstream political fi g-

ure but a celebrity businessman

who has trashed norms, debased

discourse, and boasted about

groping women. Therefore, the

argument goes, this is not the

time to experiment. Beating

Trump is everything.

Biden says polls show he is

well placed to win the cru-

cial midwest battleground

states Hillary Clinton lost to Trump,

restoring African American turn-

out to Obama-era levels and fl ipping

blue-collar workers back into the

Democratic column.

“I can win Michigan,” he said force-

fully on Thursday. “They know me,

I’ve worked my whole life. I come

from the middle class. I understand

it. I know what’s going on. I promise

you, if I get the nomination, I will win

Michigan, I promise you. I will win

Pennsylvania. I will win Ohio.”

John Zogby, an author and pollster,

said: “I always thought Biden is the one

to go after Trump. He has the experi-

ence not to get bogged down in how

low Trump can go. He’s the one who

can say, ‘Donald, knock off this shit.’”

Others, however, are sceptical

about whether the former senator can

last the course in today’s Democratic

party. Frank Luntz, a Republican con-

sultant and pollster, said: “Biden is

Biden leads the Democrat ‘marathon’,

but can he make it to the fi nish line?

David

Smith

Detroit

‘Biden has some

serious challenges

ahead of him.

He cannot afford

a bad debate’

Frank Luntz, pollster

The anti-Biden protester was

Brenda Valladares, 29, of Movimiento

Cosecha, an immigrant-led move-

ment campaigning for protection

and respect. She said: “There

are 3  million deportations that

he was complicit with. I’m just

reminding him because there’s

still no answer. There’s still no

apology for the atrocities that the

undocumented communities

experienced for eight years,

and that built and lay the

groundwork for the atrocities

and the hate that we’re experi-

encing today.”

Detecting such vulnerabili-

ties, some of Biden’s compet-

itors have offered bold ideas

to fix the broken immigra-

tion system. Similarly some

have gone much further than

Obama’s signature legislative

achievement, the Affordable

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