{"id":25360,"date":"2019-07-17T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=25360"},"modified":"2019-07-16T17:24:57","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T22:24:57","slug":"the-ballad-of-joe-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2019\/07\/17\/the-ballad-of-joe-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballad of Joe Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With a solid lead in the polls and grade-A name recognition, it\u2019s time to assess what Joe Biden truly stands for.
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In a picturesque world or Hollywood production, Biden\u2019s campaign would be as smooth as butter. A well-liked former vice president from the administration of an even more well-liked president? There should be no bumps in the road, no obstacles to block his likely ascension to the Democratic nomination. Except there are: his past deeds, his current statements and his proposed policies.
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Biden\u2019s performance during Night Two of the first Democratic primary debate was surprisingly more dull than I had anticipated it to be. Halfway through his evasions, non-answers and perma-grin smugness, I came to the realization that Biden is nothing more than \u201cHillary Clinton 2.0\u201d\u2014 generic, cliched platitudes over formative, groundbreaking policy.
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(Credit: Marc Nozell \/ Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

His opening remarks reeked of Clinton\u2019s entire 2016 campaign strategy, which essentially said nothing more to American voters than \u201cHey, I\u2019m the only one here that can beat Trump, so just go ahead and cast your vote for me. If you don\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t matter because I\u2019ll most likely get the nomination anyway.\u201d
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And a Biden nomination is a very strong possibility that we face in next year\u2019s election. For all of the outcry against the quasi-authoritarian leadership from the current commander-in-chief, the bulk of the American public still appears easily fooled by an expensive suit and a porcelain smile.
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Despite all of the \u201c#Resistance\u201d Twitter bios and the strong support for both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen Elizabeth Warren, the prevailing sentiment among a large swath of Democratic voters is a return to \u201cnormality,\u201d (i.e., a return to the neoliberal politics of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton) which is what Biden is hoping to cash in on.
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Biden, seen alongside former president Barack Obama in 2011. (Obama White House, Pete Souza \/ Flickr)

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Fortunately, it appears that he may soon become the architect of his own downfall.
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The reports began with a whisper, then grew into megaphone-projected yells: during his tenure as a freshman senator in the 1970s, the former vice president voted against school busing<\/a> and had strong ties to several known racist and pro-segregation politicians.
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Years ago, it had already been revealed that Biden had a close-knit relationship with notorious segregationist politician Strom Thurmond, so close in fact that when Thurmond passed away in 2003, Biden not only attended the funeral, but also delivered a eulogy<\/a>.
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