2023-09-02 10:10:08
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US President Joe Biden. © Mikhail Metzel/Imago
In less than a year, the new president will be elected in the USA. Joe Biden is running once more for the Democrats. But the fear of defeat is growing.
Washington, DC – Joe Biden was able to enjoy the support of many progressive groups early on in the US election campaign. What is particularly important for him is that he was able to win over the leading liberals in Congress for his campaign. The danger that he will face competition from the left in the Democratic primaries is thus off the table. Biden has indeed managed to largely unite the party behind him.
But in order to keep his party’s left flank happy, Biden must now take action. Some liberals in the Democrats are now urging him to do more than boast regarding his record and warn once morest another Trump presidency. Unless Biden spells out an ambitious liberal agenda for a second term, they say, the progressive votes he needs in the 2024 US election may end up staying at home.
Sanders warns Biden: ‘Don’t rest on laurels’
“Democrats need to be much clearer to the American people regarding what they stand for and, more importantly, which side they are on in the great struggles we face,” independent Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont) said in a recent speech, in describing the “enormous” crises the country is facing, including inflation, wealth inequalities and extreme weather events.
In the NBC– News program Meet the Press, Sanders, who describes himself as a Democratic Socialist and had run for the presidency in 2020, added that Biden’s “finish the job” campaign slogan was not an inspirational message. He praised Biden’s “long line of achievements,” but said, “You can’t just rest on your laurels as President of the United States.”
That sentiment, shared by other liberals, is a red flag for Biden, who is heading into an election where even some disaffected voters might decide the race by simply staying home or supporting someone from a third party .
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Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman (New York), another prominent Progressive Rep., said that while he appreciates Biden’s actions, such as limiting insulin to $35 a month for the elderly and raising taxes on wealthy corporations, he wishes that the President has “more faith in the progressive agenda.” Biden’s willingness to take a middle seat on issues like crime, the environment and immigration has at times worried liberals, Bowman said in an interview.
“He manages the balancing act of being responsive to the Progressive Caucus and new congressmen like me, but also to old-established lobbies like the fossil fuel industry,” he said.
Biden has had a complex relationship with the Liberals since the beginning of his presidential bid. As a candidate, he proudly ranked to the right of rivals like Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), but as president he has often embraced their priorities – while deviating from them in critical areas.
Senator Bernie Sanders © Michael Brochstein/Imago
Biden wants leftists at his side in the 2024 US election
Some progressive figures among Democrats say his record has exceeded their expectations. “No one fights harder for working people than President Joe Biden,” Warren said in a statement for this article. “The President has brought regarding unprecedented change through his leadership on issues ranging from climate resilience to student debt relief to junk fees.”
In an issue important to many liberals, the Health Department this week recommended reclassifying marijuana, which the federal government currently ranks among the riskiest drugs alongside heroin and LSD, as a less risky substance.
The White House, while denying it has a problem with the Liberals, is taking clear steps to keep them on board. For example, Sanders attended briefings on foreign policy matters, and Biden invited Bowman to accompany him in his Marine One helicopter during the summer debt ceiling negotiations.
However, some progressives fear the White House is now turning its back on them as Biden switches to campaign mode and adjusts to governing with a Republican-led House of Representatives. Biden was criticized for agreeing to a controversial oil pipeline in West Virginia.
Leftists in the US fear a shift towards the centre
Some on the left also fretted over Biden’s recent claim that his environmental policies have “virtually” declared a climate emergency, and suggested he should indeed declare one to combat extreme weather and other threats. And as the president focuses on delivering his message of “bidenomics,” they fear his desire to attract centrist voters will lead to an even greater centrist shift.
Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner argues that Biden’s economic policies are not enough to help those in need. “No amount of branding is going to change the fact that people’s money doesn’t go as far as it used to, that the people of this country are suffering,” Turner said on her podcast Unbossed.
Despite all the criticism, Biden can consider it a success that he was able to avoid an internal party challenge from a liberal. The candidatures of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson are not so bad for him.
However, the biggest threat to Biden might come from a third-party candidacy if it gains momentum. Liberal philosopher Cornel West is running for the Green Party nomination, emphasizing an argument that has often propelled progressives in the past: that neither Democrats nor Republicans might bring regarding the sweeping change the country needs.
“It’s regarding empowering those who have been marginalized because neither party wants to tell the truth regarding Wall Street, Ukraine, the Pentagon and Big Tech,” West said in his campaign launch video.
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Biden’s team is hoping that liberals will fear a second Trump presidency
The prospect of a left-leaning challenge is frightening for many Democrats, who believe the last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, won their elections solely because left-leaning voters in key swing states refused to vote for the Democratic nominee to support.
Green Party candidates Ralph Nader and Jill Stein pulled votes in key states in 2000 and 2016, respectively, paving the way for Bush and Trump to win the election despite losing the popular vote.
Biden’s team hopes that liberals’ deep fears of a second Trump presidency will prevent a repeat of these races and overcome any ambivalence progressives may have towards the president. “Don’t compare me to the Almighty—compare me to the alternative,” has become a common refrain from Biden, who repeated that message in the wake of the recent Republican presidential debate.
Biden’s allies have attempted to turn the entire GOP field into a sort of proxy for Trump, portraying GOP candidates as similarly “extreme.” The recent debate has shown that Republican candidates are sabotaging democracy, abolishing abortion rights and exacerbating climate change.
“Last week’s RNC debate reminded many that they are faced with a choice between MAGA Republicans, who want to run the country backwards and make life miserable for Americans, and a president who addresses the real issues, with they’re facing,” Biden’s campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said.
Still, a Marquette Law School poll last month found that 54 percent of “more liberal” and 55 percent of “very liberal” voters don’t want Biden re-elected. And some warn that dire warnings are not enough to motivate Democrats.
“I don’t know if we can conclude that fear of Trump is enough to guarantee the president a victory,” said Amara Enyia, political director of the Movement for Black Lives and a former Chicago mayoral candidate.
Sanders makes it clear: The entire progressive community must defeat Trump
Still, Biden’s argument resonates with prominent liberals. His re-election efforts were endorsed by Bowman, Pramila Jayapal (Washington), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) and other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, as well as influential left-wing groups such as MoveOn.
The debate within the progressive movement was reflected on Sunday in the CNNState of the Union when Sanders was asked regarding West’s criticism that fear of Trump was not a sufficient reason for the left to support Biden.
Sanders disagreed. “Donald Trump is not someone who believes in democracy,” he said. “I think we need to get the entire progressive community to defeat Trump, or whoever the Republican nominee is going to be, [und] to support Biden.”
In principle, on the left, it is clear that Biden’s presidency was marked by an alliance with progressive forces to pass sweeping legislation, from a historic investment in climate protection to long-demanded authorization for Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. Biden has also taken executive action on student loans, racial equality and gun violence, it said.
“He looks forward to working with them to achieve more historic achievements for the middle class, including the specific plans he laid out in the State of the Union and in his budget, which have the backing of progressive lawmakers across the board.” ‘ said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.
Biden’s allies dismiss the idea that the president is now moving towards the center, saying he has always sought a balance between liberals and moderates. During the 2020 campaign, Biden formed working groups with Sanders’ team, but he also spoke frequently of bipartisanship.
The resulting record leaves some liberals unsatisfied. Many point to the broader parts of Biden’s agenda that failed in a divided Congress or were overturned by the courts, and they question Biden’s commitment to goals like paid leave for family members and doctors, universal preschool education, police reform and expanded voting rights .
West has touted his candidacy for the Green Party as an alternative for these people and has portrayed himself as a staunch supporter of issues such as poverty and environmental justice.
Left Democrats praise Biden’s political record
Biden’s allies say he is an excellent political strategist, citing his legislative successes, successful debt ceiling negotiations and better-than-expected midterm elections for Democrats. “The record speaks for itself,” Bowman said, praising Biden’s ability to get legislation through a Senate almost evenly split between parties.
The GOP debate reflected a contrast that Democratic leaders hope will rally the party behind Biden, particularly on issues like climate change.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, standing near the center of the Republican podium and involved in some of the evening’s most memorable moments, declared that “the climate change agenda is a hoax,” claiming without evidence that more people are blamed for bad climate policies than die themselves because of climate change. Most of the other GOP contestants on stage declined to substantively address the issue.
This prompted Biden to respond, which he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “By the way, climate change is real,” he wrote.
To the author
Toluse “Tolu” by God is White House Secretary at the Washington Post and co-author of His Name is George Floyd, a 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book. He has worked for the Post since 2019 and has covered the past three Presidents. He previously worked at Bloomberg News and the Miami Herald, reporting from Washington and Florida.
Scott Clement contributed to this report.
We are currently testing machine translation. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on September 01, 2023 at the “Washingtonpost.com“ was published – as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to the readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.
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