Is Joe Biden a mix between McGovern and Mondale?
Last November I wrote a piece called: Will the Democrats remain on the losing side of history? The premise was, if history repeated, will the Democrats be burdened by a legacy or hindered by a hurdle in their efforts to unseat the president.
The Legacy: “McGovernism”
This term came into existence after the landslide defeat of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern in 1972. McGovern lost the electoral college to Richard Nixon 520 to 17. The term simply means, moving too far to the left. Last November, at a fundraiser, former president Barack Obama warned the Democratic presidential candidates not to go down that road because average Americans do not think the system needs to be torn down and remade. Former Vice President Joe Biden was encouraged not to run in 2016 but was drafted for 2020 to be the moderate in a presidential field dominated by progressives. During the last Democratic presidential debate, Biden echoed Obama when he told Senator Bernie Sanders that Americans wanted results, not a revolution. Biden secured the Democratic nomination for president, but Biden has a problem with Sanders supporters. In 2016 Sander supporters didn’t get behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton which decreased the Democratic voter turnout to the detriment of the party, and Sanders supporters are threatening to repeat 2016 if Biden…