Joe Biden has entered the “mopping up” stage of the nomination process, earlier than anyone might have imagined a month ago.
Democrats went through the primary paces Tuesday in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois—but not Ohio, which postponed to a later date. The results indicated that Democrats are ready to accept the anointment of Biden and move on.
That has seemed to be the case for a while—even before the rest of the candidates dropped out and (other than Elizabeth Warren) rallied around Biden; and before coronavirus made the primaries seem like an unwelcome intrusion.
Just over 10 million viewers watched the Biden-Sanders debate Sunday night, far less than the previous two debates. That’s despite the lure of the first one-on-one showdown, and the fact that Americans were mostly trapped inside their house due to coronavirus restrictions.
Within political and media circles, interest in the primaries has pretty much boiled down to whether they should even be happening.
Ohio’s governor is not the only one aghast at the notion of calling the citizenry out to public polling places—staffed, in most cases, by older volunteers—just as they’re trying to stem the spread of a deadly, contagious virus.
Georgia, scheduled to hold its primary next week, has postponed to May; Kentucky, Louisiana, and Maryland have delayed until June. Rhode Island is looking into doing the same.
That’s causing some consternation and dispute, and difficult debates about rights and access and process.
Many are hoping that Bernie Sanders renders it all moot by dropping out.
The downside of that for Biden would be the fear of him essentially disappearing from the public eye, with the primary settled, a national crisis unfolding, and the Democratic National Convention still four months away.
But frankly, that’s happening anyway, whether Sanders stays in or not. Beginning today, Biden faces the challenge of remaining relevant.
A bleak beginning
Tuesday evening was a preview of Biden’s problem.
As polls closed and results came in, MSNBC could barely maintain the façade of interest; Brian Williams and Rachel Maddow, ostensibly anchoring election coverage, spent more time conducting coronavirus-related interviews than analyzing returns.
CNN tried gamely to act as if they cared, but by 10:00 eastern time—well before a winner in Arizona had even been projected—the network returned to regular prime-time programming, focused on coronavirus.
Social distancing, of course, denies Biden the trappings of a traditional election-night ballroom victory speech. He tried to get coverage anyway, by webcasting a speech with no audience.
Unfortunately, in trying to adapt to virtual campaigning, the Biden campaign has thus far shown no imagination, innovation, or basic familiarity with online content. They put up a black background, two American flags on posts, and a podium with visible microphone; pointed a cheap web cam; and broadcast their candidate reading off a teleprompter.
It was, in all but the internet connection, less contemporary than Nixon’s 1952 “Checkers” speech. The viewing effect was somewhere between an old Max Headroom clip; and a hostage video from an undisclosed bunker location, with green St. Patrick’s Day tie as proof of life.
At least CNN and MSNBC broadcast it live. That’s probably the last time they’ll do that for a while.
If Biden is going to remain relevant in the coming months, he and his new campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon are going to need to take the whole notion of virtual campaigning a lot more seriously.
Out of the loop
The relevance problem is deeper than optics. Biden is in danger of seeming out of the loop as the important people tackle the ongoing crisis.
In his livestreamed speech, for example, Biden spoke only in general terms about the coronavirus issue, stressing the need for both leadership and individual responsibility.
It was, as intended, appropriately Presidential in tone and message. But it offered nothing on the crucial, rapidly-developing debates on steps forward—for example, the need for immediate stimulus action to prevent economic collapse.
Throughout Tuesday, political leaders had been offering their suggestions for what form that action should take. Sanders, in a webcast speech earlier in the evening, advocated $2000 to each American and a waiver for student loan payments, among other things. Trump was talking about a trillion-dollar stimulus package.
Biden last spoke about addressing the economic fallout during Sunday’s debate—two days, and a million news cycles removed. What he described then as his plan for “a major, major, major bailout package” looks puny in the rear-view mirror, consisting mostly of elements included in the bill already agreed to and soon to be signed, plus an unspecified emergency fund available to states and municipalities.
Biden, holding no office, has no choice but to stand to the side as others rush to action. But, as the presumptive Democratic nominee, he can still take a role in the ongoing conversation—if he inserts himself into that conversation in timely, useful, attention-getting ways.
So far, he hasn’t done that. He’d better start, soon.
