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1. Just a quick note on electability, which is complex. Electability is just a proxy for various Dem views of what went wrong with American politics. Dems are passive aggressive, so they can't just fight it out openly. They have to pretend to be unified around electability.
2. The electability theory of Biden is simple. Trump is an anomaly who won bc Clinton is a woman and couldn't beat the racists. Obama/Biden are winners who ran the country badly but as well as it's possible to do. Therefore we need Biden otherwise the racists will win again.
3. Every critique of Biden's policy choices are within this narrative. Don't like the crime bill or bankruptcy bill, etc.? Doesn't matter. Obama/Biden are winners who ran the country badly but as well as it's possible to do. We need Biden otherwise the racists will win again.
4. It does not matter if he gropes women, mistreated Anita Hill, his son is on the payroll of foreign oligarchs, sought to cut SS, etc. Obama/Biden are winners who ran the country badly but as well as it's possible to do. We need Biden otherwise the racists will win again.
5. The counter-argument, which no one will make, is that Trump won bc there are four decades of bad policy, including a badly handled financial crisis by Obama/Biden, which induced desperation and a desire for change. We need a break from plutocrats or else Trump will win again.
6. This counter-argument requires admitting Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump are just not that different. They are different on the margins and in meaningful ways, but not on the big political economy stuff.
7. This argument requires the argument Obama/Biden ran the country badly because they had bad ideas about governing. Trump is a result of bad policy, not a bad Clinton campaign. No one will broach this. So Biden's electability narrative is dominant.
8. Yes, some Democrats will talk about it behind closed doors. It's not exactly an open secret that Obama and Biden sought to reconstitute Wall Street over Main Street. But not facing one's demons has its consequences, and for progressives that's Biden.
