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Where's Joe? powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/… via @powerlineUS
The Washington Post reports that Joe Biden is running a presidential campaign of “limited exposure.” This Memorial Day weekend, when his rivals were scurrying from venue to venue pressing the flesh, Biden’s agenda stated “no public events scheduled.”
Since entering the race four weeks ago Biden has held 11 public events. Beto O’Rourke held nearly four times that number in the same period. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker have held 27; Bernie Sanders 17. Kirsten Gillibrand planned 11 stops in Iowa just over the holiday weekend
Post reporters Annie Linskey and Chelsea Janes point out that, with the exception of O’Rourke, all of these candidates have full-time jobs in the Senate. Biden is unemployed.
Here are some events Biden is skipping: MoveOn’s Big Ideas forum; the Calif Democratic Party convention; the Iowa Democratic Party dinner; and the Black Economic Alliance presidential forum. These events seem quite skipable, but not by someone who seeks the Democrats’ nomination.
Linskey and Janes are too diplomatic to discuss the obvious reason, he’s a gaffe machine. Instead they note that he has plenty of name recognition and leads in the polls. But if Biden were confident in his ability to face public scrutiny, he would be pressing home his advantage
Biden’s backers say that the public has no doubt about where their man stands on the issues of the day. That statement is laughable, though Linskey and Janes don’t challenge it. Biden has stood on both sides of many important issues.
Voters who pay attention know that, as a general matter, he’s repudiating the relative centrism that marked much of his political career, but they don’t know how thoroughly he is prepared to repudiate it. Biden himself may not be sure — another reason to avoid various fora.
The closest they come to a satisfactory explanation for Biden’s reluctance to appear in public is this quote from a Dem operative who favors candidates to the left of Biden: Voters are going into events with him expecting ‘Uncle Joe,’ but they come out having seen ‘Grandpa Joe.’
