Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg withdrew their endorsements of Joe Biden prior to Super Tuesday, having lost their early state momentum in South Carolina. Billionaire Tom Steyer did, too, following a miserable third place finish in South Carolina.
After a few days, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) retracted. Another month went by for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
However, Biden was favored by momentum, the king of elections. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-GA) gave him an unstoppable spirit for Super Tuesday after he helped him win in South Carolina. In 15 elections, he earned the most delegates and ten of them.
Biden’s prior nomination attempts were thoroughly undermined by additional factors. Democrats were afraid of becoming even more agitated following 2016 and the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. In an attempt to harm Warren, Klobuchar, and then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), the party instinctively went with the “safest” option, based the primary on “electability,” which is code for who might be the whitest, malest, Christianest, and least frightening candidate. Biden fit the bill.
A global phenomenon began quietly sweeping the country on March 3 that would disturb American life for at least two years and, for many, forever. That day, the CDC recorded 60 COVID-19 illnesses across 12 states. A week later, state lockdowns started. Biden was the one who nominated.
Biden’s nation was notably unsettled by the epidemic and vaccination distribution, economic and job market shocks, large-scale protests against police brutality, and Trump’s multifaceted, ultimately violent attempts to rig the 2020 election.
During his usual renovations to the Oval Office, Biden questioned a plan to add a portrait of Franklin Roosevelt over the fireplace in a recent New Yorker article. Despite not feeling a connection to Roosevelt, Biden adored him.
“No one has inherited a condition of greater difficulty since Roosevelt,” presidential historian Jon Meacham stated.
Four years later, many of the problems have been resolved thanks to the initiatives of the Democratic Congress and the Biden White House. The US economy not only avoided a recession but also outperformed its peers. The rate of inflation is declining. Due to vaccinations and booster shots, COVID-19 is no longer remembered. Trump’s departure from the White House does not lessen his threat as an authoritarian. His four felony indictments and ninety-one criminal charges would have ended his presidential quest in a more normal political environment.
Despite almost all domestic indicators improving since Super Tuesday (and worse for Trump), Biden’s position remains precarious.
The elites still harbor dreams of usurping him from the top position. Democrats are terrified of Biden’s weakness because of ominous surveys, some of which have Trump ahead on the economy and, strangely enough, immigration. The mainstream and right-wing media have contributed to the election of Trump’s assertion that Biden is too old for the job.
Notwithstanding the infrequent head-to-head record between the two presidents, the records of both men have been mostly forgotten because of the fly-like attention spans of voters, media prejudice against recording policy and historical events, and potentially political tactics.
Biden’s largest audience of the election season—those attending his State of the Union speech in two days—are under attack. It will be his best chance to lay out the foundation for a potential second term, remind people of his accomplishments during his first four years in office, inform them of Trump’s “dictatorship,” and demonstrate that his intelligence is not leaking out of his ears.
At a moment when he and many others believed the nation’s soul was in jeopardy, Biden came dangerously close to winning the nomination last Super Tuesday, finally earning his chance to run for president. Despite the fact that the nation is growing in practically every aspect, this Super Tuesday’s election is a coin flip.