Biden For President — Vote For A New Era Of Progressive Reform
Former Vice President Joe Biden locked up the nomination this week when Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign. Sanders’ remarks were gracious: “I have known Joe since I came to the Senate in 2006, worked with him when he was vice president in the Obama administration, and what I would say to people is that Joe is a very decent human being. I know his wife Jill as well, a wonderful person. And that I hope to be able to work with Joe to move him in a more progressive direction.”
The prospects for Joe Biden’s presidential run look very promising. A new CNN poll indicates that Biden has a 53% to 42% lead at the present time. The Real Clear Politics average has shown a consistent Biden lead roughly in the amount of 6 percentage points since Biden launched his bid last year. It’s no wonder Trump didn’t want to run against the former Vice President.
Joe Biden brings a lot to the table as a presidential candidate and future president. During his long and distinguished career in the U.S. Senate, he co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Act, the Brady Bill and the 1994 assault weapons ban. The passage of the assault weapons ban and the Brady bill mark the only defeats that the N.R.A. has sustained in Washington.
As Obama’s Vice President, it was Biden who administered the successful 2009 Recovery Act — which ended the Bush recession. The Obama presidency was very successful — the Obama-Biden Administration created 15 million new jobs, insured 20 million additional Americans, withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq and reformed Wall Street. President Obama described Biden as his “brother” and the “best vice president in history.”
Presidential campaigns aren’t just about past accomplishments — they are mainly about the future. If elected, Joe Biden will govern as one of the most progressive presidents in U.S. history. As Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: “Unless he decides to shamelessly break his promises, a Joe Biden presidency would be one of the most progressive in America history, and the most radical since FDR’s New Deal.”
The former Vice President’s agenda would represent a sharp break from Trump’s plutocratic agenda. Biden has come out in favor of the following programs:
- Increased Social Security benefits.
- Creation of a public option with more generous subsidies to insure 97% of Americans.
- Invest up to $2 trillion to eradicate climate change by 2050.
- Create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and reinstate DACA.
- End mandatory minimum sentences, abolish private prisons, end cash bail and eliminate the death penalty.
- Institute a $15 per hour minimum wage.
- Raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations by $4 trillion.
Shortly after his big victories on Super Tuesday that essentially wrapped up the nomination, Biden adopted two of Elizabeth Warren’s signature policies. He endorsed Warren’s bankruptcy plan and her public college plan. Under the Biden-Warren plan, public college would be free for those whose family incomes are below $125,000.
Since Sanders suspended his campaign, Biden came out in favor of reducing the Medicare eligibility age to 60 and forgiving student loan debt for middle and low income borrowers who attended a black college, a community college or a public college.
In a recent interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN, the former Vice President was asked about the utter catastrophe he will inherit next year from the former TV reality star. Biden’s answer was encouraging: “I think it’s going to, it may not dwarf, but eclipse what Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced,” he said. “We have an opportunity, Chris, to do so many things now to change some of the structural things that are wrong, some of the structural things we couldn’t get anyone’s attention on.”
We could be on the cusp of a new era of progressive reform in America. These eras usually follow a Republican crack up. Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama all presided over eras of progressive reform. If we elect Joe Biden president along with a Democratic Congress, great things will happen. We will get the change this country needs so badly. Now let’s get it done!