There's a current kerfuffle — to use a word I've never used before in this blog in the 18 years, 6 months and 2 days of its existence — about Joe Biden and some positions he's taken to not bruise the tender feelings of segregationists. If you want to know what it's about, this will tell you.
But of course, what it's really about is that Joe Biden is the front-runner and there are a number of polls out that indicate he's the guy to knock Donald Trump outta office and send him back to Howard Stern's show to resume bragging about women he's abused. And I'll bet he would if you could somehow arrange for the election to be held…oh, maybe sometime between now and Comic-Con 2019.
It won't be. I'll be relieved if Trump doesn't try to delay it from being held in November, 2020.
When you're the front-runner, everyone is gunning for you — Republicans getting an early start at hammering the guy they have to beat, Democrats who see you as the guy they have to shove aside in order to get the nomination.
One reason I don't think it's a "given" that Biden will be the nominee is that it's something like 390 days until the nominee will be selected. Can any human being endure 390 days of being the front-runner? I'm skeptical. Hillary C. was the presumptive nominee for a long time in 2008 and again in 2016. The first time, people got weary enough of her to nominate someone else instead. The second time, they didn't but the battle to beat Bernie Sanders left her bruised and a bit less electable. And she only had to be a bit more electable to be elected.
We're going to hear every possibly-disqualifying thing there is about Biden, including many that may actually be true…and we'll hear a lot of them from Democrats who are desperate to beat Trump before we hear them from Republicans — although Trump is, of course, already starting, using pretty much the same rhetoric I would use if I was running against someone for Hall Monitor in the second grade.
The lesson I would draw from all of this is that it's damned rough to be the front-runner for more than a year and that things can come out of nowhere. Two weeks ago, no one was talking about Biden speaking at Strom Thurmond's funeral. Two weeks from now, someone may be claiming Biden shot a man in Yuma just to watch him die. At some point, they'll probably even start attacking his current positions on the issues.
It's terrible that he — or any aspirant to the Presidency — has to put up with this for 390+ days…but we have to, as well. The way I'm going to cope with it is to not presume that anyone is the likely nominee until the podium is being erected at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That's where they're holding the Democratic Convention. That's where they're picking the nominee for real. And that's where the real battle will start.