Way back on February 8th (remember February? Good times!) I made the case for a progressive Democratic candidate. I had the humility to admit that I did not know for sure what kind of candidate was most likely to win in November, but I made the case for what I believed to be true. All winter long I had been telling my friends emphatically
“it won’t be Joe. He’s 77 years old. More importantly, he looks feeble. He’s run for president three times and he’s never won a single nominating contest. Not one. He hasn’t even finished in the top three. Ever. He’s not good at this, he’s well past his prime, and most important of all his politics sound at least three decades too old.”
Nothing happened to make me rethink this clever bit of analysis. And then on February 29th, something did. Black voters in South Carolina chose Joe. And then so did other voters in subsequent primary contests. It was Joe. He was our guy.
But why?
I will admit something you undoubtedly already know when I say that I don’t know for sure. But here’s what I think. Black voters, and indeed Democratic voters of every stripe, know one thing for sure: Americans are, generally speaking, racist and sexist fuckers who will do anything to preserve white male dominance of our culture. So when they choose Joe what they are saying is not that he is their favorite candidate with the policy positions of their dreams. They’re saying that they think he, as an old white guy, is the most palatable candidate to other voters, voters who don’t participate in Democratic primaries. Therefore, he is the candidate most likely to win in November.
Here’s the thing: I don’t know that they are wrong. I am starting to get an inkling about one thing, though. There is a widening split among the American left. I am not sure the Democratic party will survive it. And maybe that’s ok.