Decency is on the ballot
As of this writing, former Vice President Joe Biden beat Senator Bernie Sanders in four out of the six Mini Super Tuesday contests last night. Sanders won North Dakota, although not by enough and he and Biden are splitting the delegates. In Washington state, the two are running neck and neck, with 33% of the vote still to be counted.
A repeat of the 2016 Michigan surprise was not in the offing for Sanders. In fact, Biden won every county in Michigan, Missouri, and Mississippi. As of the latest count, Biden leads Sanders by more than 160 delegates. And things will get even harder for Sanders from here on out, as the remaining states aren't favorable to him.
Whatever Sanders decides to do, barring an unforeseen event (and this is 2020, remember), Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee to take on Donald Trump.
A scant two weeks ago, we were faced with the possibility of the party being taken over by a cult, much like the GOP was by the Trump cult. But we're Democrats. We're better than Republicans. We don't follow a Pied Piper into the forest. I would wager that most Democrats feel a great weight on their shoulders to choose the person who can defeat Trump decisively, building as broad a coalition as possible. Sanders wasn't that man. With his affability and empathy, Joe Biden is.
Never Trumper conservatives are both gladdened by this and ruing that their political compatriots couldn't muster the same fortitude in 2016. Black voters, the base of the party, weren't going to allow a soi disant socialist to wreck the chance at getting rid of Trump, taking the Senate, and holding the House. The know that in talk of "revolution", they'd be cannon fodder. This country was built by Black slaves, and may just be saved by Black voters.
With Biden's nomination, what will be on the ballot is basic human decency. Voters will have a choice between four more years of chaos and animus, or a return to a steady hand on the tiller, fixing all the destruction this regime has wrought. Make no mistake: Decency was on the ballot in 2016 as well. Unfortunately, in Hillary Clinton, the forces of nihilism had the perfect lightning rod in a woman whom they had subjected to thirty years of baseless calumny. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, but it was what it was. Biden doesn't elicit anywhere near the same level of grievance. That's a commentary on our misogynistic culture.
Will Sanders drop out? I'm not holding my breath. An astute politician would do so, knowing that Biden will, in fact, move the country in a progressive direction. But Sanders thinks only he can fix what ails America. (Sound familiar?) But this time around, he doesn't have the advantage of Hillary Clinton as a foil. As results have shown, a lot of Sanders' support in 2016 wasn't positive for him, but came from people who wouldn't vote for Clinton. Without her on the ballot, his support has cratered.
Whatever happens, remember in November: We're fighting to bring decency and probity back to the White House. We're fighting for the courts. We're fighting to free the kids from cages. We're fighting to create a more equitable society. We're fighting to just be able to breathe again. That's a fight worth having.