Republicans hope Biden picks Warren for VP

From: Republicans; To: Joe Biden — please pick Elizabeth Warren as your VP. For Democrats, it would be the perfect marriage of opposites: The candidate who can’t talk and the candidate who can’t stop talking. For America, it would be the perfect confirmation, expunging the remaining modicum of moderation Biden can claim. 

On Sunday, May 3, CBS news released a poll showing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as registered Democrats’ top choice for Biden’s running mate. Warren topped Democrats’ list (71 percent) of those who should be considered for vice president; also, at 36 percent, she led the list of who those Democrats wanted as vice president — outpacing the next two most popular (Kamala Harris at 19 percent and Stacey Abrams at 14 percent) combined. Republicans should be so fortunate.

Biden’s entire campaign strategy has been to mask his weaknesses. His vice presidential choice will be just that strategy’s latest tactic.  

Biden was too establishment. A liability with his left-led party, his 36-year Senate record contains countless votes and positions that are anathema to today’s liberals.  

So, unable to expunge his own Senate record, Biden has ignored it, instead focusing on Obama’s presidency. Despite having been his own man in the Senate (and been there over four times longer than he was Obama’s man in the administration), the former goes largely unmentioned, while the latter is forever so.  

Biden was not left enough. For a party now defined ideologically by Sanders, Biden was out of step and out of another era.  

So, Biden over-compensated. He went further left than he had ever been — further even than his former liberal boss Obama had ever been. He has promised massive new taxes and massive new spending, far more than the prior administration dared attempt. By historical standard, when Democrats formally nominate Biden this summer, he will be America’s furthest left major party candidate.  

Biden was unable to campaign coherently. In virtually any public forum — from press conferences, to rallies, to walking the rope lines, to interviews — Biden left people questioning, not just his responses, but his competence.

So, Biden disappeared. While the rest of America has socially-distanced for health reasons, Biden has been doing so for political ones. 

Biden failed all the Democrat Party’s diversity tests. He was old, male, white, rich and straight. For a party hostage to identity-group politics, this was a bad look — particularly after Biden had beaten out multiple challengers who checked those liberal boxes.

So, Biden preemptively pandered and promised to pick a woman as his vice president. That following sexual assault allegations, his promise would help meet his amplified need with women voters was fortuitously prescient. 

Biden needs a vice presidential pick that will help him address his growing weakness list. Like the child who needs a pork chop around his neck to get the family dog to play with him, Biden needs a running mate to provide Democrats the thrill that he does not.

Elizabeth Warren nominally fits the bill. However, only on Biden’s ticket would Warren be an asset. Of the 2,590 Democrat delegates chosen, she won a grand total of 81 — over 900 less than Sanders, and just 29 more than fourth place flameout Michael Bloomberg. Not only finishing third overall, she placed third at home in Massachusetts, where she won just 25 delegates (but still her biggest 2020 haul). 

Still, what Warren would give Democrats would be plenty — or at least plenty more than Biden does. She is a woman, so she checks the diversity box and fulfills Biden’s pander promise. She can also field the Tara Reade questions, should the establishment media ever deign to ask them. 

Most importantly, Warren would be the left’s consolation prize. She would be a party favor, a thank-you-for coming — or in the left’s case, a thank-you-for-not-leaving — gift. Shoring up the left would be precisely why she was there, a glaring admission that despite Biden’s placating contortions, he has still failed. That the Democrat nominee would need to shore up his ideological base is a concern for another day. 

Despite all Warren would give Democrats, she would give Republicans so much more. 

There is a reason why Warren did so poorly among her ideological soulmates. People do not like her. Even when they agree with her, they find her disagreeable. As irascible as Sanders is, the left still prefer him overwhelmingly to Warren.

Foremost it would put an end to the illusion of Biden’s moderation. Having tried to have it both ways — a moderate past and a left present — Biden would have made the definitive choice as to what his administration would be. By so doing, he would be conceding the center to Trump and Republicans.  

Biden’s pick will fit his strategy of hiding his weaknesses. The only question will be how many he can expect to hide — a fig leaf can only do so much after all. 

His choice for a running mate will be a clear admission that he is in serious trouble. He is still his own biggest liability on the campaign trail. He is not moving despite coronavirus dealing Trump an unprecedented and unparalleled blow. He has a sexual assault allegation that will not go away. Moreover, he still cannot excite Democrats in general or the left in particular — despite having been in party politics for almost half a century and having thrown countless promises to liberals. 

Yet instead of meeting Biden’s needs, Warren would add to them. She only appears to complement Biden. People listen to Biden because they cannot understand him; people do not listen to Warren because they can.  

Warren accentuates the circle Biden cannot square: Being both moderate and left simultaneously.  Warren would forever resolve that in favor of the left. A Warren choice would mean Biden and Democrats chose their smaller and shriller base over America’s larger mainstream middle.  

At some point, Biden must emerge from self-imposed isolation and make his choice for vice president. Biden cannot really win, whomever he chooses. In contrast, Republicans can, and nowhere more than if Biden chooses Warren. 

J.T. Young served under President George W. Bush as the director of communications in the Office of Management and Budget and as deputy assistant secretary in legislative affairs for tax and budget at the Treasury Department. He served as a congressional staffer from 1987 through 2000.