2020 Democrats have focused on President Donald Trump and attacking the policies he's implemented that they don't like. Their approach has been angry and rather divisive because it's what Democratic operatives . believe it will take to beat Trump in the general election. And it's something former Vice President Joe Biden (D) said he doesn't agree with.
“That’s what they are saying you have to do to win the Democratic nomination. Well, I don’t believe it,” he said. “I believe Democrats want to unify this nation. That’s what the party’s always been about. That’s what it’s always been about. Unity.”
Biden reminded the audience of the fight he and President Barack Obama had when they pushed for the Affordable Care Act, saying he knows how to win "a bare-knuckle fight."
But he was clear about one thing: “We need to stop fighting and start fixing.”
“If the American people want a president to add to our division, to lead with a clenched fist, closed hand and a hard heart, to demonize the opponents and spew hatred — they don’t need me. They’ve got President Donald Trump,” he said. “I am running to offer our country — Democrats, Republicans and independents — a different path.”
Since he entered the race, Biden has played to the middle, something that could be both an advantage and a liability. One one hand he's able to woo independents, but on the other hand, he also risks alienating the vocal, extremely progressive wing of his party, especially those who have a main disdain for Trump.
“This politics is pulling us apart. It’s ripping this country apart at the seams. Our politicians, our politics today, traffics in division, and our President is the divider-in-chief,” Joe Biden says in speech during campaign kickoff event in Philadelphia. https://t.co/NZlJb1JJQY pic.twitter.com/zQEIUNEJbo
— CNN (@CNN) May 18, 2019
It's interesting Biden is attempting to make himself appear to be this guy who can bring everyone from all different parties together, but can he really do that? Not a chance. He's right: politics is divisive. People on both sides of the aisle have created massive division between average Americans but he's not excluded from that division. The Obama administration frequently threw conservatives to the wayside. And guess what? He was part of that administration, part of that team. He can take the wins Obama had but he also needs to take those losses. And one of the major Ls here was political division.