Why Biden Could Go Big

Joe Biden “finds himself in landslide territory without having had to do very much to get there… Mr Trump’s flailing has made a Democratic Senate majority possible,” The Economist reports.

“That opens up the chances of a highly productive presidency which once seemed inconceivable. Before COVID-19 and widespread social unrest, Mr Biden’s candidacy was about restoration — the idea that he could return America and the world to the prelapsarian days of 2016. It transpires that he could have the opportunity to do something big instead.”

“To make lasting change through the federal government you need to win the Senate. And that cannot be done with a candidate at the top of the ticket who frightens the voters… Because he comes across as the grandfather he is, he is viewed with suspicion on the left. Yet that is precisely what makes him reassuring … to voters in states like Montana and Georgia where Democrats must win to gain a majority in the Senate. It is Mr Biden’s caution that opens up the possibility of more change than a real radical would.”