A top Democrat warned voters against believing former Vice President Joe Biden will be their savior from President Trump in the 2020 elections.
Jennifer Palmieri, a White House communications director under President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s communications director during the 2016 campaign, argued Biden is leading the pack of 2020 candidates because “there’s a nostalgic appeal to a Biden presidency.”
Too many voters have put their hope in Biden that he can return the country to “normal” and defeat Trump, she said in a piece published by Time magazine.
[Also read: Pollster John Zogby: Trump ‘will be hard to beat’ in 2020]
“But it was never fair to make Biden a vessel for Democrats’ hopes and anxieties. His early standing atop the polls seems like more of a reflection of many Democrats’ 2016 grieving process than a predictor of who will ultimately win the Democratic primary,” she wrote.
“No one is going to be able to return America to ‘normal’ and no one — particularly in a field this large and talented — can enter the race in first place and expect to stay there,” she said.
Palmieri said Biden will face the same struggles as any leading candidate eventually does — “his support will first likely erode, not grow” — and he will have to earn support by being a good candidate.
Though he has yet to enter the race, Biden has already endured criticism over his physical displays of affection. At least eight women have accused him of touching them inappropriately.
Palmieri said Biden often kissed her on the forehead and hugged her when she worked in the White House.
“It was unusual behavior for a work setting, yes, but he is someone who has endured a lot of personal loss in his life and wears his emotions on his sleeve. In my experience, his overly affectionate behavior was his way of putting more love and support in the world. That was not all women’s experience, though. He clearly made some women uncomfortable, and now he is facing the consequences,” she said.
