Of all the scandals that have dogged Hillary Clinton, the personal email server she used as Secretary of State has shown the longest legs, and may turn out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, is running well to Hillary’s left, and his poll numbers are increasing. Staunch Hillary supporters are getting louder in their “this is a non story” bleats, a sure sign that some are worrying – a lot. News sources are noting that some movements have started to coax some competitors into the Democratic presidential primaries, people to challenge Hillary who are a bit less “extreme” than Soak the Rich Sanders, people like Al Gore, John Kerry, and, yes, Vice President Joe Biden.
As polling data shows that Hillary’s becoming increasingly vulnerable in key swing states, word out of Biden’s camp is that Joe will make a decision about running sometime next month. With the Obamas’ dislike for the Clintons, with Joe having been a loyal, if somewhat loose-cannon VP to President Obama, with the public’s distrust for Hillary growing, and with Elizabeth Warren, the darling of the Left, sitting the race out, it seems that there’s an alignment of the planets that’s virtually urging Joe to run.
Over on the other side, the GOP’s chances at an orderly and cordial nominating process and the development of some sort of thoughtful narrative have been scattered to the four corners by the tornado that is Donald Trump. Trump has managed to completely rewrite the Republican narrative with a vocally anti-immigrant message that can only be described as a series of rants and a completely unserious policy position. He’s promised to build a giant wall, deport every illegal in the nation and eliminate birthright citizenship, and he’s got a chunk of the GOP faithful cheering him on. On every other issue, the sum total of his policy positions is “Hey, I’m a great businessman, so you can trust me to run the country well.”
If Biden throws his hat in, the big players, players who are loath to back Sanders because he’s, well, an overt socialist, may breathe a giant sigh of relief and jump off the Hillary ship in short order. If Biden enters the race, Martin O’Malley, the other declared candidate who’s already languishing in the shadows, will be done for (he’s from Maryland, Biden’s from Delaware, and I bet O’Malley loses his own base to Biden in short order). If Biden enters the race, the liberal press that’s already grown uncomfortable carrying Hillary’s water will suddenly have a horse they can happily back.
If Trump’s flame doesn’t burn out and he manages to ride the wave of populist discontent he’s stoked all the way to the nomination (I’m not expecting this, but far stranger things have happened) and if the email scandal does turn out to be Hillary’s downfall, it’s quite possible we’ll end up with enough people considering Crazy Uncle Joe as the saner of the two choices for President of the United States.
It’s enough to make one detest politics and politicians. Oh, wait, most of us already do.
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