What Is Biden's Platform?

 Alex Shephard at The New Republic asks what Biden will be running on. We know Trump's platform: trample democratic rights and institutions while pursuing vengeance on his enemies.

Shephard proposes codifying Roe, which is a no brainer. Personally, I wonder (hope) if people's opinion of the economy will improve between now and election day. There's a LOT of good news, but people are fundamentally risk averse, and their most recent experience with inflation has them edgy, even if unemployment is low, wages are raising and inflation in most consumer goods has abated. Still, focusing on unions is probably a really sound strategy, as it cuts into Trump's appeal to WWC and would be broadly popular. Unions are about as popular as they've ever been.

Shephard eschews "foreign wars" but that's stupid. We aren't at war with anyone right now. They are trying to make the point that we are expending mostly obsolete weapons so that we don't go to war, but that message isn't getting through the nonsense of political journalism. Then there's this:

On immigration, Biden faces a different problem, especially as he has adopted more and more of his predecessor’s vile, draconian policies in an effort to deflect criticism.

Immigration is a really weird issue. I'm not sure what "vile, draconian policies" Biden is adopting beyond enforcing the fact that America has a border. The constituency for an open border is the sort of Campus Lefty whose political ideas have proven toxic. There certainly is a desperate need for a better asylum process, and Trump will not be the avenue for that happening. Immigration is a cudgel for Republicans to swing, not a problem that they want to solve. I'm sure Fox is ginning up caravan coverage right now.

If I were advising the Biden team I'd make these the pillars of my campaign:

- Protecting a woman's right to make her own health choices.
- Protecting democracy here and abroad.
- Protecting the environment by following through on climate initiatives.
- Protecting paychecks by expanding union membership and raising the minimum wage.
- Protecting measures to reduce student debts.
- And yes, protecting the border through a compassionate approach to immigration that preserves America's borders AND the humanity of those who wish to come here.

Basically, you present Grampa Joe as a temperamentally conservative guy trying to preserve things that people like, in contrast to Trump's braying mob who want to destroy that which makes America unique.