Draft:2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination

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The 2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination is the selection of the Democratic Party's candidate to win the upcoming 2024 presidential election. The voting will proceed from February to June 2024.

Polling so far has favored incumbent President Joe Biden, however he has gained small, but strongly vocal opposition.

Candidates[edit]

Joe Biden official portrait crop.jpg


Joe Biden
Age: 81
Current President of the United States, former Vice President of the United States, former Senator from Delaware, and former member of the New Castle County Council.

See the main article on this topic: Joe Biden

Joe Biden announced his bid for President on April 25, 2019.[1] and won the nomination in August 28th, 2020.

Advantages:

  • Authored the Violence Against Women Act and helped pass it; actively involved in a campaign against sexual assault in college campuses.[2]
  • Supports tuition-free public college[3] and universal pre-kindergarten.[2]
  • Supports progressive taxation and closing tax loopholes.[2]
  • Wants to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, and to implement universal background checks.[2]
  • Considers climate change to be an "existential" threat, having orchestrated U.S. involvement in the Paris Climate Accord.[2]
  • Championed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), wants to give undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors a path towards citizenship and to increase border security.[2]
  • Favors international cooperation and multinational alliances such as NATO.[2]
  • Has made the "I can beat Trump" argument most effectively, essentially solidifying his place as the nominee at Super Tuesday.
  • Opposes the death penalty[4]
Disadvantages: Apart from being Joe Biden? The man is a 80 year-old party dinosaur that won't disappear. That being said, Biden is a flip-flopping professional gaffe machine riding off the popularity of his former boss Obama, and in 2019 (before Bloomberg) quickly became the prime target of most other Democrats in the debates. Unlike the prior debates he was in while VP, Biden spent the early debates getting his ass kicked by everyone (Kamala on race issues, Booker on crime/marijuana, Castro on immigration) and his past views and votes are now coming back to haunt him, with him losing his frontrunner position to second place in a neck-and-neck with Bernie Sanders, only to regain it in March and sweep most of the primaries after the centrists consolidated their support behind him to stop Bernie from becoming the nominee.
  • Ridiculous number of gaffes past and present now nearing Trump levels; "Poor kids are just as bright as white kids",[5] "Go to Joe 30330",[6] "The bills that the president. Excuse me, future president [Cory Booker]",[7] etc.
  • Originally voted for Don't ask don't tell[8] and the Defense of Marriage Act,[9] but supported the DADT repeal[10] and the legalization of same-sex marriage[11] later in life.
  • Although he personally opposes abortion, his Senate voting record on the topic is more mixed.[10] Biden voted for the Hyde Amendment preventing federal funding for abortion and continued to support it until a few months ago when he got shit from everyone over it. Now admits the error of his ways.
  • Opposes the legalization of marijuana.[10]
  • Wants to give everyone the option to buy into Medicare, and believes that "Health care is a right, not a privilege"[12] but he would still veto a Medicare For All bill if it passed Congress due to its "costs".[13] Supports reinstating the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate.[14]
  • Voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act[note 1][15] and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.[note 2][16]
  • A supporter of free trade, he voted for the disastrous NAFTA agreement[17] and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China,[18] and endorsed the Trans-Pacific Partnership outsourcing jobs to foreign countries.[19]
  • Proudly supported bills such as CALEA and voted for the USA PATRIOT Act making mass surveillance of American citizens as well as arresting innocent people suspected of being terrorists perfectly "legal" in the name of ending terrorism,[20] and its 2005 reauthorization,[21] but changed his mind as Dubya's ratings dropped.
  • Voted and loudly campaigned for the Second Iraq War,[22] but later opposed George W. Bush's troop surge and authored a strategy for withdrawal.[2]
  • Author of the infamous Crime Bill of 1994Wikipedia from which he cherry-picks the assault weapons ban and Violence Against Women Act, and doesn't mention some of the other more controversial provisions included.
  • His reputation as a connected old white guy might contribute to further disaffection from people that just went through 4 years of it.
  • Has continued to support Saudi crimes against humanity in Yemen despite having pledged to cease US financing of the Saudi intervention in the Yemeni Civil War on the campaign trail.[23]

Notes[edit]

  1. Which repealed most of the Glass-Steagall legislation.
  2. The Wall Street bailout.

References[edit]

  1. US election 2020: Joe Biden launches presidential bid, joining crowded field BBC. April 25th, 2019.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 What does Joe Biden believe? Where the candidate stands on 8 issues PBS NewsHour. Apr 25, 2019.
  3. Statement by the Vice President The White House. October 21, 2015.
  4. The Biden Plan for Strengthening America’s Commitment to Justice JoeBiden.com.
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idpevmeoK1A
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZmUnR9TOmo
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?51=&v=sL3AYay7Rdw
  8. Roll Call Vote 103rd Congress - 1st Session United States Senate. November 17, 1993.
  9. Roll Call Vote 104th Congress - 2nd Session United States Senate. September 10, 1996.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Joe Biden on the Issues On the Issues.
  11. Biden 'absolutely comfortable' with gay marriage Reuters. May 6, 2012.
  12. Biden calls for everyone having the choice to buy into Medicare. The Hill. April 29, 2019. Accessed May 7, 2019.
  13. Biden says he would veto Medicare for All due to costs. "CNBC". March 10, 2020. Accessed April 24, 2020.
  14. Biden says he would bring back ObamaCare's individual mandate The Hill. 07/05/19.
  15. Roll Call Vote 106th Congress - 1st Session United States Senate. November 4, 1999.
  16. Call Vote 110th Congress - 2nd Session United States Senate. October 1, 2008.
  17. H.R. 3450 (103rd): North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act GovTrack. Nov 17, 1993.
  18. H.R. 4444 (106th): China Trade bill GovTrack. Sep 19, 2000.
  19. Biden coaxes Dems on Obama trade deal The Hill. 01/28/16.
  20. Roll Call Vote 107th Congress - 1st Session United States Senate. October 25, 2001.
  21. Roll Call Vote 109th Congress - 2nd Session United States Senate. March 2, 2006.
  22. Roll Call Vote 107th Congress - 2nd Session United States Senate. October 11, 2002.
  23. "Biden's broken promise on Yemen" - Brookings. 9/16/2021. Written by Anneline R. Sheline and Bruce Riedel.