Could this be really and truly happening? “With his blessing, confidants to Vice President Joe Biden have begun strategizing about travel to early primary states and identified potential donors who could bankroll a campaign even as he remains undecided about whether to pull the trigger on a late-entry 2016 run for president.” …Very possibly; and let’s consider for a moment what this means for the 2016 race. Spoiler warning: it’s bad news for the Democrats.

But not for the reasons that everybody assumes. Yes, Joe Biden is yet another 70+ year old white dude looking to run on the Democratic ticket. Yes, he’s got a remarkable ability to sabotage his own Presidential campaigns, not to mention an unparalleled ability to do dumb things in public for no particular reason. And yes, there’s a nontrivial chance that the man might actually have a stroke on the campaign trail. But that’s not the real problem for the Democrats. The real problem is that Biden’s entry would represent the official appearance of Chaos in the Democratic party nomination process this year.

The Democratic leadership didn’t want Chaos. They wanted predictability. Predictability would help them keep the White House three times in a row in an economy that could be politely described as ‘anemic’ and bluntly described as ‘[expletive deleted] up.’ That’s why they were so determined to go with Hillary Clinton: she isn’t much as a candidate, but at least they’d know how to run her. And to be fair: probably nobody in the Democratic party anticipated that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t keep her nose clean while Secretary of State.  That was not actually an unreasonable expectation of the Democratic party leadership’s. You want the job, you play by the rules.

But apparently nobody told former Secretary Clinton. And so the Democrats are faced with a scandal that even the Washington press corps – who all hate Hillary Clinton – will not ignore. And so, with Joe Biden: the man and the hour may, indeed, meet.

[pause]

You should probably look up that quote, if you don’t know where it came from. It might give you an idea of just how well I expect Biden On A White Horse to work out, there. And yes, I meant to be that rude. I’m not actually fond of Joe Biden.

Moe Lane

PS: Later in the Politico article it’s hinted that if Joe Biden runs, he might pledge to run for only one term.  …If that bland statement doesn’t drive home to Democrats just how bad their bench is right now, nothing will.  Hopefully, nothing will.