Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden made one of his famous gaffes last night while addressing the Iowa Asian and Latino coalition when he said, "Poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids." Biden then quickly added, "Wealthy kids. Asian kids. Black kids. I really mean it. But think how we think about it."
The Trump 2020 campaign pounced on Biden's comments. Andrew Clark tweeted, "Joe Biden slip-up in Iowa tonight.
"Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids."
Yikes...have fun mitigating that one."
Well, for starters, I don't think the Trump campaign is in any position to lecture anyone on racism when their man's use of the words infestation and invasion got 23 people killed at a Walmart in El Paso. Not that it would stop the pot from calling the kettle black. This morning Trump questioned Biden's mental state claiming that he's "not playing with a full deck." But the fact that the Trump is going after Biden in this manner indicates they believe Biden is the greatest threat to a second term in office for the President.
The bigger question though is how Biden's Democratic opponents will respond between now and the next debate in a month's time. As of this writing there has been no response from any of Biden's opponents. Of course, Kamala Harris made hay with Biden during the first debate with regard to working with segregationist Senators and school busing even though she thinks busing is a local matter. All of which would prompt Tulsi Gabbard to go on offense and stomp a mudhole into Harris in the July debate.
It isn't to say that Biden the best choice Democrats have, but his opponents will have to watch their step. For all of Harris, Cory Booker, Kristen Gillibrand and Bill de Blasio's efforts to go after Biden in the last debate they only managed to make themselves look smaller in the process. It remains to be seen what kind of interaction Biden would have with either Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders or Pete Buttigieg. While Warren and Sanders could damage Biden the two split the left wing vote. As such I think Buttigieg has the better chance of challenging Biden without diminishing himself. Buttigieg has managed to come across as assertive without being angry.
However, there is certainly anger in the so-called progressive media. Consider this paragraph from Stephen A. Crockett, Jr. of The Root:
Biden’s “gaffe,” as just about every mainstream media outlet put it, replaces poor children with minority children and that isn’t a mistake. For Biden, black and Latino kids are poor and white kids are wealthy. We don’t have to do a psychoanalysis of Biden’s brain in order to see that he’s got some deep-rooted, embedded, racist-y feelings around color.
Frankly, Crockett, Jr.'s assertion is a crock. This is after all a man who declared that FDR went on television in 1929 to speak about the stock market crash when, of course, FDR was neither President nor was there TV to be watched. But if Biden is as Crockett, Jr. puts it "racist-y" or harbors any kind of racist point of view then why on Earth did Barack Obama pick him as his running mate? Obama could have picked any Democrat in the country. But he chose Biden. If Democrats and the Left at large are going to go with a "Biden is a racist" narrative then they are implicitly criticizing Obama. In which case, the next time Biden is challenged on his racial views he should challenge them along these lines, "Do you honestly think Barack Obama would pick a racist to be his Vice-President? If you do then you don't know very much about President Obama." Biden could also point to the fact that more than half of African-American Democratic primary voters support him and ask his opponents if the African-American community would support a racist.
If Biden's Democratic rivals make a point of jumping on this comment then he will have no choice but to come out swinging as they would effectively be calling him a bigot and a racist. Accusations of racism against Biden from the Trump camp have no credibility. But Biden cannot tolerate that accusation coming from his fellow Democrats under any circumstances or his presidential bid is over. If Democrats choose to go down this road then Biden must take the gloves off and come out swinging.
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