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Old man who vaguely agrees with my politics and is just mildly disappointing or a literal shit filled dumpster fire? Hmmm tough choice.
How is Biden disappointing? Before he became President he gave every indication of being yet another appeasement-oriented centrist, but he's actually gotten a surprising amount done. Biden has ended up being far better than I expected him to be.
Status quo keeps on truckin' along.
Rich keep getting richer. Poor people? Well, who cares about them anyway.
Like I get that is what we probably are getting, and fine, he is better than whatever the republicans are putting forward, so I'll vote for him.
But
Come on
I wish, so much, we had a better candidate
You need a better voting system.
Any single-winner system is inherently flawed, which is why presidential systems are just straight-up worse than parliamentary ones. They're by their nature going to be less representative. A system where the president is largely a figurehead is far better, along with a legislature which is elected proportionally using something like Mixed-Member Proportional, Single Transferable Vote, or party-list PR.
But failing that, the bare minimum to call your system democratic is to use Instant Runoff Voting. First Past the Post is just straight-up not democracy. It's a farce. The idea that two candidates with similar views both being very successful actually makes it less likely that either will win is an obvious complete failure of the system. (And, fwiw, you could have IRV presidential elections for a powerful POTUS while also improving congress by making it proportional, if you want to go a step further than just making Congress & President both using IRV, but not as far as the fundamental constitutional change required to make the president a figurehead.)
My only real misgiving with Biden is age, but I do still agree. With how crazy and dangerous Republicans have become however, we can't afford to take any risks. We don't just need to beat them, we need to beat them by the largest margins possible. We need to send a sharp condemnation. Biden's incumbency advantage is indispensable for this.
She understands that we are under attack by a global RW fascist insurgency. Keeping the GOP out of the WH will save democracy in the US and around the world. Any GOP winner would stand back and allow the russian terrorists to take Ukraine and beyond.
Biden wasn't my first choice in 2020 and I really wish he was younger, but he has done extremely well as President so far. If he wins again and stays healthy, I have almost no concerns he will continue to get things done.
People don't understand the importance of this endorsement. AOC is considered as the next generation. Most 16-24 yr olds agree heavily with her and would identify closer to the left.
If Democrats play it smart, they could hold a majority for 10-20yrs. We are seeing swing states lean more blue than red ( Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Arizona, and Virginia). This is a huge problem for Republicans bc they always relied on these states to combat large democratic states.
The issue is that this might not matter much in the short run anyway. Democrats have been playing well at the national level, sure, but they don't seem to notice that Republicans have figured out that state sovereignty means they can just have fascist fiefdoms rather than coast-to-coast national-level fascism. I don't see Biden or Harris putting their foot down on a state if shit gets real bad - hell, Florida literally passed a law allowing CPS to take kids from out-of-state parents and nobody at the national level so much as said boo about it.
Believe me, I understand Republicans have gerrymandered a lot of states but those states are fighting back. Look at Minnesota, they have a democratic majority for the first time in years. They have been pushing progress programs left and right that benefit everyone.
My point is that Democrats should stand united behind Biden. This will show everyone that they have two goals, combating corruption and pushing for legislation to better others' lives. If they attack a red state then Republicans will use that for years. It will feed into the "they're coming for your guns" crowd.
Democrats need to continue pushing progressive reforms and nominate a good candidate in 2028. Win more senators' seats and flip the house back. Then go after corrupt judges.
The fact that the majority here is okay to settle with a mildly dissapointing 80 year old, just so the other "evil" side doesn't win is a bit disheartening for the state of US politics and democracy.
And this is comming from a politically shithole country I am born and living in.
Trump has all of Bidens issues AND he's a fascist idiot. Trying to say he's in any way better than Biden just shows either how uninformed you are in American politics, or you think people like Trump are attractive candidates. If it's the latter you may want to take a look at the type of people who, in your own words, are making your country a "political shithole".
She wouldn't win, at least not yet, we've got to drift more to the left as a country to have an election she'd become President in. And if not Biden who? Who should run for President that has a chance of actually winning the election? It's easy to piss on them selecting Biden, but no one else is a viable option. You want more younger options to vote for, run for office yourself, get your friends to run for office, can't vote for young left leaning politicians if they don't freaking run and win elections.
Man, screw Biden. I would rather vote for AOC
Ranked voting needs to happen otherwise it will always be democrats vs republicans most of the time.
I wish. Ranked voting would be phenomenal. It's obviously more democratic. Makes no sense not to have it. But politicians are dirty corrupt pieces of shit.
I would rather vote for a bird. Yes. Birds should govern the US! Imagine. To all seriousness AOC would have lost by so insanely amounts. Let's hope she and more of the liberal parts of the democratic party gets tractions. Getting young people in those positions would be great.
Well that’s unfortunate. Wish we could find someone other than an old fucking white guy to represent us.
The fact that someone like Biden and Bernie exist in the same party tells you how awful the 2-party system is.
For real. Even as a white guy, I’m tired of this shit as well. Wish we could get someone younger and more progressive on the ballot. It’s time to get those old ducks out of office. They have no grasp on how shit really works these days.
Did anyone expect anything different? I don't recall incumbent presidents ever having a real primary.
Jimmy Carter did-- Ted Kennedy challenged him for the 1980 presidential nomination. The result was them doing so much damage to each other that the ultimate winner of the primary (Carter) came out battered and bruised, giving Reagan the edge he needed to win the general. And we all know how well that worked out for the planet. (Spoiler alert: horrifically.)
Age notwithstanding, any incumbent president in the last 50 years would be absolutely overjoyed to run for re-election with Biden's record; tons of new blue-collar jobs, strong economy, relative lack of major fuck-ups or controversies or other drama except manufactured RW ragebait. Basically everything swing voters want and nothing they don't want.
Nor is there any real reason to fret about base turnout, given that liberals will view the Republican candidate winning as apocalyptic and show up simply to vote against that person, however disappointed they may be in Biden and whatever performative statements they make about their votes not being guaranteed.
Pretty much the only negative for Biden is age, but that is a pretty big negative.
"we're under a fascist insurgency and we must ensure that the GOP doesn't gain the White House, this is why we must vote for a politician who refuses to do anything to prevent this insurgency from gaining strength like expanding the court or making abortion available on federal land and who refused to use their constitutional authority to prevent giving the House GOP any concessions on the budget/debt ceiling"
wtf is happening. This is a - rep for AOC in my eyes. She realizes the fucker is real old right? Elect someone younger please.
Its not like she has a realistic alternative. What do you want, a split democrat ticket going up against the republicans ?
I'm an ideological purist and I'm voting for Jill Stein! This won't backfire in any way!
AOC is being smart/practical. Is Biden anyone's first choice on the left? Fuck no. We can have some more ideological purity when the choice isn't between milquetoast and literal fucking fascists.
Biden wasn't even my third choice in the '20 primary. That said, he's one of the most legislatively accomplished presidents in modern history. Still zero chance I'm going to be excited about voting for him in '24, but who has a shot at beating Trump right now? is maybe the guy that already did?