Dem
51
GOP
49
There are, as we noted in the "Understanding MAGA" piece last week, a number of different "political analysis" articles that are so common as to be clichés. Some of them are merely unimaginative and kinda lazy. Others drive us up a wall. The "understanding MAGA" pieces tend to fall into the latter category, of course. Also in that group are the "Why Don't the Democrats Understand that the Key to the Election is [this one demographic/this one issue]?"
This week, Slate published one of the very most egregious articles of this sort that we have seen in recent memory. It is by frequent contributor Jill Filipovic (who, to be blunt, often turns in pieces of dubious quality to the many different outlets she writes for). Because Slate uses multiple headlines for most articles in search of additional clicks, this one was published under the headline "Biden's Entire Candidacy Depends on the One Issue He Still Refuses to Talk About" and also under "Biden Is Whiffing It on the Most Important Issue for Democrats."
So, what issue do you think it is that Biden is apparently unaware of, or unwilling to discuss, or... whatever? It's abortion. Filipovic's complaint about the President really has two parts. The first is that he hasn't done enough to protect abortion access:
Clearly, the message is at least getting partly through, which is why Biden's top campaign officials are saying that the president will treat abortion rights with the utmost urgency if he wins a second term. The pitch is clear: If you want abortion rights to be back in the hands of women and doctors, vote for Biden in November.
But Biden was in the White House when the Supreme Court overturned Roe. He has been in the White House for the entire period in which harsh red-state abortion bans have been in place. So why hasn't restoring abortion rights been the No. 1 priority of this term?
In this case, Filipovic goes on to answer her own question: He doesn't have the votes. She does not go on to suggest anything he could have done that he did not do because she knows there really isn't anything. Well, except for one thing, in her view: He hasn't talked enough about abortion. That brings us to the second part of Filipovic's complaint:
But it's hard to say that restoring abortion rights has been the No. 1 priority of Biden's administration, because, while he has made some statements supporting abortion rights, the president simply hasn't made it a cornerstone of his campaign.
He has instead primarily emphasized the threat that Trump poses to democracy—a crucial point to be sure, but one also indelibly tied to abortion. Biden has not been consistently and repeatedly clear on that link: that when liberal democracy expands, so do abortion rights; when authoritarianism takes hold, abortion rights and women's rights tend to come under attack and contract.
This is, quite simply, not in alignment with the facts. Consider a selection of headlines from just the past week:
In short, Filipovic's critique does not stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny. Biden is clearly aware that abortion is going to be key to the 2024 elections, and to that end, he is talking a lot about it, is making sure to handcuff Trump to it and, on the side, is still trying to find ways to protect abortion access using executive power.
And this brings us to a larger observation about the Biden campaign. The fact is that most people, unless they are part of the presidential press detail, aren't going to have a full appreciation of exactly what the campaign is up to and what it is saying. First, because once Biden is giving his stump speech 3-4 times a week, it's going to be less newsworthy and is going to get less coverage. Second, because Biden is going to campaign primarily in swing states. So, the 39 million people in California, for example, are going to have far less exposure to his messaging than, say, the 6 million people in Wisconsin.
It's also worth keeping in mind that Biden is a veteran politician, perhaps the most veteran ever to occupy the White House. He got his start in politics more than 50 years ago. He won six U.S. Senate elections and he's been on three winning presidential tickets. He has a vast army of talented, experienced advisors. He has a gaggle of prominent allies he can call on as surrogates, from Barack Obama to John Kerry to Jill Biden. There is absolutely zero chance that he just doesn't understand, or just isn't aware of the ONE thing that is crucial to his reelection chances, particularly when that one thing is something so obvious as abortion access. (Z)