• TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      People who follow polling have been saying this since December.

      Liberals on Lemmy like to live in a self-deluded bubble where their blind support for Biden means he stands a chance in November. The fact is he basically can’t win with his stance on Gaza. He’s not exactly doing great in other regards, but he literally can’t win if he doesn’t about face.

      If he can’t win with the policy position, and he won’t change the policy position, your only option as a voter is to take your vote elsewhere. Democrats lose the election if they stick with Biden.

      Its not too late. We haven’t had a convention. Everything can still change. Larger mountains have been moved. If enough likely-Democratic voters show they won’t vote for Biden with this position, we can move him, but you have to voice your position now while there is still time for him to pivot.

      Likewise, going into the convention, if Biden was smart and cared about the future of our democracy, he could assign his delegates to another candidate. This would allow Biden to bear the burden of the Israeli genocide as being enabled through his foreign policy, allowing the rest of the Democrats to pivot to a policy position that actually sets them up to win in November.

      Here is an article from January that explains it:

      Democratic delegates are “pledged” rather than “bound” to a candidate, and while party rules say that delegates “shall in all good conscience” reflect the views of those who elected them, Kamarck said there is no penalty if a delegate votes differently. This could make it easier for Democrats to adjust to a highly fraught situation in which the incumbent president has unexpectedly left the picture.

      It wouldn’t be that different if he suddenly croaked (which is a real possibility for an octogenarian.). Effectively the delegates would go to the convention unpledged, and the decision gets made at the convention.

      Smartest move politically would be for Biden to step down now and designate a successor. Its what he should have done instead of running again, but by continuing to run a non-viable candidate, Democrats are giving blue ocean for Trump to win.

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        The thing that doesn’t make sense is protesting Biden’s support for Israel by voting for Trump, given that he and the Republicans would be even more enthusiastic for Israel’s actions. But even people not voting leaves the Democrats with a problem, since Republicans will vote no matter what.

        • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          The thing that doesn’t make sense is protesting Biden’s support for Israel by voting for Trump

          You are just conflating two things with that.

          But even people not voting leaves the Democrats with a problem

          They sure do. But its not the voters job to fix that. And brow-beating people into ‘any blue will do’, when that very approach to strategic voting is demonstrated to not be working (see Joe Bidens poll numbers; any of the detailed polling on formerly/ likely Biden voters) is antithetical towards your goals, if defeating Trump is your goal. So you have to make a decision if stopping Trump or electing Biden is your goal. Its been evident since December it seems you’ll have to choose between the two.

          Joe Biden isn’t a viable candidate at this point. He hasn’t been since December; its just that liberals are only coming around to realizing it now. The reason he hasn’t moved on Gaza is that he didn’t think he needed to. Any blue will do was, as you parroted, is the mantra democrats and liberals have been trained to speak. The problem is that’s not going to do this election cycle, and by continuing with that rhetorical strategy, its actually making the situation worse. Every day that goes by, the situation gets worse and worse for Biden.

          Like, you are in a race to get to town. You have the choice between a non-working car (Biden) and a bicycle. The bike is slower, and you may be less likely to win on it (but you might have a chance if you can beat some lights and take some short cuts). The car isn’t running any more. It was running, but its driver drove it into the ditch by refusing to make a turn while there was still time.

          Its not themselves democrats have to convince in this election, its everyone else that keeps getting ignored by the democratic party. But once again, they’re convinced that people are just ‘obligated’ to voting for them, but that has been demonstrated to be a failed electoral strategy (Clinton, 2016). Americans have shown that as voters they will not just toe the line. And brow-beating/ shaming has the opposite effect. The democrats in particular take an incessantly pejorative approach to their rhetoric. In the US, today, you have to go get voters. They aren’t going to just ‘come’ to you. Which means you need to change your position if you want to do get elected. If Biden can’t or won’t do that, he’s a broken down car. You’re better off hopping on your bike and getting peddling.