The much-anticipated “blue wave” did not wash across the electorate because, among other reasons, it was based on “the idea of a very, very large mobilisation of anti-Trump sentiment, not so much an adhesion to Joe Biden,” explained Philip Golub, political science professor at the American University of Paris.
“Joe Biden was a weak candidate, he was not present,“ Golub explained. „He maintained a low profile, since the assumption the Democrats made was that this would make Trump’s faults stand out. But it made Biden appear invisible. When he did go to the public, he didn’t have a charismatic personality or platform. Even if he wins the election, it will be by a much smaller margin than expected.”
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“The fact is, Biden’s message of healing America, of working across the aisle, does not work when the other side wants war – not an armed war, a political war,” said Golub. “Obama tried to work with the Republicans, the Republicans tried to bite and cut his hand off. The idea of reconciliation doesn’t work when the country is so fractured, these are just words that do not have any purchase on social reality. That requires charismatic leadership, the ability to pick up a historical situation that you, as a leader, can provide a solution. Biden doesn’t incarnate much of that.”
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