HUDOME: For Biden, The Third Time Isn’t The Charm

The third time isn’t always a charm. Former Vice President Joe Biden is learning this lesson the hard way. The former Delaware senator is already a two-time loser for the Democrat nomination. Nevertheless, Biden entered the primary with all the confidence of Jeffery Epstein at a bat mitzvah.

The worst thing that can happen to someone who fails is they don’t know why. Then in spite of said failure, they reap rewards. Self-proclaimed “Middle Class Joe” was awarded the vice presidency in 2008. Give me a break!

Biden has had very few career disappointments, save for those two ignominious withdrawals from two Democratic presidential primaries in 1988 and 2016. In each case he never made it to the Iowa caucuses. He’s careening right down that path again. But can we really blame him for a lack of humility? Let’s try.

There is a simple reason for his disappointment at the presidential level.  He hails from Delaware, where campaigning is not particularly rigorous. Campaigning in Delaware is not adequate preparation for a presidential run. There is no traditional press corps. No traditional muckraking or scrutiny on the candidates.

This election, we meet an older and supremely frustrated candidate. We all know Biden the groper. We know Biden the plagiarist. We know Biden the old guy. We know Biden the liar. This election, we meet Biden the scold. He’d be a shoo-in were he running for “Mother Superior.” His go-to is reciting that he’s never had his liberal record questioned.

His voice cracks when explaining his past support for issues no longer palatable to today’s Democratic Party. Whether it cracks from umbrage or old age, who knows, but neither explanation is attractive. His fellow competitors have fair warning though. Question Joe Biden and he’ll tell Barack Obama on you.

He’s not a good candidate. When he says he was unprepared for Sen. Kamala Harris’ attack on his busing position, he is blaming his leaking-to-avoid-blame-for-the-loss campaign staff. Now his team has been warned that he’ll dump on you faster than you’ll dump on him. If that’s not the explanation than he simply isn’t ready to run a real presidential campaign. Again.

His career has revealed a plethora of Freudian slips. Caught on a hot mic, he said one needs an Indian accent to order at a 7-11 in his home state. Described in amazement that then candidate Barack Obama was a good looking and articulate African American. Explained that he was solid with segregationist senators because they called him “son” rather than “boy.” If Freud were alive today to counsel this candidate, he’d have Biden’s money.

None of these obvious, mounting self-inflicted wounds could stop NBC’s embedded reporter Mike Memoli from his daily swoon. The mouthpiece confidently declared in front of an MSNBC camera that Biden’s speech to a largely African American audience in Sumter, South Carolina would be a turning point for “Scolding Joe.”

Biden’s past was much more charming than his present experience suggests. Can you blame a guy for living in it now? God love him! He won’t make it to Iowa this time, either.