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Praised for his tough tone in recent interviews, Vice President Joe Biden is barely breaking a sweat as he enjoys this free ride from Washington reporters, who seem to feel a special satisfaction — or a desperation, at least — that his campaign has fizzled out. The only candidates in the current Democratic field who have fared better with the press have been, oddly, its other members: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
The vice president, in a recent interview with Politico, said he was not seeking to become the Democratic nominee in 2020, but, rather, was just using the longer playing field to point out that “you’ve got a President of the United States who should be held to a higher standard than some people are right now.”
But now, the president is free to do exactly that, going so far as to last week insult Mr. Biden and declare, “I hope Joe’s not considering running because I don’t think he can beat the current president.”
In Mr. Biden’s place, journalists, along with progressive fans, will unite behind a candidate “who will take on Trump,” progressive Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren said on Thursday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.