“Hot takes” in politics are a little like armpit noises. Anybody can make them and nobody wants to hear somebody else’s.
But there is one political “hot take” emerging this week that really must be considered. It is a little like taking a bite out of something that tastes terrible and then turning to someone you love and saying: “Hey, try this. It tastes terrible.”
“Joe Biden proved he is a real fighter,” said some of the most revered political experts in the land this week.
After the former vice president mopped the floor with Sen. Bernie Sanders in South Carolina and then cleaned up again this week in states like Michigan and Missouri.
Yeah, a real fighter, that Joe Biden. A dog-faced-pony-soldier kind of fighter. He really knows how to plot a political rebirth and rise from the ashes like an ancient white phoenix.
Actually, no. He is the same rotting corpse of a candidate he was three weeks ago. It’s just that Democrats have decided that they would be better off with the dead guy than with Mr. Sanders.
In other words, the Democrat National Committee won. They killed Mr. Sanders in the crib — for the second straight primary in a row. It’s like “Weekend at Bernie’s,” only it stars anyone but Bernie himself.
Either way, Mr. Biden is still a corpse.
His electoral revival has nothing to do with Mr. Biden being a fighter, except of course when he is attacking defenseless voters. Then he’s a real tough guy. Calls young women “dog-faced,” cusses out gun owners, calls people liars or accuses them of being “fat.”
President Trump is a real fighter. He took on the Republican establishment — and won.
He gets into epic fights with people who buy ink by the barrel and newsprint by the freight carload. And then — scandal of all scandals — he took on Washington, delivering his First Inaugural that vowed to keep all the promises that had gotten him elected. (These people still haven’t forgiven him for that one.)
Even amid the present crisis over coronavirus, Mr. Trump immediately shut borders at the earliest sign of trouble despite desperate accusations he was being alarmist and “xenophobic.”
No. Mr. Biden is anything but a fighter. He would never do anything to upset his minders and masters along the Potomac, be they in the Democratic Party or in the press.
Mr. Biden is nothing if not obedient and pliable. A Potomac pushover, bobbing for approval.
There is another lesson to learn from these past few Democratic primary contests, as well.
Despite all the Twitter hysteria and spinelessness among Democrat leaders in Washington, it turns out that regular voters even in the Democratic Party are not actually ready to turn to socialism. That’s a good sign. Quite possibly you have something more in common with your loony sister-in-law after all.
Or maybe not.
This, of course, should have been obvious to any adult from the beginning. Can you imagine if Democrats had, instead of washed-up Joe Biden, fielded a reasonable, likable and sane candidate last summer who crashed every early debate by demanding what in the hell happened to the Democratic Party?
A candidate who refused to raise her hand when asked if she was in favor of giving free health care to illegal immigrants? A candidate who proudly embraced the legacy of former President Barack Obama?
Forget the so-called “moderate” lane. Just run in the “adult” lane.
Democrats could have fielded a much better candidate who was an actual fighter.
• Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes.com or @charleshurt on Twitter.
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