Joe Biden Overview – 881 Delegates

The undeniable current leader in the primary, Joe Biden bears very few similarities to his opponent, Bernie Sanders. Biden is much more moderate and his campaign centers less around a few key plans like Sanders and is more about an idea. Joe Biden’s campaign website even claims “We’re in a battle for the soul of America” (joebiden.com). Similar to Sanders, however, Biden has a long, deep history in politics. Most notably, Joe Biden talks a lot about being Vice President under Obama. While critics often say that he exploits this fact to appear more similar to Obama and tie himself to that presidency, holding the VP position for eight years is no small feat. The Obama administration remains wildly popular among liberals and the fact that Joe Biden was second-in-command for it certainly speaks to his ideals, policy, and, most importantly, his experience. Biden’s position as VP gave him a closer look at the presidency than any of the other candidates. Despite his experience though, a look at Biden’s plans and policies in order to get a feel for what he would be like as a president is definitely important.

Biden’s biggest talking point by far is the middle class. A brief glance at Biden’s website will get you several references to how America was built by the middle class, and that it’s time to get power back to the middle class. To do this, he plans on things like raising the federal minimum wage to $15, removing tax cuts on the wealthy and big businesses, and putting more money into education to ensure that everyone gets access to a good education.

Biden also has plans on healthcare, as that has emerged as one of the biggest issues of this primary cycle. Biden, as a moderate Democrat, would like to expand the Affordable Care Act, the plan Obama implemented to help subsidize healthcare for people who cannot afford it but also do not qualify for Medicaid. As VP under Obama, Biden does not hesitate to mention that he also played a big role in creating and rolling out the Affordable Care Act, an important fact to note, as Biden is already well-familiar with the plan, and knows the ins and outs of not only changing it but how to actually get it past conservatives in the government and get changes implemented.

The important thing to note about Biden as a whole, especially when comparing him to Sanders, is that he is a moderate Democrat. This means that he has no grand plans of getting all Americans free healthcare and education, but his plans also will not require large budget increases, with tax increases to go along with them. Biden’s biggest strength in this race is that he is a moderate Democrat with deep knowledge of the presidential position, meaning that he knows how to get changes passed, probably more than anyone else in the primaries right now.