Biden's political acrobatics on Mideast wars

Although Bernie Sanders is surging in Super Tuesday polling, I have almost no faith in the voting machines, and we have to work harder and harder to make sure Sanders prevails. Putin doesn't want Trump to have to run against Sanders. (The irony is that Super Tuesday was designed to shut out progressive candidates.)

I was so thrilled when Barack Obama picked Joe Biden as his running mate, because Biden was about the best the Democats could do after the DLC disfigured the party. But in 2020, we can do so much better, as the likeable Biden seems stale when you put him up against a consistent leader like Sanders.

What about Biden's record on Republican-led Mideast wars? As a senator, Biden quite rightly voted against the illegal 1991 Persian Gulf War. Historians now believe the war was an abject failure, so Biden got that one right at least.

This good vote though is negated by his vote for the unlawful Iraq invasion of 2003. That war had less public support than the '91 war, but it won more support from the media and from Democratic lawmakers. This shows that Democrats' policy stances generally got worse in that timeframe.

Biden later admitted the Iraq War of the 2000s was a mistake. But it was too late for all those who were killed or wounded fighting it.

Similarly, he voted for George W. Bush's idiotic No Child Left Behind law - but later called that a mistake too.

I know Biden has done good things that he's never wavered on, such as authoring the Violence Against Women Act. Biden also quite properly voted against confirming disastrous Republican nominees to the Supreme Court, and Biden opposes oil drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Another plus is that he cosponsored the Employee Free Choice Act.

But given his less reliable record on many issues, it's hard to see how Biden can expect to gain much enthusiasm from progressive voters. In fact, polls show Sanders performs best out of all Democratic candidates in a matchup against Trump. I'm sure Biden is a nice guy, but policy matters. A satisfying Sanders/Warren ticket is staring us in the face, but the media has done nothing but bash, bash, bash the Sanders campaign - nonstop.

A candidate's Iraq War stance ought to be a litmus test for whether they receive the Democratic nomination. Even though he admitted the war was an error, Biden never should have voted for it in the first place. It was obvious to anyone outside the halls of Congress or America's elite newsrooms that there was no justification for that war. Why was it so hard for congressional leaders to digest all the facts before rushing into war? Not only does policy matter, but judgment matters too.

Biden isn't out of the running yet. But I believe Sanders is truly America's last hope. In the coming years, new progressive leaders may gain experience, as the youngest voters trend leftward. But by then, it may be too late.

If not now, when?