Biden is labeled a moderate. But his agenda is far more liberal than Hillary Clinton's.

[highplainsdem]

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/campaigns/article234890482.html

From health care to climate change to criminal justice, Biden has proposed ideas more ambitious and liberal than policies supported by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign, a McClatchy review of the candidates’ platforms found.

Taken as a whole, Biden’s policy platform represents a significant shift from Clinton’s. On nearly every major issue, Biden has either exponentially increased the scope of what Clinton proposed or advocated for new ideas that most Democrats would have up until recently considered fringe.

-snip-

And whether voters view a candidate as “liberal” also depends on how they compare to their opponents. In most cases, Biden’s agenda isn’t as far to the left as Bernie Sanders’ or Elizabeth Warren’s, and is roughly comparable to other opponents’ plans like Kamala Harris or Cory Booker.

Still, Biden’s current set of policy prescriptions would likely be considered radical if they had been proposed in any previous Democratic presidential primary. That’s especially clear in comparison to Clinton’s 2016 platform.

On health care, Clinton proposed offering a public insurance plan for Americans enrolled in the health care exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act. She also wanted to let adults older than 55 buy into Medicare.

Biden’s plan goes much further: He wants to allow all Americans — including those receiving insurance through their employer — to buy into a government-backed insurance plan, a shift some progressives have said would represent an enormous change to Obamacare. (Biden also proposed significantly increasing the subsidies available to those who enroll in the public option.)

There’s also a wide disparity between Biden and Clinton’s climate change plans. Clinton proposed spending $60 billion on clean-energy fund as part of an attempt to make the U.S. 80% carbon-free by 2050; Biden wants to spend $1.7 trillion in federal money to make the country emit a net of zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“Joe Biden’s climate plan — I’m going to get canceled for this — is quite ambitious,” said Sean McElwee, co-founder of the liberal group Data for Progress.

Biden is also pushing to triple Title I funding for schools that educate low-income students, and to abolish the federal death penalty while encouraging states to do the same. Clinton wanted to preserve capital punishment in certain situations.

-snip-

[elocs]

1. Is "moderate" supposed to be some kind of slam or put-down?

Because there are millions of Democratic voters who consider themselves to be moderates and have voted for and supported Democratic candidates for maybe decades but who must still put up with being branded as "DINOs" or "Republican Lite" by those who consider themselves to be more liberal.

[highplainsdem]

3. I don't see it as one, but all too many people on the left do.

I'm glad most polls have both "somewhat liberal" and "very liberal" cateegories. Biden does best with the "somewhat liberal" group as well as moderate and conservative Dems. Warren and Sanders do better with the "very liberal" group -- but that's a minority of the party.

[elocs]

11. To Republicans, all Democrats are Liberals, but that's not true within the Democratic Party.

The most conservative Democrat would find no place for themselves in the GOP which has moved hard right and seeks to purge anyone from their ranks who is not that conservative.
For the 47 years I have voted I've always just considered myself to be a Democrat without the need for other labels. I probably am more of a moderate but I consider that to simply be more pragmatic in finding what can actually be done now rather than thinking that just because you propose something means it will ever have a real chance of happening. Get what you can and then move the needle from there.

The Democratic Party needs to be a big tent and in that respect no faction will be 100% satisfied with the outcome. But if the Liberals/Progressives want to purge the moderates and conservatives we can look forward to more Republican presidents.
Because those tens of millions of supporters and followers of Trump are going nowhere even if he is defeated. They will passionately oppose anything Democrats may do and they will turn out to vote like it was their duty. If Democrats don't remain united and vigilant we will lose our way of life to what Trump has simply exposed the Republicans for whom they have always really been.

[IronLionZion]

9. It's amazing how DU has shifted over the years

It used to be most DUers attacking the party and candidates for not being liberal enough. There was a lot of opposition to the ACA from the left here because people wanted Single Payer or nothing, and were willing to burn the party down and let millions of less fortunate Americans die without access to health care. Biden was considered very moderate back in 2008.

A lot of DUers were cheering on the losses of red state moderates during the 2010 election as they got replaced by Tea Party extremists. It was weird.

[OKNancy]

2. Exactly. He's a Pragmatic Progressive

Nothing wrong with being a political realist.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Given the comparison is Hillary's campaign, I'm not really sure what precisely you are

trying to say here.

A political realist as opposed to... what?

[George II]

4. Inasmuch as upwards of 70% of Democrats are "moderates" or "centrists"....

...there's nothing wrong with being a moderate.

[Thekaspervote]

12. This!

[still_one]

5. The only ones who label Biden as a moderate are the same ones that labeled, President Obama,

Hillary, and Pelosi as moderates usually from the far left

Ironically, it seems that progressives are pushed out of the conversation by many on the left who love to place the "moderate" label on people who have devoted their entire career to progressive policies

and based on the overall issues he is rated liberal:

https://www.ontheissues.org/joe_biden.htm

[Gothmog]

6. I agree with the analysis posted in the OP

[DrFunkenstein]

7. I See Liberal More As 60's Culture War, Progressive More As Using The Levers of Govt

To level a vastly, vastly unequal playing field. For example, you can be liberal and support big agriculture corporations, but you can't say the same for a progressive. It denotes the use of regulatory powers and other governmental tools to help out the little guy, rather than the fat cats and their armies of lobbyists.

For me, I see "progressive" as Paul Wellstone's "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party."

I don't push it to hard because I don't want to seem exclusionary or uppity, but the term seems to pre-date the rebranding of Baby Boomer liberalism (conveniently erasing the issue of corporate plutocracy).

[mr_liberal]

10. You act like this is a good thing, it'll just make it harder for him to beat Trump. nt

[Hortensis]

13. The tenor of these times for Democrats is to set our goals higher

and advance them farther. These wishes from not just well over 60 million Democrats but many millions of indies and Republicans create the power our leaders need to make more happen.

Hillary happily did just that substantially in response to increased demand for ambitious plans when she ran. And now, as our wishes continue to be felt, Biden is moving beyond even what Hillary felt she could honestly promise to accomplish, depending of course on what congress she had to work with, or in spite of.

Btw, I believe polling agencies were either negligent or corrupt, or both, in not discovering this hidden demand long before the great enthusiasm and excitement created by Elizabeth Warren's bold achievements revealed it. For years before then, the reported attitude of the Democratic electorate was overall apathy and fear of losing seats by sticking our heads out. (! ) As a result, our politicians ran on the timid, uninspiring platforms they believed we'd support and suffered devastating losses. I certainly knew that never applied to me, and thanks to Senator Warren we learned by 2015 that it was also highly misleading and was nowhere near a true picture for the great majority of Democrats, in both the very large mainstream alliance and those farther left.

Now, blinders off and disinformation blasted, we, both our party leaders and members, are ready to use our power to do the big things our nation needs and that only we can and will do.

(Oh, once again, there is literally no political type of "moderate." People orient either conservative or liberal. We do, however, have moderate liberals and moderate conservatives, i.e., somewhere in the middle of each of the two large liberal and conservative spectra of voters.

[Gothmog]

14. I love these comments by Joe on the proposed SC abortion law

Link to tweet

[BlueMississippi]

15. Yeah ... but the ultra left doesn't see it that way

They don't want a left of center progressive -- they want someone who will use guillotines.

[betsuni]

16. But of course policies in 2019 are more progressive than in 2016.

The ACA showed people that government involvement in health care didn't wreck the economy or result in death panels. Places like Seattle and NYC having a $15 minimum wage showed that it didn't wreck the economy. Legalized marijuana didn't turn everyone into drug fiends. Same sex marriage didn't destroy heterosexual marriage. Places like Washington State showed that green energy didn't wreck the economy. Extreme weather is a fact of life. More people understand the reality of racism and sexism (Black Lives Matter and MeToo).

Of course people are more open to more progressive policies. Except Republicans, they're going backwards.

[Scurrilous]

17. K&R

[Gothmog]

18. Joe Biden's appeal actually isn't a mystery

Link to tweet

Biden shows reverence for the most popular Democrat around, former president Barack Obama; others find fault in everything from the Affordable Care Act to immigration policy. Biden does not bombard voters with a torrent of multi-part plans; he gives them a few basic positions and defends them. Biden does not campaign from the neck up; he campaigns with his heart on his sleeve. Biden is deeply optimistic; his opponents think Americans are the problem, not Trump. (I don’t suggest that his opponents are wrong, merely that their stance apparently isn’t as popular as they thought.) Biden wants normalcy plus reform; his opponents want a peaceful revolution. Biden knows people want to be heard and seen; his opponents (with the exception of Sen. Kamala D. Harris) don’t fully grasp this. They want to “help," to pepper people with ideas and a to-do list, while Biden takes the time to listen to them. (Think of the well-meaning friend who has a thousand suggestions when you are grieving and you’d rather they just shut up and commiserate.)

This is the grouchy-white-guy-in-the-diner problem all over again. Reporters are blinded by their own age, background, education and geography. Instead of going to West Virginia diners to find the Trump voter, reporters should go talk to the residents of The Villages in Florida, the African American churchgoing ladies and the buttoned-down professionals in the affluent suburbs (the Romney-Clinton voters). These people have endured a noisy, offensive and intrusive presence in the White House. They don’t necessarily want a different noisy, intrusive presence — even one they agree with on substance.

Part of the “mystery” of Biden’s appeal would be solved if the moderators flipped their questions, as one smart Democrat not in the Biden camp put it. Instead of asking Biden or another moderate, “Why aren’t you going with the big, bold idea of Medicare-for-all?,” the moderators might consider asking Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) or Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “Why blow up Obamacare, and why don’t you trust people to choose Medicare if given the option?” Instead of assuming that extreme proposals are the standard, requiring the moderates to explain why they are such wet blankets, the moderators should press the super-progressives on questions such as: What makes you think that voters want to go through another health-care makeover? Why should poorer people pay for richer people’s health care or subsidize their college debt?

Better yet, ask the candidates to relate the personal story from a voter who moved them the most, or the last voter whose phone number they took so that the candidate could call later, or the most insightful thing they have heard from a voter. It might reveal who is talking at voters and who is listening to them.