Uncle Joe and Grandpa Bernie

Donald Trump's worst nightmare took a big step closer to becoming reality when Senator Bernie Sanders officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination.  Sanders made his endorsement wholeheartedly, and with plenty of time to work things out between the two camps before the Democratic convention in August.  They underscored the importance of beating Trump with a joint appearance on Biden's YouTube channel this past Monday, as seen below.

Biden and Sanders agreed on the need to do much more in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and also agreed on the necessity to address persistent issues such as climate change, workers' rights, and college tuition assistance.  But Biden also said something that must have made Bernie bros wonder why he, not their hero, is going to be the nominee. Biden said that fundamental change was needed to transform this country.  Ironically, Biden had been considered the better choice because he advocated change within the system rather than changing the system as Sanders has advocated. The reason for his apparent change of heart is simple - the pandemic.  

Biden's approach to change wouldn't be anything like Sanders', though.  He still believes in using the system to shift policy and programs toward different constituencies rather than try to rebuild everything from scratch - which Republican hostility toward change makes impossible even in the most dire circumstances.  That's why many Sanders supporters are still reluctant to embrace Biden and why some of them are still dead set against the idea.  The persuadable ones have a list of demands for Biden on numerous issues, despite his incremental move toward the left, and it's Biden's responsibility - and grave concern - to accommodate Bernie bros as much as possible without alienating the more moderate supporters of his own campaign.  And the polls show that Trump, despite all of his foul-ups, bleeps and blunders, could still win re-election in the fall because the country, even in the worst pandemic in over a century, is still so bitterly divided.  

Biden has a lot more going for him in dealing with Sanders than Hillary Clinton had in 2016, as I've noted before.  They're good friends with each other, and they agree on the issues more than they disagree on them.  Most of their disagreements are on how to address the issue; those are disagreements that can easily be worked out over the next couple of months.  Hillary and Bernie rarely if ever agreed on anything in the 2016 campaign, and they had only a grudging respect for each other at best (but a common disrespect for Martin O'Malley, but I've already bitched about that).  And the fact that the Democrats now have to deal with the reality, not the idea, of "President Trump" (who's been attempting to push the constitutionally unfounded idea of total control over the states in re-opening the economy) should be enough of an impetus or Biden and Sanders to work together.  Also, they now have Barack Obama working with them, as he just endorsed Biden as well.

As indicated in the video posted here, Biden and Sanders have a long way to go to get to a place where their respective factions are united enough to take on Trump in the fall.  But they've made an excellent start.