On Sunday, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd told Biden surrogate Pete Buttigieg that he understands why the Democrats avoided talking much policy at their convention. "Look, I get it. The more you talk policy, the harder it is to keep John Kasich in the tent. So what is that line that Democrats should walk this fall?"
Todd made this rather surprising admission on Friday, that they want to focus on Trump's personality instead of getting specific about policy proposed by the Democrats, since that would be electoral poison for Biden.
The admission by Todd came during an interview by news anchor Jeff Hullinger on the local NBC affiliate 11Alive in Atlanta. Hullinger started off by reading an observation about the Democrat convention by Peggy Noonan. (She warned "I’m getting the impression that for a lot of people, the ballot this fall won’t read 'Trump vs. Biden' but 'Trump vs. What the Other Guys Will Do.'")
JEFF HULLINGER: I am reading Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal today where she says that the Democrats missed the meaning. That they are clearly offering much, but they are not offering any plans about how they will do their so-called "much."
CHUCK TODD: There is no no doubt in my mind, Jeff, that was intentional. You know I think Joe Biden is trying to be is all things to a coalition that includes AOC and John Kasich. And he in some ways is making the case that, hey, I'm me, I'm not going to get pushed around but I'm also an open mind and I listen and I will take advice from everybody and he's making a bet that that's what the country wants.
...My gut is that they are right that this is not going to be a policy election, that this is a Trump character election. But Hillary Clinton made the same bet four years ago. Now the difference is what? Hillary Clinton didn't have a united Democratic party around her the way I think Joe Biden does around him. Her attacks on Trump's character were theoretical, now you have four years to use examples of to make the same case.
Look, if they started talking about specific policy proposals what happens to those moderate Republicans who seem to want to gravitate towards Joe Biden? So look they can throw a wide tent if they're united on one issue which is ousting Donald Trump. The minute you start talking about other stuff, that's when that tent starts to get holes in it.
Right, Chuck. And an example of those specific policy proposals would be the about fracking which Biden now claims he does not oppose, at least in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, but which his running mate (and whom many view as Biden's likely successor), Kamala Harris, is firmly in favor of banning. So that explains why the Biden campaign, as Todd affirmed, would want to avoid talking about actual policy in favor of running on a platform of Orange Man Bad.
