Opinion

The myth of ‘middle-class Joe Biden’ and other commentary

Political scribes: The Myth of ‘Middle-Class Joe’

Former Vice President Biden may be preparing to run for president as “Middle-Class Joe,” but as Politico’s Holly Otterbein and Marc Caputo point out, he’s got a $2.7 million vacation home, charges more than $100,000 per speaking gig and has a book deal likely worth seven figures. Indeed, since leaving office, Biden “has watched his bank account swell,” even as he “continues to cultivate the image of a regular, Amtrak-riding guy.” Fact is, his “avowed distance from the upper class” is “central to his political identity,” though he argues that “middle class” isn’t “so much a financial status” as “a state of mind.” Needless to say, skeptics on the left — who have grown “increasingly concerned with vast income inequality” — see it differently.

Conservative: Dems Aren’t Defending Chelsea Clinton

Are Democrats ever “prepared to tell the progressive grassroots something that they don’t want to hear?” That’s the question National Review’s Jim Geraghty is asking after the surprising silence to Chelsea Clinton ­being confronted by two NYU students who accused her of having “stoked” the New Zealand mosque massacre by criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitism. Needless to say, Clinton had nothing to do with the massacre and her denunciation of anti-Semitism was “right, proper and needed.” Yet the confrontation has received little attention from the mainstream media. And — with the notable exception of Mayor de Blasio — most Democrats “prefer to avert their eyes, pretend they didn’t see it and hope that the news cycle moves on quickly.” Frankly, asks Geraghty, “if Donald Trump Jr. is willing to stand up for Chelsea Clinton, what ­excuse does anyone else have?”

Beltway vet: Pelosi’s Problems Are Just Beginning

Nancy Pelosi can thank “the adoration of the national press corps,” which “really wants her to succeed” as House speaker, for news coverage that makes it seem like she’s firmly in charge, contends Peter Roff at Newsweek. In fact, though, she’s “a woman with a lot of problems.” And it’s the same problem, he says, that faced Republican Newt Gingrich a quarter-century ago: a “huge freshman class that think they invented Democracy.” In her case, it’s a case of people committed less to “real and substantive policy changes” than in using their new platform “to advance a new and socialistic state of mind in traditional and social media.” So Pelosi finds herself with “the tail wagging the dog.” But while she hasn’t yet lost control of her caucus, “she’s not setting any records for party unity.”

Foreign desk: Netanyahu Challenger’s Major Handicap

Israelis who want to end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-year reign are pinning their hopes on former Army Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. He’s “not a bad choice,” agrees Zev Chafets at Bloomberg, “but he is new to politics, and it shows.” Indeed, Gantz “lacks what Bibi has in spades — political acumen. He poses a lot but rarely talks.” In fact, “he has given only a few speeches and more than once he has gone badly off script.” And he “lacks the military charisma of ­political generals like Ariel Sharon, Ehud Barak or Moshe Dayan.” Moreover, Gantz “has failed to portray himself as a moderate alternative to Netanyahu’s hardline nationalism.” They actually “agree on just about every major issue.”

Health watch: Why No Concern Over Ebola Recurrence?

Five years ago, notes Ronald Klain at The Washington Post, the US was “gripped with fear and awash in news coverage as the worst Ebola outbreak in history spread in West Africa.” Yet today, the second-worst outbreak is under way in Congo, and “most Americans seem unaware or unconcerned.” Granted, this outbreak has seen only a small fraction of the number of deaths recorded in 2014. And the earlier outbreak reached the US, when an infected patient brought the disease to Dallas. Yet, even with a vaccine, “the death toll continues to mount” and regional violence has forced response organizations to withdraw. Says Klain: “Adding significantly more US disease fighters in Congo, and placing them closer to the outbreak, would be dangerous, but needs to be considered.”

— Compiled by Eric Fettmann