Biden's out, but the game remains the same

Joe Biden’s out before he got in, and while that may disappoint some Democrats who had encouraged the vice president to throw his hat into the campaign cage fight, it really won’t change the game much.

Hillary Clinton’s negative ratings are her Achilles' heel . . . People may like the idea of Hillary, and support most of her pretty moderate positions, but there’s a huge swath of voters (Democrats included), who just think she’s a touch too entitled, a touch too methodical, a touch too practiced, a touch too aloof, a touch too predictable, and a touch too untrustworthy. That’s not good, but she’ll carry the Democratic flag into the final rounds with what is now a fractured Republican gaggle of potential presidential hopefuls.

The Republicans will sort it all out, of course, and the race, filled with ever louder shouting, probably lots of personal attacks and dicey political promises.

Republicans will vote for the Republican candidate, and Democrats will vote for the Democratic candidate . . . at least for the most part. The real battle will be for the middle . . . either end of the parties is spoken for, or at least caught in the sticky trap their parties have set for them.

Donald Trump continues his campaign of loud railing against seemingly everything not Trump, while Ben Carson is picking up steam with his quiet demeanor and soft-spoken ramblings. Unfortunately, neither one is qualified to be president. Neither has any idea of working policies and both have presented ideas that may register on the far-right rhetoric radar, but are either undoable or wrong-minded. Read their words and if you can scrape off the hateful stuff (like defunding colleges that are “too political,” or spending a trillion dollars on not only a wall along our border with Mexico but also along the Canadian border), you see there's not much there.

But that, of course, is the appeal. Lots of talk and as little concrete solutions. Trump has been a master, hitting on virtually every hot spot on the scared white middle class list . . . though carefully avoiding specifics. What about income inequality? Health care solutions beyond killing the Affordable Care Act? Tax system reform? Corporate tax loopholes? And on and on . . . nothing really.

Bush, Kasich, Fiorina and the others are trying to build policy statements, but they’re getting drowned out by the Trumpster, and their poll numbers show they aren’t hitting with voters. Voters right now aren’t interested in solutions, they’re interested in venting their frustrations. Pundits have been wrong about Trump for months . . . he hasn’t faded.

One hopes that will change as the primaries begin and voters start calling for substance. Trump and Carson spewing nonsense . . . Hillary’s robotic march to whatever her destiny may be . . . Bernie’s populist groundswell that continues to swell . . . and the rest of the current bench warmers who hopes some of the starters falter so they can get into the game.