JB and the Court Packers

 Joe Biden's campaign has chosen the general election strategy of saying nothing that will offend the large number of Never Trumpers who by their support can help secure his victory in November. And one of the items he needs to be careful about, if he is to keep their support through election day, is the court packing scheme emanating from the leftish side of his party. 

Not wanting to talk about an issue because it might hurt your poll-standing is the very definition of electoral cravenness. But this is such a raw and open case of the malady that it almost causes the proverbial jaw to drop.

And it plays right into the Trumpian critique: that Joe is but a Trojan Horse, and that after election day the radicals will come swarming out of the trapdoor in his belly, with court-packing only the start of their malfeasance.

If Joe wants to be the president of all the people, not just the Democrats, as he often says, this is a good opportunity for him to prove it. Court-packing is nothing but a Democratic Party power-grab, just as it was in Roosevelt's day, with no ethical foundation other than that it will help one side win its battles more often. 

But Joe is in more of a bind now than he was when the subject first came up. By not revealing his position he has given the distinct impression that he is for it, and so coming out against it now would be seen as treason by the party's left branch (which is quickly becoming its mainstream). If he were to come out plainly for it, on the other hand, he'd prove himself to be a party hack after all, the polar opposite of the image his campaign has been trying to build. And if then he lost the support of the Never Trumpers (those who who still haven't voted), though it would probably not cost him the election, it might make the margin of victory a lot narrower. And margin may prove very important in this election. So Joe has chosen the nakedly craven route of not answering a pressing political question as he runs for the highest political office. It's really not an impressive look.