Between the two major current crises—the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge of protests against racism—and other pressing issues such environmental destruction, global warming,  income inequality and uncertainty over health care, it’s likely a lot of us would vote for whomever the Democrats run against Trump in November.

 

Presumptive nominee Joe Biden, the former vice president, might be a bit too moderate for many, but compared to his predecessor, Biden will seem like a very big breath of fresh air. Almost any Democrat would.

 

Regardless, Biden will do well to heed those urging Democrats to move away from neo-liberalism and back to their New Deal roots.

This means embracing at least some of the “Bernie” agenda.

Mr. Vice President, won’t you join me in being “about 85 percent” Bernie?

 

Why “85 percent?”

 

It’s less about the issues—I mostly agree with Bernie on those—than about the positioning, public relations and, yes, marketing.

 

I’m hardly the first to say this, but Bernie Sanders isn’t really a socialist in the Marxist sense, but a social democrat. While someone with my background knows what Bernie and his allies mean when they use the term “democratic socialist,” a lot of people don’t. And that’s the problem.

 

Many critics and opponents of Bernie Sanders are using that to convince voters Bernie is a “communist” who wants to bring about a Soviet-style or Maoist regime in the United States. They’ll liken Bernie’s agenda to regimes in North Korea or Venezuela, though those really have little to do with his philosophy.

 

Think more Denmark, Finland or Norway. And more FDR than Lenin, Mao or Castro.

 

And that’s his marketing problem, and the main reason many older Democrats didn’t want him getting the nomination.

They want to win, and the chances of Bernie winning the national election, while better now than three months ago, would have remained…chancy.

 

It’s not just the “socialist” terminology: Let’s hear Bernie (and Biden) join inequality fighter Robert Reich in acknowledging that free markets and capitalism work, but only when properly regulated—and the wealthy and corporations properly taxed and deprived of their current stranglehold on government.

 

Agreed, it’s not just Sen. Sanders who has PR problems. Along with the senior moments, gaffes and sex allegations, Biden has said or done a number of things progressives and liberals wouldn’t like. Just ask Kamala Harris and some of the other Democrats who previously ran against Biden.

 

And, as far as anyone can tell, Biden is more a neoliberal than anything else, and it’s that philosophy that has led the Democrats too far astray from their New Deal roots. And it’s a New Deal—call it “Green” or whatever else—that is needed now.

 

Let’s acknowledge that those asking for more details on what the Green New Deal will include before they can support it have a point. However, this is an unprecedented and necessary time to make change.

 

Coronavirus and pandemics in general—this could be an ongoing problem for decades to come—will demand increased research and international cooperation and aggressive action. So will the other issues: Global warming; environmental destruction; racial justice; conflict resolution among and inside many nations; income inequality; wider availability of quality health care; and employment based on an economy retooled to reflect new realities.

 

The truths of these times: There is great tragedy, anger, uncertainty and risk. And also great opportunity.