Sputnik: Assuming that Joe Biden decides to run for the presidency, what is your opinion about Mr. Biden as a candidate for the presidency? How fit is he to serve as the nation’s leader?
I think he would be a formidable candidate; he has obviously served a great amount of years in the United States, for more than three decades. Two terms as US vice president, so he certainly has the policy credentials and the leadership experiences to become president of the United States. One of the big questions I think is how he would fare in the Democratic primaries. There is rumor to be maybe a dozen or so candidates on the Democratic side who will be seeking the nomination in 2020. So it could be a very crowded field. I think he would be very competitive in the general election, but making it up through the primaries that would be the big question, will he be able to capture the Democratic nomination.
READ MORE: Twitter Explodes With Memes as Joe Biden Reportedly Mulls Run for Presidency
Sputnik: Mr. Biden earlier ran for presidency with little success, how different could the situation be in 2020, should he run in the presidential race?
It is complicated and much depends on the state of the United States’ economy, I have to say and there is also the question of what will happen with the Mueller investigation for the Trump administration. There are some rumors that the president might not wish to seek another term in 2020, or there is even rumor that there could be a primary challenger to Donald Trump. All that has yet to be determined but that is a very, very big question on the minds of a lot of political observers, how all these factors will play out facing 2020.
I do think that the Russian investigation will be a major issue for the Trump campaign leading into the next election. All these types of situations will be front and center for the 2020 election.
READ MORE: Trump Denies Collusion in Tweet After Indictment of Russian Nationals
Sputnik: Give me your personal take on the situation in the American political arena at the moment. We have got this steep difference in terms of ideology between the Democrats and Republican Party and it all seems to be transversing and not getting any further. There is basically claim and counter-claim with emails and memos being released, it’s not doing the American administration or the country much good in terms of global perception. Do you think this is going to calm down?
I certainly hope so, but I think it’s also important to recognize that polarization at the national level of politics in the United States has become stronger and stronger over the years and this is something that dates back all the way to the late 1960’s since the civil rights era. So the trend is to have more political conflict at the national level, stronger partisan identities, and unless something happens to change that, I suppose that we can expect more partisan deadlock in the Washington DC for the foreseeable future.
The views and opinions expressed by the analyst do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.