I realize that his whole thing is convincing Dem voters that they’ll be getting Obama’s third term if they nominate him.

But does he have to mimic O right down to his most egregious and notorious lies?

I mean, he’s really committed to this Obama 2.0 thing if he’s bent on reviving the worst aspects of O’s presidency too. Soon he’ll be vowing to make sure Iran gets a nuclear weapon.

The funny thing about this is that it would be a terrific talking point with which to counter Medicare for All if not for the fact that errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it’s the most famous falsehood his ex-boss told while in office. American voters *do* like their private insurance plans, polls show; the whole reason Kamala Harris has been cagey by claiming that she supports MFA but also sees a role for private insurance is that she knows nuking the entire health-insurance industry in the United States is a dicey proposition even for a Democratic primary. By going all-in on ObamaCare and adding a public option, Biden may well have the most broadly popular health-care platform in the field. (Never mind that the Biden plan would lead in the long term to Medicare for All anyway. Lefties aren’t playing for the long term anymore.) Of course he should want a pithy, memorable way to convey to voters that his plan, unlike Bernie’s plan, will give them the option of staying with their current coverage instead of accepting government coverage if they prefer.

But … c’mon, man. C’mon, man. As Joe Biden himself might say.

I’m eager to see how MFA fans like Bernie and Kamala Harris play this. On the one hand, one of the selling points for Medicare for All is to make sure that people never lose coverage. If you like your plan but it turns out you can’t keep your plan because it’s too expensive or because some private insurers can’t profitably comply with the ObamaCare requirements for comprehensive coverage, MFA solves the “keep your plan” problem forever. On the other hand, how do Sanders and Harris broach that subject and attack Biden without needling him about O’s big lie? They don’t want to piss off Obama fans by reminding them of ObamaCare’s flaws, but they need to remind them of those flaws in order to build party-wide support for their own socialist proposal. Thin ice for both sides of the issue.

Here’s Biden making the pitch at an AARP event today, via the Free Beacon. He makes another potent point here aimed directly at his base of senior citizens: Medicare for All might mean less robust Medicare for senior citizens, so maybe those already enrolled in the program shouldn’t be so eager to share. Lefties are going to go ballistic at that, remembering how Republicans used fears about Medicare being underfunded to build opposition to ObamaCare 10 years ago. Biden’s behaving like a right-winger again, Berniebros will say. The next debate will be ugly. And by “ugly” I of course mean awesome.