Joe Biden has not gotten merely enough credit from Democrats for the campaign that he has run thus far in 2020. While we are not going to go so far as to place it up there with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Biden has thus far run the perfect campaign to match the times. As a result, he stands on the cusp of winning a landslide in November and winning the presidency 32 years after his first try for the Oval Office.

While placing all of his chips on South Carolina was a choice born from necessity, Biden has made nearly every right decision since right after his thrashing in New Hampshire. Leaving the state before election night and moving on to South Carolina was a perfect way to help reset the narrative from Biden's terrible showing in the Granite State. Biden knew where his strength was and focused intently on winning the Black vote. The second that he picked up his landslide in South Carolina, he moved immediately to pick up support from Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar to peel off their supporters. He moved quickly to bury the hatchet with Bernie Sanders to avoid a repeat of 2016.

Unifying the Democrats Is not an Easy Skill to Master

As a result, Biden is presiding over a largely unified party, even with the occasional sniping from the Left. Keeping the diverse coalition that is the Democratic Party together through a pandemic has been a master class in politics. Biden has given them just enough say over policy where he can stake out his own positions on possible wedge issues. Since he has given progressives sway in environmental policy, they largely stay quiet as he takes other positions designed to appeal to the Center.

Meanwhile, Biden's handling of Trump has been an exercise in political jujitsu. While some Democrats have engaged in collective bed wetting over Biden's absence from the campaign trail, this has been by design. Biden recognized early on that you cannot beat Trump at his own game nor can you dominate the news cycle. Every news cycle will automatically be able Donald Trump because the media rewards the loudest voice in the room. Biden has emerged as necessary to speak when Trump has acted with particular malignancy, such as his actions in Kenosha. Biden also surfaces on Twitter to poke fun at Trump for some of his excesses. In other words, Biden has smartly let Trump take himself down without seeing the need to overinject himself into the discussion.

Trump is an unpopular incumbent with a penchant for pouring kerosene on himself every day. Biden realizes that the best approach for dealing with this is to give him the match and stand back. With his own gaffe-prone campaign style, Biden has largely avoided any major calamities since his whopper on the Charlemagne the God radio show. He has realized that Trump can taunt him all he wants about staying in his basement and being hidden from reporters. Biden decided on a policy of selective engagement, and it has been working great, especially since Trump's campaign has been inept.

There Has Been No Drama in the Biden Campaign

The other element of the Biden Campaign that has drawn very little praise but is the reason for his success is the fact that there are zero leaks. Barack Obama earned the title "no-drama Obama" in part because his campaign had little to no backbiting. This was not a skill that Hillary Clinton mastered in 2016 with her leak-filled campaign. There has been no backbiting in the Biden Campaign. Outside a senior official or two, most of the public could not even name anyone working on the Biden Campaign. This is a stealth campaign that is working together very well behind the scenes. As a result, Biden has closed a massive money gap and leads in the polls.

Democrats love to say that Biden is barely good enough and has lost a step or two. However, it takes skill to beat an opponent like Trump, even if that skill is focusing on organizing while the opponent beats himself. Some day, the story of the Biden Campaign will be known through the large number of post-election books. Perhaps then, Biden will get the respect that he deserves as a solid but unspectacular politician who stands on the cusp of delivering the knockout blow to fascism in America.