 So, Joe Biden finally proposed what I think is a policy concession to the left that is believable, something that I think he would actually follow through with. Now, you know, he has made overtures to the left. He is apparently trying to create a type of FDR presidency and he, you know, is pledging to not be a standard run-of-the-mill Democrat. And if you talk to any Biden stand on Twitter, he has one of the most progressive policy platforms in the history of Democratic Party politics. But the problem is that none of that's real. Nobody believes that Joe Biden is going to be the next FDR. Nobody believes that he's going to be some type of progressive hero. The left needs to be reached out to, yes, but don't insult our intelligence. Don't lie to us about what we can expect with regard to a Joe Biden presidency because sure, it's not going to be as bad as a Donald Trump presidency, but we need to make sure that what we're getting is real tangible policy concessions. And he has come up with this. According to Ben LeFabriere of Politico, Joe Biden would rescind President Donald Trump's permit allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to cross the border into the United States, a move that would effectively kill the controversial project his campaign told Politico on Monday. The statement is the first from Biden's campaign about how the presumptive Democratic nominee would handle the project that has been installed for over a decade if he wins the White House in November. Biden's opposition also raises the stakes for the TC Energy's efforts to start construction on the cross-border portion of the pipeline this year that would carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the United States. Biden strongly opposed the Keystone pipeline in the last administration, stood alongside President Obama and Secretary Kerry to reject it in 2015 and will proudly stand in the Roosevelt Room again as president and stop it for good by rescinding the Keystone XL pipeline permit. Biden campaign policy director, Steph Fieldman, said in a written statement to Politico. A spokesperson for pipeline developer TC Energy did not immediately respond to questions. The Trump administration is currently appealing a ruling from a federal judge in Montana earlier this month that blocked construction of the pipeline because of an insufficient environmental review. Trump last year signed a cross-border construction permit for Keystone XL, taking it out of the State Department's hands after years of legal wrangling over the department's environmental review of the planned route. So look, credit where it's due, this is an objectively good thing that the lefts would unquestionably like to see happen, right? We want to make sure that the Keystone XL pipeline does not be constructed and to his credit, this is a policy that is to the left of Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, who is in support of the Keystone XL pipeline as far as I know unless he reversed this stance. But I mean, this is a good thing. And the reason why I say this is a good thing is because we can believe that he wants to do this because this is something that President Obama did, right? It's just an extension of the Obama era. One of the few good things that came out of the Obama era. So here's the conundrum, though. Joe Biden needs to present policy concessions to the left that are believable. But at the same time, it's difficult to get them on board when all that you can really pledge that's believable anyways is to take us back to the Obama era. And this is really the conundrum of the Biden campaign, right? If they even feel they need to reach out to the left at all. But assuming that they actually do feel pressured to reach out to the left, you know, Joe Biden, I think, would serve him well to highlight all of the policies that him and Obama enacted and say, you know, we would return to those Obama era policies, all of the things that Trump undid once he took office. But the problem is that even if he does all of that, there's still no sense that as a country, we're moving forward because we're just going back to the Obama era. But at the same time, Obama era policy concessions are really the only thing that he can offer to the left where we would believe that he might follow through there, right? Because I don't believe him when he says that he supports a public option. I just don't. Him and Obama came into the White House supporting a public option and we didn't get a public option. They didn't even try to propose it. So if he says these are the things that I'm going to do, we will return to the Obama era and these good things, X, Y and Z will be enacted into law again once I'm president. Sure, that's better than what we have currently. But at the same time, do you understand why the left feels so frustrated right now and demoralized? Because even in the best case scenario of believable tangibles that we'll get out of a Biden administration, we're just going back to the Obama era. We're not actually making progress. So it's deeply, deeply frustrating to know that the best that we can get out of a Joe Biden administration is a return to Obama era policies. But with that being said, he does have to propose some type of concession to the left. Like if he thinks he's going to be more successful than Hillary Clinton when she did nothing to reach out to the left, you've got another thing coming. If people stay home, if they don't feel like there's any net gain to you being president, they're not going to vote for you. That means that Trump is going to get another four years. So he does need to make these types of concessions to the left. But you can see the dilemma here, right? Anything he says that's too bold, we're not going to believe him. But anything that's not bold enough isn't going to be enough to galvanize the left to support him. So here's if I'm advising Joe Biden, this is what I would say. We need to have a type of believable plan to offer a policy concession to the left. But we also have to allow room for the left voices to be heard, not with these meaningless task forces. So if Joe Biden were to say, here's what we're going to do. Within the first 100 days of my administration, I'm going to propose a public option, a public option, which isn't necessarily what the left wants, obviously. But we're going further than the Affordable Care Act. But simultaneously, I'm also not going to veto Medicare for all. When I said that, you know, that was before the pandemic, and I admit that that was wrong. Now, this hypothetical largely is meaningless because he would never do this. But if he did that, if he said, look, we're going to make real progress when it comes to health care reform, I'm not going to veto Medicare for all. But I will propose a public option within the first 100 days. Then that is actually something that the left can work with, right? Because in the event he said we're doing health care reform within the first 100 days, well, that's a commitment to actually do reform, which opens the door to the left making their case for Medicare for all. And if we believe that he's not going to veto it, if people believe him, which I don't know if they would, I wouldn't certainly, then, you know, that would give us some type of idea that we have an effort to effect change to get real reform. He's not supporting Medicare for all explicitly, but just by him not vetoing it, that's important because, congressionally speaking, we can make the case. Now, the problem, even in that hypothetical scenario, is that it's incredibly unrealistic because congressional progressives count out to everything that leadership does. So they would never even push for Medicare for all. I think the people who Bernie appointed to his task force, they're trying to pressure Biden to opt for Medicare at 55 because he's currently at 60. So, I mean, even in that hypothetical situation, it's unrealistic. But I mean, if I'm Joe Biden, you have to give the left, you know, some sense that we're going further than just a return to Obama-era policies. But the problem is that his entire career has been so destructive that it's difficult, right? It's difficult to believe him because anything that's good that he's proposing is basically him undoing decades-long policies that he's the one that pushed through. But I will give him credit where it's through. This Keystone XL pipeline, you know, to kill it permanently, to actually vow to do that, I do believe him here because that was the Obama administration's stance. And if he did do this, this would be actually something that is genuinely good, objectively speaking, if you are a left-winger. So here's what I say to the left. Give them credit words do, right? Because we want to make sure that we don't seem unreasonable. This is good. But keep talking. You're not just going to get the left one over with one policy. You need to keep talking. We need more concessions. And you've got to go further. But again, like, I don't want people to lie to the left. Don't insult our intelligence. Don't pee on our legs and tell us it's raining. We're not going to believe that Joe Biden is going to do Medicare for all. We're not going to believe that he's going to, you know, create worker co-ops. We know that that's never something he'd push for. And he'd actively fight against it at every step of the way. But if he just chooses to be super bold on one policy, legalizing marijuana, recreational marijuana nationwide, I don't think he realizes the difference that that would make. But the problem here strategically is that I don't really believe that Joe Biden and his team believes that they have to reach out to the left. I mean, I think that they believe that just by creating these task forces, that's good enough because it gives people the appearance that he's listening. But that's not good enough. And if you want to beat Donald Trump, everyone does, then you have to make sure you have the left on board. And more importantly than I think winning over Bernie Sanders supporters is getting out people who don't typically vote Hillary Clinton lost because people stayed home. And, you know, that's the trajectory that we're seeing with elections. Obama won with a smaller margin of people turning out for him in 2012 than he did in 2008. And for Hillary, it was just, it was worse. So you have to excite the base. And, you know, things like this are a step in the right direction, you know, saying, I'm going to kill the Keystone XL pipeline for good. That's really important. But we need more of this and you have to go further, enough with the pandering with, you know, Keegan-Michael Key, no more nonsensical, you know, hello, fellow kids bullshit. These are the things that will help you win this election. If you don't stick to this, then, you know, you don't have a chance, I think. Now, you know, putting all of my hypothetical situations aside, you know, him trying to commit to health care within the first, health care reform within the first 100 days, even if he keeps, you know, trickling out these types of things, I'm going to kill the Keystone XL pipeline. I'm going to revoke that permit if he moves on to the Dakota access pipeline, something that Obama was not a fighter on. That's another area where the left can feel it. We're making real progress when it comes to the environment. So, you know, this is a step in the right direction. I'll give him credit words too. But obviously this is not enough. He doesn't need to go further, but this is progress. Keep talking.