How would you describe Joe Biden's ideology?

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't think ideology is a good framework though which to understand politicians like Joe Biden. At heart, he is someone who believes in the status quo and in politics centered around managing the status quo. I guess that would make him a "conservative" by some definition, but certainly not by the modern American definition.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Eh, I'm probably a little bit biased but I'd have to dispute the notion that Biden fundamentally believes in the status quo. Sure, he's not some super-progressive, but he has proven himself to be somebody who fights for progress (e.g., the Brady Bill, VAWA, Obamacare, the Paris Agreement), & his platform being chock full of policies that'd serve to upend the status quo - supporting full universal healthcare, a $15 minimum wage, a multi-trillion dollar effort to fight climate change, student loan relief, etc. - only further proves that IMO.

That's fair, I guess. I don't really put much stock in his current platform because I feel like most of it at this point is a reflection of what he thinks he needs to unify the party (just like Hillary, who ran on the most progressive platform in history in order to pacify Berniecrats but obviously didn't believe in it in an ideological sense). Not that I object to politicians adopting platforms to pacify key constituencies - that is a key part of democracy - but I just wouldn't use that as the basis on which to assess someone's ideology.

Biden's past policy stands also don't really strike me as challenges to the status quo, although I guess you could legitimately debate that for a few. Believing in the status quo doesn't necessarily mean that you don't want to make any changes whatsoever, just that those changes tend to be piecemeal, grounded in purely pragmatic consideration, and generally flowing downstream from social changes rather than attempting to change society themselves.

[Antonio the Sixth]

True, although I'd be remiss if I didn't note that, despite the stereotypes, politicians do keep (or at least try to keep) most of their promises. FiveThirtyEight put out an article a while back which showed that, when a politician makes a campaign promise - even when it isn't a close fit with their ideological background - they actually do try to fulfill it. So, at least when taking that into consideration, it's good news that Biden's promises are to the left of Hillary's & Obama's.

I definitely agree that platforms matter. The reason Bernie is keeping his name on the ballot (and I really hope that all his supporters keep voting for him in the remaining primaries, at least provided that it's safe to do so) is to have as much influence as possible on the Democratic platform. And fighting for that will, in a general sense, influence the future course of the party.

With regard to Biden's specific campaign promises, I don't doubt that he will try to pass healthcare reform, environmental legislation, and other aspects of his platform. It would be crazy for any Democrat not to. The main thing is that I don't trust him to fight for these things as hard as Bernie (or Warren, or frankly even someone like Kamala), because I believe he's indicated that he will prioritize other goals (including, and that's the most damning thing about Biden, f**king comity with Republicans). Every President only has so much political capital and so much energy (and not every President has the same amount of energy to begin with), so how you use it is more crucial than anything else. If we were in a parliamentary system where policymaking authority clearly rests in whoever wins the election, then I'd be much more confident that good things would come out of a Biden presidency. But in the US, what policies a President promises bears a much looser relation to what actually gets done. All that is a digression from the question of ideology, though.