Whose standards will Democrats embrace?

WE ALL LEARNED BACK ON THE PLAYGROUND that whoever makes the rules of the game stands a better chance of winning it. It’s an uncomfortable lesson, one that requires us to accept that norms are fluid, that expectations shift, that people’s actions are not only judged as right or wrong, but are also measured against the depravity or valor of their peers.

Already it’s a lesson that looms large in the 2020 campaign: Will the Democrats choose someone who can play by Donald Trump’s renegade rules, or will they gamble on someone who refuses to engage on those grounds? Which brings us to Joe Biden, the would-be Democratic front runner who presents the latest challenge to Democrats trying to decide whose rules to play by.

Lucy Flores was the first woman to declare publicly that Biden crossed a line when he moved in behind her, sniffed her hair and kissed the back of her head. “He made me feel uneasy, gross, and confused,” she wrote in an essay for