Joe Biden has made it official. At 6 AM E.T. this morning, the former Senator and Vice President, who held elective office continuously for 44 years (January 1973 to January 2017), announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination in a revamped Web site and a 3½ minute-long video. At least one-half of the video focused on the events in Charlottesville, VA in August 2017 when a group of racists clashed with a counter group of Antifa and violence ensued. The left and the Democrats have tried to blame President Trump for the events and Biden picked up the cudgel.

The Antifa mob, Biden said in his video, was “a courageous group of Americans.” He continued:

We’re in a battle for the soul of this nation. . .

[We will look back on the presidency of Donald J. Trump] as an aberrant moment in time. . .

I cannot stand by and let that happen.

With Charlottesville as his touchstone, Biden also referenced President Thomas Jefferson, whom he criticized as “not always living up to our ideals.” My thinking: With Biden as president, get ready for a lot of obnoxious pandering including the banning of more statues of the Founding Fathers.

In the video, Biden is wearing a visible black earpiece in his right ear (a hearing aid? An audio monitor?).

Screen grab from Joe Biden’s “I am running for president” video

The new Biden for president Web site boasts a significant number of well-crafted bromides intended to appeal to both the middle class and the far left that represents the activist base of the new Democrat Socialist Party.

Will Joe be able to pull it off? Currently, in early polls (which ultimately will count for little), he is in either first or second place among the 21 Democrat candidates who have declared thus far. The number will probably increase. The months ahead promise to be quite a show.

Thomas Lifson adds:

Biden is taking the low road by implying Trump was praising the neo-Nazis at Charlottesville, when from the context of his earlier words, he was clearly referring to the people seeking to preserve historic statues of Confederates. If he faces President Trump in a debate after securing the nomination, I expect President Trump to punch back hard on this distortion of what he said.

Peter Barry Chowka writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications. Peter's new website is http://peter.media.  Follow him on Twitter at @pchowka.