Omar: Biden not the candidate to ‘tackle a lot of the systematic challenges that we have’

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said former Vice President Joe Biden is not the kind of presidential candidate needed to lead sweeping societal change.

“There are few people who fit into the kind of progress that we all want to see in this country,” Omar told The Guardian on Saturday. “And I would say he is not one of them.”

{mosads}“I think it has been very clear to many of the people who have been creating the kind of movement that is exciting generations, that we want somebody who really has a plan that is going to tackle a lot of the systematic challenges that we have, and he doesn’t,” she added.

Omar’s comments to The Guardian came at the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum, an event organized by progressive groups.

The event hosted 2020 White House hopefuls Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).

During her keynote speech, Omar demanded “a president who realizes we are not just fighting for one election; we are fighting for the very soul of our democracy and what society we want to become.”

Her comments critical of Biden came after The Guardian asked her if Biden could be that candidate.

The centrist former senator has been the leader in the majority of national and state polls.

One of his progressive opponents, Warren, passed Biden for the first time in Iowa polling guru Ann Selzer’s state survey released Saturday.

Omar is not the only progressive lawmaker to be critical of Biden and his promise of a return to normalcy in 2020.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) previously criticized Biden over his climate change platform.