Looks like Bernie Sanders is finished

I remember standing near Bernie Sanders in the park area in front of the White House a year or so back. He was giving an interview to some hotshot TV broadcaster. He sounded confident, sure of himself, a little crumpled and eager to answer the questions. A president-in-the-making? Difficult to say but not really. He was just a veteran senator without any entourage around him. Just a bloke. A nice bloke. Now here we are at a pivotal point in his campaign to be the Democratic nominee for the presidency. Poor Bernie, after all his fervent speechmaking and policy pledges that threatened an upheaval in the whole way the United States manages itself, it looks like his time has come. To back out. He had terrible results in the Super Tuesday votes, a smack in the face in Michigan, Mississippi and Missouri and the prospect of a massive defeat in Florida next week. So, fight on or opt out and give full backing to Joe Biden? It must be so galling to realise that after all your efforts the country just doesn't want you. Most Democrats now seem to want Biden to be the man to take on Trump. It makes sense. It doesn't mean Biden will beat Trump but I'm pretty sure he has a better chance than Bernie would have if he were to be given the nomination. He must know that now. In fact he does know that because he said so yesterday. So whether he goes before Florida or after a beating in Florida, the writing is firmly on the wall. It is time for one individual to take on the responsibility of going for Trump and, for the Democratic party, the sooner the better because the president is confronted by a storm of crises and he will need to be held to account if things go seriously wrong. Coronavirus and the impact on the US economy are the two major issues. And they will remain so for months ahead. I dearly hope, for the sake of the United States which is one of my favourite countries that Trump's remedies for the virus and the economy work swiftly. Banning all flights from mainland Europe to the US for the next 30 days is extraordinary. Yet flights from the UK and Ireland can still go ahead. I'm no virus expert but that sounds to me like a confusing decision. So does that mean only Brits and Irish can fly to the US and only from Heathrow and Shannon? What about Italians working in the UK and hoping to fly to the US? Will they be turned back when they arrive in Washington DC or New York? The trouble is I don't think anyone is a total expert on this virus. The World Health Organisation waited for weeks before declaring it a pandemic when it was clearly that some time ago, Italy has closed up shop, people don't know whether to wear masks or not. Boris Johnson sounds sort of comforting and in charge but no one really knows whether the UK has got to grips with this crisis. So it's back to Biden. Once Bernie drops out as he inevitably will, the former vice president is going to have to prove to the nation that if he becomes president in November - still not very likely - he is going to be able to mastermind every crisis that comes his way. Right now Trump's actions on coronavirus are not reassuring.