From the left: Biden — Troubled or Teflon?

The good news for Joe Biden, per Bill Scher at RealClearPolitics: He is leading in nearly all national polls and swing-state polls, his opponent is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and “all of the Democratic Party’s major figures have united to endorse his candidacy.” The bad news: Biden has been “confined” to home, far from a “natural venue for his political talents,” is “suffering sharp criticism from some Bernie Sanders supporters” and faces sexual-assault charges from an ex-employee. Still, Biden boasts stronger poll numbers over President Trump than Hillary Clinton did, and the numbers suggest he is far “more Teflon-coated” than Democrats’ 2016 nominee. All in all, Biden’s base, while “less intense” than Trump’s, may be “similarly durable” — and “a little bit bigger.”

Foreign desk: Netanyahu Gazumps Gantz

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief ­rival, Benny Gantz, agreed to form an emergency coalition government to handle the COVID-19 pandemic — which The Washington Examiner’s Tom Rogan calls a “remarkable win” for Netanyahu. Not only does Bibi get to stay in power after “three successive elections” in which “neither Netanyahu nor Gantz was able to form governing majorities,” but his party also retains veto power over the panel that chooses judges, protecting him from conviction on his corruption indictments. Meanwhile, “Netanyahu and Gantz are both pro-American allies,” so it’s good news for the United States either way. The bottom line, though: “Netanyahu has won a big victory.”

Culture critic: Rejecting the ‘New Normal’

Last week, media elites blasted President Trump for rejecting “the idea that the United States would enter some kind of ‘new normal,’  ” in which “social distancing would remain” even after the coronavirus pandemic has run its course. In fact, Trump had “the right tone and the right policy,” says The Federalist’s David Marcus. After all, “mass gatherings and physical intimacy” are “universal and a priori conditions for human society,” and Americans simply “will not live” in some “atomized future.” So, let’s reject the progressives who claim “we will never return to normal” and “have the new rules all picked out for us.” Instead of surrendering to “a dehumanizing ‘new normal,’  ” let’s “bravely go forward and claim our lives and society back.”

Marco Rubio: A New, Resilient US Economy

Americans are a resilient people, Sen. Marco Rubio writes at The New York Times, but resilience has “been absent from our public policy for too long.” For several decades, “our nation’s political and economic leaders, Democratic and Republican, made choices about how to structure our society — choosing to prize economic efficiency over resiliency, financial gains over Main Street investment, individual ­enrichment over the common good.” Efficiency is desirable, but our bipartisan elites treated it as holy writ — not least when it came to the transfer of jobs and manufacturing capacity to Communist China. To reverse these trends, Rubio envisions a “sensible industrial policy” that would incentivize “productive investment in workers and equipment” while discouraging stock buybacks and offshoring. The watchwords: “resiliency, solidarity and collective pursuit of the common good.”

Economic take: Let Americans Put Off Their Bills

At The Wall Street Journal, Peter J. Wallison suggests using “short-term credit forbearance” to boost the economy instead of more “blanket” government payments. OK’ing payment delays “would keep the economy’s gears turning” while saving taxpayers a fortune. Millions will need help over the next two to four months to cover rent, mortgage and car payments and other expenses, yet the cost to taxpayers of more “stimulus” checks would be “enormous.” Instead, Congress could have landlords and other creditors ­extend payment deadlines, treating the delays as “temporary private-sector loans” with higher interest rates to ensure they get paid back first and to ­attract investors. The program would be “voluntary and short-term.” But the key is to get through the pandemic using “private forbearance” rather than “further burdening taxpayers.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board