ANALYSIS: Biden Obama's formidable VP
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 23, 2008 at 7:47 a.m.
Updated August 23, 2008 at 11:25 a.m.
Photo by M. Spencer Green © AP
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., and his vice presidential running mate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., appear together Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008, in Springfield, Ill.
Photo by Chris Gannon © Pool/Getty Images
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks at a 2007 debate in Johnston, Iowa, as U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) listens. Democrats coalesced around Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate on Saturday while Republicans quickly seized on the Delaware senator's past criticism of the presidential candidate's inexperience.
Is Joe Biden the right choice as Barack Obama's running mate?
Photo by Associated Press
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., departs from a dentist's office and heads for his home Thursday in Wilmington, Del.
A long foreign policy resume isn’t the only thing Sen. Barack Obama gets by picking Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate.
He also gets a scrappy, political pit bull to fend off Republican attacks, perhaps allowing Obama to spend more time on the high ground where he has long been more comfortable.
Two days before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Obama is expected to introduce his running mate pick at a morning event outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.
Already, Republican Sen. John McCain’s campaign has issued a statement portraying the Biden pick as a sign of weakness for Obama, saying there has been “no harsher critic” of Obama’s “lack of experience” than his new running mate, Biden.
Biden, 65, has been in the U.S. Senate 36 years, first elected at age 29 in 1972.
His foreign policy experience was a major selling point. He chairs the Senate Foreign Relations committee, has traveled the globe extensively getting to know world leaders, and this week returned from an emergency mission to ease tensions between Russia and neighboring Georgia.
While he was among Democrats who supported a 2002 war powers resolution that led to the war in Iraq, he later called the vote a mistake. Campaigning for president in Iowa last year, Biden blasted President Bush for having “no intention of ending the war.”
“If it’s me he hands it off to, I will cauterize this wound immediately,” he said of Iraq. But in calling for a cautious, phased deployment of U.S. troops, he often clashed with one of his fellow second-tier rivals, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, accusing him of pushing for an irresponsible, hasty withdrawal.
At a time when Biden and Richardson both were trying to scramble back toward the top tier of the race, the Delaware Senator picked fights with Richardson at back-to-back, nationally-televised debates.
And at times, he also took aim at Obama’s relative lack of experience, saying “the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”
Biden is no stranger to rough-and-tumble politics. In 1988, his first bid for president was derailed by revelations – first reportedly spread by a rival campaign – that he had plagiarized the words of British Labour leader Neil Kinnock. (Biden’s defenders have said he attributed the words to Kinnock in the past. But when he repeated the words without credit, the damage could not be contained.)
Twenty years later, one of Biden’s specialties is verbal counter-attacks. After more than 35 years in the U.S. Senate, he uses an encyclopedic knowledge of foreign policy issues like a blunt instrument, and is known to answer even the most simple questions with long speeches filled with obscure facts and constant name-dropping of key players from the world’s hot spots.
His verbosity is legendary. Just search the Internet for Biden’s name and the term “bloviating” – a term he has embraced as a badge of courage.
On the campaign trail, his sense of humor is on frequent display.
At one debate last year, he was confronted with a complex, multi-part question about the past plagiarism case and charges that his “uncontrolled verbosity” has made him a “gaffe machine.” Because of that, he was asked if he had the “discipline” to be commander in chief.
“Yes,” Biden deadpanned, and stood silent while a rumble of laughter spread through the audience.
With Biden’s selection, a big unanswered question is whether the Democratic ticket, Obama-Biden, will be embraced by fans of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who were holding out hope for the so-called “dream ticket,” Obama-Clinton.
In the early primaries, Biden never came close to breaking into the so-called “top tier” with Obama, Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards.
In the first caucus state of Iowa, Biden was forced to acknowledge his difficulties raising money and in one surprising moment during an IowaPolitics.com candidate forum, he apologized to his supporters for a “slow start.”
Biden has never been shy about displaying emotion on the stump. During his presidential bid last year, one of his television ads showed Biden staring into the camera and told the story of seeing a military transport plane turned into “a cathedral” when it was carrying the flag-draped coffins of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.
“All I could think of was the parents waiting at the other end,” Biden said. “We must end this war in a way that doesn’t require sending their grandchildren back.”
The Iraq war issue has become personal for Biden in recent days. One of his sons, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, serves in an Army National Guard unit that is scheduled to deploy to Iraq later this year.
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August 23, 2008
8:23 a.m.
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rickg19611 writes:
Joe Biden says it best....
About Obama... "the presidency is not something that lends itself to on the job training"
About McCain... "I was be honored to run WITH or against McCain because the country would be better off"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPq...
August 23, 2008
8:24 a.m.
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timeandagain writes:
Joe Biden IS Washington DC. And this represents "Change"???
Also, after BO shook everyone down for their cell phone numbers and emails to "text" people with his selection, the "news" was old by the time they got around to doing it!
Now BO doesn't represent "change" OR something we can "believe in"!
New slogan:
BO - Something really stinks!
August 23, 2008
8:25 a.m.
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danirobi writes:
Haha, great pick Obama! Biden does not have a good record, not to mention that whole plagrisim thing un the 80's and racist comments he made about Indian Americans "working in 7-Elevens"...
August 23, 2008
8:32 a.m.
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hikingartist writes:
Good morning cry babies! No one Obama picked would have satisfied you anyway, so you might as well waste the rest of your day belly aching about it.
August 23, 2008
8:53 a.m.
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KW writes:
Here's what Biden thought of being VP a few short months ago:
"I am not running for vice president," he said in a Fox interview. "I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I'd rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president."
And also very telling is this: "Biden is seeking a new Senate term in the fall. There was no immediate word on whether he intended to change plans as he reaches for national office."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/...
But the best part was in the first AP release explaining how the Biden leak happened in the first place:
"The (Democratic) official who spoke on condition of anonymity, preferring not to preempt the text-messaging announcement the Obama campaign promised for today."
How stupid can one be to think leaking the story "anonymously" would somehow prevent it from "preempting" the announcement?
August 23, 2008
8:55 a.m.
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rickg19611 writes:
Brilliant!
Claim to be for change, so you pick a career politician who has been in office since you were 11 years old!
Claim to be ready for office, so you pick a candidate that is on video publicly admitting that you are NOT ready for office!
Claim to be a better choice than McCain, so you pick a candidate that is on video publicly admitting that McCain is better for the country than you!
Claim that those who say you lack experience are wrong, so you pick a candidate to boost your experience, proving that even you know you lack the required experience!
What next? Picking a candidate that your own party rejected overwhelmingly multiple times, or one that has been proven to be shadey by having plagiarism scandals in his past?
Oh wait... he is that too!
Obama must have been drunk when he picked that retread!!!!
August 23, 2008
9:09 a.m.
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KYJurisDoctor writes:
Joe Biden appears to be an EXCELLENT pick for Barack Obama, except for his "loose lips"!
And John McCain's new ad using Joe Biden's words against Barack Obama HURTS. Ouch!
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2008/0...
August 23, 2008
9:13 a.m.
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KW writes:
Wow. AP wires seem to change at the drop of a hat. The pieces I cut and pasted are no longer showing at my earlier link. Here's the NY Times AP version.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washi...
Maybe this one won't change so quickly.
It appears each time AP makes a new release of the story, they keep editing out anything negative about Biden or the leak.
August 23, 2008
9:20 a.m.
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navymom writes:
This from the AP: "Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator."
Joe Biden's blue-collar roots are that his father was a car salesman. Senator Biden, himself, is a college graduate with degrees in history, political science and law. He worked for a very short time as an attorney, not exactly blue collar, before being elected to the senate at 29, being sworn in at 30, the earliest age possible to be a senator, and spending the rest of his life in Washington, DC., again not exactly blue collar. He has now been in the Senate more than half of his life. Now there is nothing wrong with being a college graduate, an attorney or a senator but don't try to pass someone off as blue collar who has never been blue collar except for the time he spent as a child in his parents home.
This from the candidate who promises Change We Can Believe In.
hikingartist, I am not bellyaching, I am celebrating. This is just one more piece of evidence that Obama is not change but just another politician. I am also celebrating because he just hand all kinds of ammunition to the other side because of Joe Biden's long record of being long winded and saying things that will come back to haunt him, such as "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
August 23, 2008
9:33 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
Navymom: "Now there is nothing wrong with being a college graduate, an attorney or a senator but don't try to pass someone off as blue collar who has never been blue collar except for the time he spent as a child in his parents home."
Well, in all fairness, the passage you cited did mention his blue collar "roots." Wouldn't one's childhood qualify?
August 23, 2008
9:34 a.m.
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ItsJustme writes:
Neil Kinnock, if he was an American citizen, would vote against Biden.
August 23, 2008
9:36 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
I find it odd that those who are accusing Obama's VP pick as too experienced in politics are the same ones who say that Obama isn't experienced enough (despite the fact he served eight years as a State Senator, taught Constitutional law, and has served as a US senator for almost two terms.)
At least be honest and just focus on their policy issues you disagree with, because your arguments about experience are now running contrary to each other.
August 23, 2008
9:37 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
Terrific post, Big D!
August 23, 2008
9:41 a.m.
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navymom writes:
Big_D, you believe that things happen because of planning. Barak Obama promised "."we are the change we've been looking for"..."the system in Washington is broken" and it would not be "politics as usual". Then he gives you Joe Biden who is Mr. Washington DC, serving in Washington longer than, at the AP says, "half of all Americans have been alive. Longer than McCain."
Joe Biden is Washington, DC.
August 23, 2008
9:44 a.m.
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KW writes:
So now the left is ok with having an "angry old man" in the white house?
August 23, 2008
9:53 a.m.
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navymom writes:
mytwosense, you are correct in it mentioning his "blue collar roots" but the belief that someone who has spent over half of his life in the senate, longer than half of all Americans have been alive, will help get the blue collar vote just because his father was a car salesman is, in my opinion, wishful thinking. I give the blue collar workers like myself, my husband, and most of my family and friends a little more credit. I believe that they will all take a look at what Barak Obama says, watch what he does in contradiction to what he says, compare that to John McCain words and actions, and make a decision based upon those things and their personal belief system.
I still think that the Biden choice hands a gift to the McCain camp because of his comments about Obama and McCain and his being the epitomy of Washington DC politics.
I think I just had an epiphany! Obama/Biden is the perfect democratic ticket to hand the election to John McCain!
August 23, 2008
9:57 a.m.
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me2 writes:
Love the "coincidence" post. Always nice to see something original on these tired old threads.
I have liked Biden for years, and this really does balance the ticket.
August 23, 2008
10:16 a.m.
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ItsJustme writes:
Yes, me2, perfect balance: an inexperienced political newcomer tied to an entrenched lifelong political hack.
August 23, 2008
10:24 a.m.
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GetReal writes:
What a perfect pick to complement Obama!
This ticket now features the two most angry, arrogant Dem windbags this country has ever seen.
And watch how the links to the many Biden racial gaffes suddenly disappear as the liberally dominated media scramble to provide cover for the foolish choice made by their annotated one.
This is just another example of an executive decision being above Obama's "pay grade", and a sign of desperation that will do nothing but highlight Barrack's inexperience even more.
What the hell was Obama's brain (David Axelrod and George Soros) thinking?
The Washington Post just released a poll clearly showing the Biden pick does absolutely nothing for Obama-
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behi...
BTW,
There are already "journalists" who suggest Bidens racial comments will actually HELP HIM. I kid you not-
JOHN HARWOOD of CNBC/NYT:
"He is not somebody who is infused with political correctness, the verbal equivalent of putting his pinky up when he opens his mouth. So this is what, the way ordinary voters are as well. They're not always worried about sort of calibrating every single word by "ooh, is this racially insensitive?" That's something that Joe Biden brings as an asset to the ticket. The gaffes actually show one of his strengths."
Unbelievable.
Does anyone remember the MSM suggesting that Repub George Allen's macaca comment was actually a strength?
They played that on a 24/7 news loop effectively drumming him straight out of the election.
But for Biden, racist comments are a positive.
If anything, this election has exposed the Media for what they are, Democrat cheerleaders.
August 23, 2008
10:26 a.m.
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dilligaf writes:
navymom
Do we have to run a few tapes of what Bush said about McSame in 2000? You must not be that old of a mom or you haven't payed attension during camaigning. They all drill on each other. That is how you win elections. Biden knows that he can still give McSame compliments. But knows that don't make him qualified for the job.
August 23, 2008
10:35 a.m.
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bluffan writes:
Biden was right all along: Barack Obama is a "storybook" candidate.
Unfortunately, he tells one story, but lives another. His choice of Biden -- the consummate Washington insider -- shows that his ambition far surpasses his rhetoric. As was already apparent, "change" and "hope" are merely campaign slogans unabashedly employed to win an election.
After the preceding 8 years of deceit and subterfuge, my hope was that we'd at least get a candidate whose success with voters depends on his/her authenticity as leader and human being.
To be perfectly honest, my sense is that on that score, McCain has an edge on Obama.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think Obama is a worse choice for president than McCain. To the rest of the world, Obama's face alone sends a powerful message that America can move beyond the racism that once defined it. At this particular time in our history, even the mere symbolism of having an African-American family in the White House would help repair our moral standing in the world.
But if we're truly looking for "change" -- a move away from the corrosive militarism, consumerism and classism that have increasingly defined our recent history -- then both McCain and Obama leave much to be desired.
August 23, 2008
10:40 a.m.
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GetReal writes:
KW 9:13-
The MSM may try to hide it,
But it's all in McCain's new ad, complete with actual video of Biden Bi*chslapping Barrack-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPq...
August 23, 2008
10:46 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
bluffan: "But if we're truly looking for "change" -- a move away from the corrosive militarism, consumerism and classism that have increasingly defined our recent history -- then both McCain and Obama leave much to be desired."
Agreed. Just because I'm writing some supportive comments about Obama's pic doesn't mean I'm necessarily voting for him. Frankly, I really want to write in Kucinich or vote for Nader, but once again, it's a matter of a wasted vote if I go with who I truly think is best for this country.
August 23, 2008
10:51 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
navymom: "mytwosense, you are correct in it mentioning his "blue collar roots" but the belief that someone who has spent over half of his life in the senate, longer than half of all Americans have been alive, will help get the blue collar vote just because his father was a car salesman is, in my opinion, wishful thinking. I give the blue collar workers like myself, my husband, and most of my family and friends a little more credit."
Well...I suspect a good portion at least of the blue collar vote won't think someone who can't even remember how many houses he owns has an inkling of the real problems they're struggling with. McCain simply doesn't live in that world. Granted, neither does Obama anymore, but at least he's been there. McCain never has.
August 23, 2008
10:55 a.m.
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KW writes:
GetReal - I was just at the McCain website viewing that one and the one comparing Obama to Moses. Too funny!
"Do we have to run a few tapes of what Bush said about McSame in 2000?" --dilligaf
"The Bush campaign called McCain mentally incompetent and dangerously unstable" --big_d
These are both feable and failed attempts at drawing a parallel to what Biden himself has said about Obama. McCain is NOT picking Bush to be his running mate. Get it?
Nice try though.
August 23, 2008
11:10 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
About Biden's so-called racist comments. Maybe he did mean them with racist intent, I really don't know. But, I do know that in political speak, "Clean" means relatively untouched by scandal.
On a personal anti-PC side rant, I am tired of having to omit the word "Articulate" if using it as a compliment towards someone who is black. Whether you're white, black, green, red, or blue, if you're "articulate," in my book that means you have a gift for communicating yourself with compelling clarity.
August 23, 2008
11:19 a.m.
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FCZ writes:
Will Barack now call on the University of Illinois to release all of the records they are currently withholding to shed further light on Senator Obama’s relationship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers?
at whose home Obama’s political career was reportedly launched. Mr. Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground, a terrorist group responsible for countless bombings against targets including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and numerous police stations, courthouses and banks. In recent years, Mr. Ayers has stated, ‘I don’t regret setting bombs … I feel we didn’t do enough.’
August 23, 2008
11:26 a.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
BLOGGING FROM TAOS. Had to get out of Denver. The vibes of New Mexico are holy. Denver this moment feels like a Leni Riefenstahl film.
Joe Biden is loud and impotent and impudent. His mouth will build the lead back for about a month, then he'll become impatient the whole nation doesn't buy his irrefutable logic. He was chosen to smooth over Hillary's "people."
MyTwoSense---Blue collar? A car salesman who sticks makes six figures.
August 23, 2008
12:03 p.m.
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peterclarke writes:
Finally the Junior Senator has a much needed gray haired dude for a mentor and the American voters, unlike the media pundits, have known all along, that this election is NOT about the economy stupid. It is about Obamas credentials and 4 years of inexperience of a Junior Senator Barack Hussein Obama. It is not the time for, another equal opportunity program, of on the job training. …PS Canada has had universal (socialized) health care for more than 20 years, with the results being a very serious backlog for services and very, very costly to the taxpayers. PS Canada has had a universal (socialized) health care system for more than 20 years and the results have produced a serious backlog in availability of services and very, very costly to the taxpayers. Keep smiling....
August 23, 2008
12:12 p.m.
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I_Slay_The_Dragon writes:
Indeed, the Leader, who will bring The Americas to unsurpassable
levels of Greatness:
1. In Springfield, today
2. Is from Dover, Deleware
3. A ROYAL celebration, in Denver
GOD, is GREATER!
August 23, 2008
12:25 p.m.
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danirobi writes:
Change we can believe in? How about just continuing the status que?
Go McCain!
August 23, 2008
12:28 p.m.
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GetReal writes:
FCZ 11:19-
More on the revealing and unflattering Ayers/Obama Annenberg papers, and the concerted effort by Barrack and the Dems to keep them sealed-
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jacob-s-...
Where is the MSM on this one?
August 23, 2008
12:53 p.m.
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WHATRIGHTS writes:
bluffans and mytwosense, agreed with you morning posts. May we the people please have a third choice...????
August 23, 2008
12:54 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Here in New Mexico are make-shift crosses on the highway every 100 feet. Some intersections have several. No other state has so many remembrances of DWI deaths, except Northern Arizona and Southwest South Dakota. As a nation --and nations within this nation-- we're preparing to elect the pro-substance abuse and the pro-genocide party. The irony, it will be led by pro-abortion Roman Catholic Joe Biden. Our experience of genocide and abortion are the same, from the same people. You think you can divorce your genocide from your infanticide; your substance abuse from your missing conscience?
August 23, 2008
1:22 p.m.
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navymom writes:
rick_e_bear, term limits is not a new idea, just one that has never passed. To enact term limits requires a constitutional amendment, which was proposed in the mid-1990's under a republican house, but defeated. It could be proposed by two thirds of state legislatures calling for a constitutional convention, but it hasn't. I don't foresee it happening any time soon.
mytwosense, say what you will and only quote part of my post, but I still give blue collar people enough credit to look at issues and where the candidates stand, what they say and what they do, and then make informed decisions.
The fact is that I do not want universal health care, my taxes raised, or my small business being forced into giving benefits to well paid employees at the expense of my ability to pay bills.
BTW, even Obama just introduced "the next president, the next vice-president of the United States Joe Biden". What a riot, even he even believes that Joe Biden is more presidential than he is. This slip of the tongue will get some airplay, I would suspect.
August 23, 2008
1:44 p.m.
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watcher1 writes:
Great. Get ready for more war and to be poorer. Way to go OBAMA.
August 23, 2008
2:03 p.m.
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badbob writes:
Another 35 year "Public Trough" feeder!
August 23, 2008
2:58 p.m.
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Scorphitman writes:
Hmmm. a East Coast Washington insider. Great pick. The Demoncrats just lost independents and southern Democrats. I wonder if old "Bad Hair Plugs" Joe will be bunking at the Marriot City Center with Obama?
August 23, 2008
3 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Biden will beat his own ticket as he has twice before. But I hope you all understand, the choice of Biden is a measure of Obama's lack of confidence in himself.
August 23, 2008
3:04 p.m.
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GypsyMan writes:
Obama and Biden have some stark policy differences that McCain will exploit. I know he didn't want a yes man but I think he ended up with a no man.
Not WRIGHT for America has a hilarious spoof post about Obama debating Biden instead of McCain. www.notwrightforamerica.com. I think that sums up the problems with the Biden pick.
August 23, 2008
9:16 p.m.
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rickg19611 writes:
Readers have a choice.... read Sprengelmeyer's opinion piece (inaccurately listed under "News" section rather than "Opinion" where it belongs), or they can read what the American people are saying instead.....
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/publi...
Only 39% of Americans consider it a good choice.
Independents are 8% points more likely to say this makes LESS likely to vote for Obama than for him.
Even Democrat women repudiate the nonsense that Sprengelmeyer is spewing with only 43% supporting Obama's blunder.
August 24, 2008
8:58 a.m.
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mytwosense writes:
navymom: "mytwosense, say what you will and only quote part of my post, but I still give blue collar people enough credit to look at issues and where the candidates stand, what they say and what they do, and then make informed decisions."
I'm sorry, I honestly wasn't trying to cherry-pick your post. Just in the interest of brevity to make my own point about which candidate is more in touch with blue-collar folks, I quoted the initial part of that paragraph.
August 24, 2008
9:45 p.m.
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navymom writes:
mytwosense, apology accepted. I really don't know if Obama has been there or not. We don't know what his living conditions were like. We do know that he went to an exclusive private school. How do we know he ever struggled like the rest of us?