Joe Joe Biden, your life is calling…
But six months after Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) ended his long-shot presidential campaign, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee appears to be in serious competition to be Barack Obama’s running mate. A rather interesting choice - considering Biden got less than 1% of the vote in Iowa, and although a permanent Presidential candidate (beginning back in 1988), he rarely gets more than 5% of the vote nationally.
But as I and others have pointed out - electoral “prowess” is rarely a characteristic of vice presidential hopefuls. The only VP choice to actually deliver any delegates was Lyndon Johnson. Instead, Obama’s calculus in choosing Biden (if indeed he does chose him) may lie in the calculus about his ability to campaign, and is experience and persona having been the 6th longest serving Senator in the United States.
I understand the appeal of picking “Joe” from a campaign stance. During the primaries, Obama had a difficult time winning over white Catholic voters, garnering only 34 percent support from this group in Ohio and only 28 percent in Pennsylvania, according to exit polls. Biden is not the only Catholic frequently mentioned as a VP possibility, but Biden comes across as a “just-plain-Joe” political style and a heart-rending personal history — his wife and infant daughter died in a car crash just a month after he was elected to the Senate in 1972. As a senator, Biden took the train to Wilmington virtually every night to be with his two surviving sons. He often talks about, on shows like Meet the Press, conversations he has with Delaware citizens while waiting for the train.
Biden is plain spoken, and outspoken. A routine feature on Meet the Press, Biden has been all over the place in terms of policy (supporting Democrats and Republicans, and criticizing them when it pleases him). Biden is for Democrats what Newt was for Republicans - the ideas man, and the guy who would (and usually did) tell you what was on his mind.
Biden is also thought to plug the “hole” in Obama’s ability to understand and effectively manage foreign policy. While I think this is ultimately a killer issue - for some, Biden’s nomination will be seen as providing balance in this regard to the ticket. I’d argue that if Obama were elected President, nothing would have prohibited him from consulting with Biden even as a Senator; further, Vice Presidents rarely conduct substantive foreign policy. That said, I will say that it would be hard, if not impossible, to find someone who knows more about foreign policy, than Joe Biden. Thus, if the goal was to find someone with Foreign Policy experience - Biden is the top of the list.
Biden is not without his problems. In 1987, Biden quit the Democratic primary race early after the revelation that he had delivered, without attribution, passages from a speech by British Labor party leader Neil Kinnock. A barrage of subsidiary revelations by the press also hammered Biden’s image: a serious plagiarism incident from his law-school years, boastful exaggerations of his academic record at a New Hampshire campaign event, and the discovery of other quotations in Biden’s speeches pilfered from past Democratic politicians.
In the post-Clinton era, plagiarism may seem like small potatoes. Obama had is own “Biden Moment” (as it was called) with respect to some of his speeches and it hardly registered. However, with Biden, is a recurring theme that has given both comedians and the Press ample fodder for making fun of him and it has been a character issue that has dogged Biden since 1988. Obama may not want to have his first nomination pick be someone who has any real “hot button” issues. It is hard to find someone with Biden’s experience, who doesn’t have some problems with his past. Biden is an interesting mix of both tribulation and triumph.
In his 30 years in the Senate, Biden has established a reputation for being a vocal, often funny (I usually have laughed watching him), reliable Democratic partisan, with an almost obsessive enthusiasm for train travel. At times, his shoot-from-the-hip style can look direct and bold, like in 1992, when Biden reportedly told Slobodan Milosevic to his face that he was “a damned war criminal and should be tried as one.”
Of course, at other times, it also can make Biden look like a lunatic. According to The New Republic, in October 2001, Biden encountered a group of airline pilots and flight attendants who wanted his help in passing emergency benefits for laid-off airline workers. “I hope you will support my work on Amtrak as much as I have supported you,” Biden told them. “If not, I will screw you badly.” Or similarly, in response to a question on the campaign trail in 2006, Biden was videotaped saying, “In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”
Choosing Biden for Obama may ultimately boil down to a logic that Bush used in choosing Cheney. Ultimately, the best and most successful Vice President seems to be one who is capable of doing the job of President, but doesn’t necessarily want to (or can’t otherwise become) President. Cheney had no intention of succeeding Bush, thus, he could march lock-step with him in terms of policy management, without having to worry about the political ramifications for a run after 8 years. Similarly, Biden has reached the end of his political career. He can either stay in the Senate or retire - but it is unlikely he will ever ascend to the Presidency in his own right. Another run for Joe Biden in 2012 seems unlikely, as he will be 73 (older than McCain is now - the oldest person to seek the office). Thus, if Obama is looking for “his Cheney,” Biden is probably as good as it will get.
I can also see other reasons why he may want to pick Biden. The reality is, whoever the next President is, Congress is going to want to drive the train faster on many issues than the President. Even if Obama is facing a Democrat majority Congress, he may not agree to the Pelosi plan of when and how to do it. Obama will learn what every President eventually learns - the last guy before you wasn’t a complete moron, there were some real problems you just can’t escape as President, and the campaign isn’t the same as governing. Thus, having a guy like Biden, who can legitimately put the breaks on Congress the way Cheney did, would probably be in Obama’s interest.
Finally, unless you’ve been living under a rock for 30 years - chances are you know Joe Biden. In terms of appointing someone who has been at the national level - it would be hard for Obama to find someone more qualified.
I personally think that the Biden “advantage” that pundits are talking up is overplayed. Biden will be debating the other Vice Presidential candidate, and not McCain. The reality is Obama will have to show he can function on the world stage - not Joe Biden. For Biden, however, this appointment probably will be the cherry on the whipped cream of a rather long and distinguished career - thus, I suspect he’s likely to take the opportunity.
… so Joe Joe… if the call comes, will you say yes? We’ll probably know in the next 24-48 hours.
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Most of the major media outlets find it impossible to publish a story about McCain which doesn’t include the phrase “war hero” in it somewhere. If you know anything about John McCain, it’s that he’s a war hero. But is he?
McCain’s reputation as a war hero rests on the sum total of 20 hours in combat. That’s right. McCain spent only 20 hours in combat in the entire war. He flew 23 missions. He got 28 medals. In other words, he got more medals than he had missions. Not bad. It should be noted that none of McCain’s medals related to anything he did in combat. They were given for the supposed bravery he displayed after he had been shot down and captured.
It’s appropriate to ask whether McCain’s shoot-down was caused by bad luck or simple incompetence on his part. Of course, there is no way to answer definitively. But we can form an assessment based on the rest of McCain’s military record. At the Naval Academy, McCain graduated almost bottom of his class. He was 790th out of 795. McCain lost many aircraft over the course of his military career – five in total. Most pilots who lost aircraft at the rate McCain did would have been kicked out of the service. But McCain had protection from up on high. His father was an admiral. He was an untouchable. So McCain blundered his way through his military career until he was finally shot down.
McCain claims that he was tortured while in custody. There were no other American witnesses to this torture and some former POWs doubt that it happened at all. In fact, McCain himself admitted in a 1973 interview with the magazine US News and World Report that he volunteered to give military information in return for medical treatment, even before being subjected to any torture.
There are two ways to look at the torture claims. Either McCain is lying about it – in which case he’s unfit to be president; or he’s telling the truth – in which case he’s unfit to be president. Why? Because torture is one of those experiences, like being abused as a child, which inflicts permanent psychological damage.
Many of America’s veterans from the Korean and Vietnamese wars suffered lingering psychological trauma from their wartime experience. The rate is even higher among former prisoners of war (POWs). One study found that 85% of POWs who had been tortured experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Was McCain one of the 85% or was he one of the lucky 15%?
There is every reason to suspect that McCain suffered deep-seated psychological trauma while a prisoner of war. He himself says that he was “reduced to an animal” and “broken”. He signed confessions – “I am a black criminal and have performed the deeds of an air pirate” - and made broadcasts denouncing his own country and its actions in the war. In fact, so great was his propensity to tell his captors what they wanted to hear, that, in the camp, McCain acquired the name of “Songbird”.
Bear in mind that McCain’s medals were awarded for resisting torture. Yet where was the resistance? Perhaps it is this gulf between the perception and the reality of John McCain that explains why so many Vietnam veterans’ groups openly despise him.
However much pity we might feel for a prisoner of war subjected to such intense pressures, the record is clear : McCain was no war hero. He was, rather, a coward, an incompetent, a collaborator and a traitor
Interesting discussion… too bad it’s completely wrong.
Not to mention off topic.
I like your blog and am going to add you to my blogroll over at http://autorotatesflyingcircus.blogspot.com Always good to find some conservatives!
It will be interesting to see if their will be a mass exodus at the convention if Silary isn’t nominated VP.
Autorotates last blog post..Barack Obama’s Next Historic, Orgasmic, Piss-In-Your-Pants Speech at http://autorotatesflyingcircus.blogspot.com.
I have been told tonight that Secret Service is protecting Biden….
Sounds like he’s the pick…
“Obama will learn what every President eventually learns - the last guy before you wasn’t a complete moron, there were some real problems you just can’t escape as President, and the campaign isn’t the same as governing.”
Don’t you think that most nominees are intelligent enough to understand this fact? You make it seem as if some random Joe Schmoe just decides to be president, wins the election, and then sits in the oval office astounded by the fact that he has so much responsibility.
RBVs last blog post..“God made me this way.” at http://www.roastbeefvag.com/theflapper.
In a word - no. I don’t think most nominees understand that at all.
If you will recall - Clinton wanted to reform all types of budgetary processes and spending. He campaigned on it. When he won - he was Super Hero President staying up 20 hours a day trying to fix the budget.
He learned that the Power of Appropriations lies in Congress - a process that can’t be readily fixed. In the end - after chastizing Bush for raising taxes - what did Mr. Clinton do… raise taxes. He even had to do it retroactively - if you’ll recall.
And with Bush - he was Mr. Isolationist when campaigning. Didn’t want to be the world’s policeman. Well - we certainly changed our tune on that - didn’t we.
In short - I think candidates and their campaigns after awhile believe their own rhetoric. Many of them do not appreciate the difficulties of executive governance. In this particular case - neither Obama or Biden have ever been responsible for executive governance… so I doubt that either one fully appreciates the problems that will need to be balanced once Obama sits (if he sits) in the big chair.
All of this applies to McCain as well.
The only people who can speak with some shred of legitimacy on the issue of “I know how to make the tough calls” would be a governor. However, governors don’t have to conduct foreign policy… and they also don’t have to face as Byzantine of an appropriations process as the President.
And as for “sits in the oval office astounded by the fact hat he has so much responsibility….”
Yeah - I’d say that adequately sums up how Clinton behaved the first two years in office…