[AGL] Just another conventional politician by Gil Troy

[Michael Eisenstadt]

It is possible that liberals, conservatives and centrists who are not 
blinded by Obamania may all be able to agree that Joe Biden was a terrible 
choice as a running mate. Despite his contempt for George W. Bush, Obama 
seemed to be channeling Bush's Cheney choice with this pick - trying to show 
that he really was not as inexperienced and unprepared as critics suggested. 
But Dick Cheney in 2000 had at least one thing over Joe Biden - Cheney had 
not just run a presidential nominating campaign that demonstrated how 
unpopular he was.

It was one of the interesting anomalies of the 2008 Democratic race. There 
were three Washington veterans with decades of experience who went 
absolutely nowhere during the campaign. Senator Joe Biden, Senator Chris 
Dodd, and Governor Bill Richardson failed to get any traction, despite 
decades of governing and countless days and nights of hobnobbing with 
Beltway insiders. The three frontrunners, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and 
Barack Obama had far better claims to outsider status - Edwards served only 
one term in the Senate, Clinton was just starting her second term, and 
Barack Obama was the most famous Senate freshman in decades.

Biden was a particular embarrassment on the campaign trail, shaming himself 
and his institution with his awkward, seemingly condescending remarks 
describing Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate 
and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." After winning 9,000 votes and 
finishing fifth in Iowa, Biden left the race, proving how little American 
voters are impressed by a three-decade Senatorial resume. Obama's ability to 
forgive Biden's gaffe suggests a personal grace and generosity that is nice 
to see in politics; but this choice may fuel questions about Obama's 
political and policy judgment.

Beyond this stunning - and recent - political failure, Biden's supposed 
foreign policy experience may alienate both liberals and conservatives. 
Liberals will note that, unlike Obama, Biden voted for the war in Iraq - 
just as Hillary Clinton and John McCain did. Thus, in the future, Obama will 
have to be a little more cautious when he mocks McCain's judgment about 
initially supporting the war.

At the same time, conservatives will note Biden's failure to support the 
surge. This suggests that for all the media hype about Biden's brilliance in 
overseas matters, he is just a conventional, finger-to-the-wind type, 
buffeted by the political trends of the moment. Holding fifty-plus Senate 
hearings and appearing repeatedly on Sunday morning television shows reveals 
a mastery of the Washington game not the intricacies of foreign affairs.

At the same time, centrists will mourn the fact that Joe Biden is neither a 
fresh face nor a bridge-builder. He lacks Obama's outsider credentials and 
McCain's track record in seeking bipartisan solutions. Biden is a good 
Democratic soldier, who has consistently stayed within party boundaries and 
helped create today's destructive, angry, overly-charged Washington 
quagmire. In fact - and this we are told is part of his appeal - Biden knows 
how to throw hard political punches, as demonstrated by his partisanship 
during the Robert Bork and Samuel Alito hearings.

Regarding the Middle East, Biden is equally conventional - and 
unimaginative. In a reflection of just how standard it remains to embrace 
Israel from both sides of the aisle, Biden has declared his love for the 
Jewish State as enthusiastically as anyone. The fact that he has declared "I 
am a Zionist," suggests that Zionism may be a less politically controversial 
term in the United States than in Israel itself.

But Biden has demonstrated no particular insight on the issue, beyond 
supporting "the peace process," in whatever form the Palestinians appear 
ready to accept. And the fact that he has been among the Senators least 
alarmed about Iran, most open to negotiating with the Mullahs, and voted 
against declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group is 
worrisome - and a reflection of the potential direction of an Obama-Biden 
administration.

To be fair, Biden seems to be a decent man who has demonstrated tremendous 
personal grit over the years. The poignant story of the tragic loss of his 
first wife and daughter in an automobile accident shortly before he entered 
the Senate, his ability to raise his two boys on his own and eventually 
start a new family, his comeback from two brain aneurysms, and his record of 
thirty years in Washington without a major scandal - or it seems, a big 
payday - are all extremely admirable. But virtue does not always guarantee 
votes - as George H.W. Bush learned when Bill Clinton defeated him in 1992.

In fact, speaking of Clinton, Obama would have done much better had he 
learned from Clinton in 1992. That year, amid doubts about Clinton's youth 
and inexperience, Clinton showed great moxie in refusing to nominate an 
elder statesman to compensate for his supposed weaknesses.

Instead, Clinton thrilled voters by choosing another young Southern 
politician, Al Gore. This vice-presidential choice reinforced Clinton's 
message of change; Obama's choice, unfortunately, muddied the waters, 
suggesting that, at the end of the day, 2008 is going to be another 
conventional campaign and Obama may be just another conventional politician, 
like his new best friend, Joe Biden.