[AGL] Just another conventional politician by Gil Troy

[Jon Ford]

That's a good analysis, Mike-- however,  I do think Biden would do a good job of gaveling the Senate to order.  That's about it though, and he's  not going to get more than a handful of voters to join the Obama bandwagon.

Jon F.


> From: mike.eisenstadt at gmail.com

> To: austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net

> Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:43:16 -0500

> Subject: [AGL] Just another conventional politician by Gil Troy

> 

> 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.

> 


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