Election 2008: Joe Biden as Vice President

It may be a while before vice presidential candidates for the Democratic party are announced, but names are swirling around. Joe Biden, senior U. S. senator and former Presidential candidate, may potentially be on the short list.

Who is Joe Biden?

If you are anything like me, the Democrat race was all about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Very few of the other early candidates even crossed my radar. Joe Biden is a rarity in the Senate. He is one of the longest serving senators not just from his state of Delaware, but also in the history of the Senate. He has held his post since his election in 1972 with only a few absences: one due to his wife and daughter's tragic deaths and the other due to a 7 month recuperation of two brain aneurysms.

Biden is no stranger to presidential campaigns. In 1984, he attempted a run for the highest office but failed to gain any real hope of winning. In 1988, he was considered to be the frontrunner for the party until a scandal overshadowed his campaign. While giving a stump speech in Iowa, he neglected to give credit to the speech's original author thus creating a plagiarism frenzy. Though he attempted to right the situation, the damage was done and Michael Dukakis became the party's candidate. When asked to join the race in 2004, Biden declined claiming he did not have the time to raise sufficient support. Instead, he encouraged John McCain to join John Kerry's campaign as his running mate. Biden said the joint ticket would help "heal the vicious rift dividing the U. S."¹

How Would Biden Hinder a Democrat Candidate?

Biden has a few strikes against him primarily because of comments he made early in the election. Though he has usually voted consistent with the Democratic party (97% of the time),² he has also come out strongly in favor of sending additional troops to Iraq. He has been critical of his party's position that the U. S. should pull troops from the unstable area.³ He said early in his campaign that "the next president of the United States, because of the policies of this president, is going to have no margin for error. I think I have the most experience there." He has also proposed ideas to find ways to settle the tensions and fighting in Iraq before pulling troops out.

Another reason he may not be a good fit for a Democratic candidate is that in describing Barack Obama, he mentioned that Obama was the first mainstream African American candidate who "is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."⁴ While that may sound like a compliment, Obama took offense firing back that Biden's comments were "obviously ...historically inaccurate. African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate."⁵ Biden's speaking-before-thinking seems to get him into trouble a lot. Later, he had to backtrack on statements he made regarding needing to speak with an Indian accent to get served in a Dunkin Donuts and sharply criticizing Hillary Clinton's proposal to cut funding for Iraqi security forces, calling it a "disaster."⁶

How Would Biden Assist a Democrat Candidate?

Joe Biden would bring a wealth of experience to the table. He has served longer in national politics than either Obama or Clinton. He has served on the U. S. Foreign Relations Committee as chairman and has also served on U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

While not necessarily agreeing with his party on everything, he does seem to tow the party line. He challenges when he deems it very important and appears to take a more moderate stand on issues. He would make a nice compliment to the more liberal candidates in the running.

I believe he could serve Clinton or Obama equally as well but perhaps Obama should consider him more strongly. Obama has little experience with foreign relations and Biden could bring a great deal of experience to the table. Obama is well-spoken in his comments and could most assuredly off-set any odd remarks from the sometimes not-so-eloquent Biden.

Sources:

¹http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4961694/

²http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/B000444/

³http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013100404.html

⁴http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013100404.html

⁵http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013100404.html

⁶http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013100404.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Joe_Biden.htm

http://biden.senate.gov/