Saturday, August 23, 2008

For Biden, Silence Would Have Been Golden!

When someone once coined the phrase "The Mouth From The South," they were talking about Ted Turner. However, they obviously kept that statement regionalized because they must have known that Joe Biden held that honor in the Northeast and in the United States Senate. Biden is probably the king of gaffes in the Senate. Now, Obama has saddled-up with that old horse as his V.P. on the ticket. The real question will be whether or not Team Obama can keep Biden's jaws from blurting out an almost endless stream of stupid remarks.

Probably the two most near-racist gaffes of Biden's life were: (1) “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.” and (2) when talking about Barack Obama he said: "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." So, Mr. Obama, where's all that racial harmony you have talked about? Both these comments by Biden tend to stereotype old-time racial beliefs. Certainly, having Biden on his team and with comments like the above, Barack Obama must know that he will never, ever, be able to throw racial mud at McCain's campaign. With Biden's past comments on race, any mud that Obama throws will just fly right back into Obama's face. So, effectively, the racial arrow in Obama's quiver (that he had used so effectively against Hillary and Bill Clinton) has been literally buried with the selection of Joe Biden.

Also, where is all the "change" that Obama talks about. Biden has spent the last 35 years in the Senate. While not necessarily a dinosaur of the Senate, he's probably only one generation up from that. Only 5 other senators have served longer. He's a guy who believes in all those old-time Democratic ideas. No change there!

As far as the war in Iraq goes, Biden represents the same Senatorial stance that Obama hammered Hillary Clinton on during the primaries. Biden voted for the war. How does Obama square that with his own campaign ideal that he was against the war from the start?

Barack Obama just recently declared that he wanted a person on his ticket that could be the President; if need be. Joe Biden ran for the Presidency twice: in 1988 and 2008. In both cases, Biden failed, miserably, to get the nomination because the people of his own political party decided that he wasn't qualified to be president. Now, Obama thinks he is?

Lastly, by picking Biden, Obama just highlighted every weakness that he, himself, has in becoming president. Biden represents the age and experience that Obama doesn't have. Biden has the expertise in foriegn affairs and foriegn policy that Obama doesn't have. On the flip side, Obama has the hair that Biden doesn't have.

Joe Biden represents a complete contradiction from what Obama has been preaching over his long, long campaign. Unless Obama is completely willing to default to Biden on foriegn affairs, like some puppet being controlled from behind the scenes, Biden's experience isn't going to translate into a more experienced Barack Obama. Also, Biden will be such a rich source of almost laughable ammunition for the McCain campaign.

You've really got to question the judgment that Mr. Obama used in selecting Biden as his V.P. choice!

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