Saturday, August 23, 2008
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Biden Undermines Obama's FP
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
8:42 AM
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Joe voted for the Iraq war, just like Hillary and everybody else did. Obama bashed Hillary on this over and over again through the primaries and yet Obama picks a VP, based on his FP experience, who did the same? This doesn't make sense.
Unlike Hillary, Biden, like John Edwards, has said his war vote was a "mistake." Does Obama think that lets Biden off the hook?
Other thoughts: Joe has a lot of FP experience. Doesn't that highlight Obama's inexperience? The AP says it shows "a lack of confidence" on Obama's behalf and that Biden, who comes with more than 3 decades worth of Washington work under his belt, undermines Obama's "change" message. Does the Biden pick mean Obama's foreign policy would be run out of the VP shop? Is there any chance Biden would execute Obama's marching orders for global affairs business Biden didn't truly agree with Obama on?
Update: I'm going to compile a list of quotes/mailers/press releases of Obama slamming Hillary for her war vote. I think Obama should have to explain why Biden's different.
#1: "This is not just about the past, it's about the future. Voters need to judge us on the judgments we've made and the lessons we've learned. Sen. Clinton has not said her vote was a mistake, she's simply blamed the civilian and military leader that carried out the policies she authorized. If you don't know why Iraq met the threshold for war, how can she know what that threshold will be in the future? When I'm president, the buck will stop with the Oval Office."
#2 Obama mailer against Hillary's war vote.
#3: "I think very highly of Sen. Clinton, I think she's a wonderful senator from New York, and I think highly of Bill Clinton, but I think it is fair to say that we had a fundamentally different opinion on the wisdom of this war," said Obama. "I don't think we can revise history when it comes to that."
#4: "I think what is irresponsible and naive is to have authorized a war without asking how we were going to get out," Obama said
#5: Calls it a "big strategic blunder," equivalent to "driving a bus into a ditch" and shows Hillary was "ready to give into George Bush on day one on this critical issue." (Warning, there's filthy Bill Mahr footage in this clip, too.)
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a "yes" man as his VP; however, that doesn't mean Obama won't be saying "yes, man" when he takes orders from Biden. |
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So Biden will be to Barrack what the Dems say Cheney is to Bush. Ha. Biden will be running the WH because Barry is too inexperienced to know what he is doing. Biden is the grownup. LOL
Who will the Dems pick as the next Karl Rove? I can't wait to see. And this would all be "change"? |
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this issue will serve to irritate the Clinton supporters even more as will the fact that Obama failed to even consider her. So Obama has failed the "first do no harm" rule of picking a VP. |
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Biden is to Cheney what a poodle is to a rottweiler. When job number one is security of the nation I don't want an attack poodle involved thanks.
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Biden is a great choice for a zillion reasons. However, as usual, Andrew Sullivan puts it best. Why does a Brit understand US politics better than anyone else on the entire "Internets"?
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The biggest emerging problem with the Obama campaign is Obama's reluctance, lack of talent and lack of will to get into lively, feisty, pissing matches with his opponent. This was brought home in the Saddleback forum. What he needs is a plucky, fun, free-wheeling attack machine, with the necessary gravitas to express adequate contempt for the Bush administration's fatally misguided foreign policy without in any way seeming defensive.
Two further quotes:
"I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history — maybe ever. ... Every single thing they’ve touched has been a near-disaster."
And this:
"Rudy Giuliani... I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else!"
I have to say his inability to shut up drives me up the wall. But there's also an appealing lack of guile to the man; he wears his flaws like his hair-plugs - out and proud. And, yes, his foreign policy assuredness cannot hurt. He's a Senator who doesn't just call foreign leaders; they call him. Obama is wise not to under-estimate the understandable worries about his foreign policy inexperience at a time of this much danger for the world.
How the chemistry works, I don't know. Whether Biden can help rally white working class Democrats, as David Brooks suggested, I do not know. Delaware is not exactly Pennsylvania or Ohio. But this was a pick that also demonstrates Obama's ability to bring genuinely independent voices into his inner circle and harness experience greater than his.
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"Joe voted for the Iraq war, just like Hillary and everybody else did. Obama bashed Hillary on this over and over again through the primaries and yet Obama picks a VP, based on his FP experience, who did the same? This doesn't make sense."
Kind of like the GOP allowing the Dem voters to nominate Shoeless John as their candidate after he orchestrated the November 2006 disaster. Dumbest presidential campaign ever. Nothing but lightweights and scoundrels as far as the eye can see.
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I was not writing it as a literal comparison. It was a parody of the Dems. I know Biden cannot hold a candle to Cheney. |
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That you think a foreigner understands our politics better than the "internets" tells us all we need to know. I'm sure the Brits would be glad to have you. |
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"Career Senators of similar professional stature"....except only one of them has spent his career "borrowing" from others.
Neil Kinnock was unavailable for comment.
They don't call him Slow-Joe for nothing.
Yur getting even more hysterical girl. Too funny.
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Biden is a great choice. He is the 2nd best attack dog the Democrats have.
And PS to Goat & Jim P: Andrew Sullivan is now a US citizen. |
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Thanks for the info. Keeping up with naturalized liberal journalists is not one of my pastimes. |
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I'm sure, very soon now, we'll hear that Team Obama's plan is for Obama to enter a medically induced coma every time a problem arises that demands foreign policy experience. |
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