January 31, 2007
What was Joe Biden Thinking? (Dick Morris)
On the night before he announced his second presidential bid, Biden gave an interview to The New York Observer and said:
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American
who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
It’s hard to come up with a benign — or even logical — explanation for his comment.
Was Biden dissing Jesse Jackson and Alan Keyes — Afro-Americans who preceded Obama as presidential candidates? Weren’t they all bright, articulate, and clean, too? And was he dissing Obama at the same time by calling him a clean black? Would he describe any other candidate that way?
Whatever he was doing, it looks like he’s still not ready for the big time. He’s jammed his own announcement statement!
Biden’s last presidential campaign crashed in 1988 after he admitted to plagiarizing in law school and to accusations that he was copying speeches and ads from foreign politicians. Since then, he’s developed a fine reputation for his work in foreign affairs. He has a lot to offer and no one would describe him as a racist.
But he clearly doesn’t understand how quickly, in the age of the Internet, a campaign can crash after one dumb comment.
Ask John Kerry. And George Allen. Their political graves are engraved with the epitaphs of their nutty comments.
And speaking of Obama … Recent commentaries comparing him with Bill Clinton and suggesting that it is he, and not Hillary, who is the heir to the New Democrat label that Clinton used in ‘92 underscore the fact that he is a stem cell — he can be whatever he wants.
8 Comments
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I actually agree with you on this one, Dick.
Comment by Joel Bloom — January 31, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
Who really took Biden seriously in the first place? Dick, you have got to start writing about relevant stuff soon or I'm gonna have to block your e-mails…you are welcome to come comment on my blog, though.
Comment by Bret White — January 31, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
It was only a matter of time before (a)anyone on the Hill said something ignorant about Obama…in the footsteps of Steve Doocy (why does he still have a job?), and (b)Biden attacked himself/imploded by forgetting it's 2007.
Comment by lbg — February 1, 2007 @ 11:03 am
Patronizing. This is the word. Biden suffers from liberal guilt and angst over the plight of the Negroes. When a black candidate comes along who looks and sounds almost white, he is both surprised and delighted that such a cherished liberal ideal has come to pass: we are all of us equal! How embarassing for his valet.
Comment by A Truman — February 1, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
Q: What was he thinking?
A: He wasn't.
This is how I know Biden isn't going to be President - he hasn't learned from the last time.
Comment by Alice — February 2, 2007 @ 7:25 pm
Why does anyone think that Barak Obama has a snowball's chance in hell of winning the Democrat nomination, let alone the Presidency in 2008? Is it because he has experience? Probably not. He hasn't done much as a Senator from Illinois and less as a U.S. Senator. In his 2 years as a U.S. Senator, has he introduced any groundbreaking legislation? Nope. Now, he says that IF he was in the Senate he would have voted against the war in Iraq. Well isn't that convenient. The fact is, Barak wasn't a U.S. Senator when Congress made the decision to go to war in Iraq. Every Democrat vying for the party's nomination, except Kucinich, voted to go into Iraq. But Obama wants us to believe that he wouldn't have voted to go. Right, sure he wouldn't.
Comment by Laurence Socci — February 2, 2007 @ 8:28 pm
Obama will come to regret having stuck the knife in Biden. Instead of seeming like a "new" politician, Obama played the race card and old-fashioned political hardball. And do we really want a nominee who is like the sun, ready to burn anyone to a crisp who flies to close and dares to make an impolitic remark? Obama should have stuck with his initial instinct: Be a big man and bail Biden out. Instead, Obama carved him subtly like a real pro.
Comment by Ted — February 2, 2007 @ 10:55 pm
Nobody thinks Obama has a chance in hell of winning, Laurence, they just like him as an alternative to Hillary.
He's the ROCKSTAR candidate.
Its like people who want to go to evangelical churches instead of old school churches. Obama is the laser light, hymn on the screen, schwag, candidate.
HRC got it right when she admitted to the DNC that she is the boring candidate - which is ironic because the charisma was quite a contrast to the Senior Bush when WJC ran against him.
Comment by sam — February 4, 2007 @ 3:21 pm