Doomed!
Bush’s Iraq strategy or Biden’s presidential bid?
Both, but let’s stick with the former for now.
Joe Biden may have a screw loose here and there, but at least he has foreign policy experience — far more than Hillary, Obama, and Edwards — and at least he seems to be thinking seriously about how best to get the hell out of Iraq. And he isn’t all about focus-grouped soundbites. Which can get him in trouble when he’s insulting Obama but which can make him sound refreshingly candid when he’s on his game.
And, aside from waffling on Imus, he was on his game on WaPo’s PostTalk, where he said this: “Assume the surge worked, then what? Stay there forever? If you don’t stay there forever, what’s the political solution?” And this: “Does anyone think [GOP senators up for re-election in '08] are going to stick with this president’s plan without any target date to get out of Iraq, without a fundamental change in strategy? I think not.” Good points, despite a disturbing tendency to make statements in the form of questions.
Biden may be right about his qualifications, but he’s overly optimistic about his chances.
He’s way too much of a loose cannon (Strike 1), too hawkish (Strike 2), not nearly “Oprah” enough (Strike 3), and doesn’t have any money (Strike 4). Plus, the netroots don’t much care for him (Strike 5). And he’s from Delaware (foul ball).
So do I think he can win? No. But do I think he brings a great deal of credibility to public discourse on foreign policy (and on Iraq in particular)? Yes.
9 Responses to “Doomed!”
Biden has said some pretty stupid things, but he seems genuinely interested in the well-being of the United States. Unfortunately for us, that is not a trait many of the other candidates share.
Well, there are some that remember that wasn’t always the case! LOL!
Not sure what you’re teeing up, Michael……..planting the seed for a VP slot?
Might be a very logical choice for the front running Dems who can’t point to a whole lot of FP experience in their own resume.
But, yes, a tragic flaw of sorts for Biden. When he is not attempting to stand (or speak) in the spotlight, he seems to be both relatively astute and applied to the task.
CO,
I’m not sure why the Dems would have to worry about their foreign policy experience versus the Republicans.
Rudy has none, Romney ditto, McCain has some but his idiotic Iraq stance has made him radioactive.
Wasn’t attempting to make a party-competitive comparison, just looking at the Dem field through the eyes of the average voter next Nov 2009.
But sure, any Republican would help themselves with Colin Powell as their running mate too.
Colin Powell is damaged goods. His presentation to the UN Security Council destroyed his electability.
Joe’s always an interesting guy to listen to, but I see no hope for his presidential chances.
What he needs is a job where he can talk on and on unendingly, without interruption.
Hey, wait a minute, isn’t the Imus spot opening up on MSNBC?
It’s interesting that many of us really want more foreign policy experience in the Democratic (and Republican) candidates, and yet, there is one presidential candidate who is currently involved at this moment in diplomatic attempts to have North Korea shut down its nuclear program, i.e., Bill Richardson. Still, no posts about his candidacy have appeared in days or weeks. The other candidates are saying really interesting things that I often support; Richardson is doing them. If we want someone with a pragmatic focus, we should all be drumming up support for Richardson daily.
(And apologies, because I bet I missed some related post on this, but we do hear an awful lot about Clinton, Giuliani, McCain, Thompson, Obama, etc., while Richardson is actually engaged right now with one of the biggest foreign policy issues facing our nation today.)
uh Imus is irrelevent. Time to drop that crazyness right now. It has nothing to do with politics, (yet).
I don’t think Biden has a “screw loose”, (lol), his speeches on Constitutional law have been eloquent and inspiring. Albeit he has made some strange statements in the past.
I think Biden would make a good President. Considering what we have now, that is VERY easy to say.
pacatrue-
I couldn’t agree more about Richardson and believe that, especially after 8 years of foreign policy incompetence, the next administration will require extremely adroit diplomatic leadership.
I’d love to see more thoughts about him here, but in the meantime if you’re interested I have a few posts on Richardson here.