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Joe Biden Does Himself Proud

August 28th, 2008
By PATRICK EDABURN

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Having watched Senator Biden deliver his acceptance speech, I have to say I was quite impressed and felt that he struck just the right chord to bring the delegates to their feet.

The introduction by his son Beau Biden, attorney general of Delaware, was quite moving. Beau was clearly proud of his father (as he should be) and his summary of the triumphs and tragedies of the Biden family gave the Senator a really good buildup. I thought his introduction was better than any of the prior ‘family members introducing the speaker’.

After accepting the nomination for Vice President Biden brought the audience both there and at home to tears with the introduction of his mother and the discussion of how she taught him to always strive for success and to always stand up for what he believed in.

I wish that my dad was here tonight, but I am so grateful that my mom, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, is here. You know, she taught her children-
all the children who flocked to our house-that you are defined by your sense
of honor, and you are redeemed by your loyalty. She believes bravery lives in
every heart and her expectation is that it will be summoned.

Moving in to his main speech he aptly brought to mind the problems that many people in America face and did so by subtly reminding voters of his connection to his family, riding home on the train every night for 36 years.

I’ve never seen a time when Washington has watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back up. Almost every
night, I take the train home to Wilmington, sometimes very late. As I look out
the window at the homes we pass, I can almost hear what they’re talking about
at the kitchen table after they put the kids to bed.

Like millions of Americans, they’re asking questions as profound as they
are ordinary. Questions they never thought they would have to ask:

Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?

Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars to fill up the car?

Winter’s coming. How we gonna pay the heating bills?

Another year and no raise?

Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care?

Now, we owe more on the house than it’s worth. How are we going to send
the kids to college?

How are we gonna be able to retire?

He then very effectively moved into discussing how Senator Obama would help solve these problems because of how he came up from humble beginnings.

Barack Obama gets it. Like many of us, Barack worked his way up. His is a great American story.

You know, I believe the measure of a man isn’t just the road he’s
traveled; it’s the choices he’s made along the way. Barack Obama could have
done anything after he graduated from college. With all his talent and
promise, he could have written his ticket to Wall Street. But that’s not what
he chose to do. He chose to go to Chicago. The South Side. There he met men
and women who had lost their jobs. Their neighborhood was devastated when the
local steel plant closed. Their dreams deferred. Their dignity shattered.
Their self-esteem gone.

He moved deftly from one subject to another, demonstrating how he feels the Republicans have failed and how the Democrats will succeed in solving the problems.

Probably my only criticism of the speech is not really a criticism at all. Listening to Biden list the problems of the last eight years, you would think that we had hordes of starving orphans wandering dazed through the burned-out hulks of what used to be great cities. When it came to foreign policy, I wondered if we were less popular than Hitler in 1945.

Listening to him discuss how the GOP was responsible makes you think that they wanted these problems to happen.

Similarly, when he spoke of how Senator Obama would solve the problems, I was wondering if he’d announce plans for Obama to part the Potomac River on his way to the inauguration ceremonies.

But that kind of overly-soaring rhetoric is part of a convention and part of an acceptance speech so I took it with a grain of salt. I don’t think Biden will fall too deeply into the Al Gore syndrome but for tonight I was willing to overlook it.

I think though that the way he delivered the speech is a sign for why Obama chose him as a running mate. Even as he was attacking Bush, McCain and the Republicans he did so with a smile and charm. McCain was his ‘good friend’ who was simply wrong on the issues. This I think will bode well for the Democrats in November.

So, overall, I give high marks to the Biden speech. He showed why he is so popular in Delaware and why he will most-likely be the next Vice President of the United States.



This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 6:29 am and is filed under Democratic Party, Newsweek Blogitics, Conventions, Denver Democratic National Convention, Joe Biden, At TMV, 2008 Elections, Democrats, Barack Obama, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 7 Comments

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    Patrick,

    Listening to him discuss how the GOP was responsible makes you think that they wanted these problems to happen.

    Tell me, what's the difference between knowing that you're doing wrong and not caring and setting out to do wrong? The end result is the same isn't it?
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    Patrick- No we have no hoardes of starving orphans. But we do have many still displaced by Katrina, others who can't afford healthcare yet are too rich for Medicaid and many others yet who have lost or are losing their homes. We are in two wars that are costing taxpayers 12 billion a month, and the middle-class is slipping down into the lower class. The GOP response has been indifference. The Bush administration has rewarded the folks who put him in office-- with his allies in the GOP's blessing. They seem to care more about corporations than consumers, who are, after all, the citizens who elected them in the first place.
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    It was a good speech. Pegging McCain to the GOP and the status quo (and showing McCain _and_ Bush reversals of position, hmmm) is not only good offensive (attack) policy but is fundamental strategy -- McCain represents perpetuation of the GOP that the public voted no confidence in, in 2006 and contrasts with the other strategic theme, that Obama offers Americans change from this status quo. How more clear could the distinction be made? Good speech.
    • ^
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    I'm sure many libs and Dems relish the prospect of Gustav turning into another Gulf Coast hurricane (a potential campaign issue I was first to note, earlier this week), but that doesn't mean they wish it on this country any more than they actually relish US battle deaths in Iraq, say. They're glad it's happening while the other party is in power instead of them, but that doesn't mean they're ("absolutely") glad the events themselves are happening. Some might wish for misfortune, but even the most craven Demmies conceivable aren't hoping for mass-scale slaughter or destruction here.
    • ^
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    DLS- I can't imagine anyone from either party lowering themselves to relish death or destruction from manmade or natural causes. Its just too demonic.
    • ^
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    In baseball terms I'd call this a singele. He did ok but nothing really special. The interesting thing is that Biden's own family experiences reveal just how intact the American dream is. His untalented father had a good deal of money but squadered it away ( an item not mentioned in the speech, but it is in Biden's autobiography) forcing the family into the working class. By hard work Biden was able to achieve much in life by working hard and never giving up, not by government handouts.

    This is the real lesson of the Biden experience, that if you work hard you can get somewhere, but if you don't you can fall off the ladder. This is the American dream, not a political platform of government spending but an opportunity for those who work hard to get ahead on their own merits.
    • ^
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    But the American Dream has been shut off to many in our society, and Biden knows that. Just as we buffet up corporate interests in downtimes, Biden feels we should do the same for the working and middle classes.
 
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