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Is Obama-Biden The Ticket?

May 21, 2008 4:12 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis and John Santucci Report: Sen. Joe Biden's, D-Del., audition to be Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., running mate continued Tuesday when he delivered a scathing critique of the "holes" in Sen. John McCain's, R-Ariz., foreign policy.

"Who opened the door to al Qaeda in Iraq?" asked Biden. "President Bush."

"And who would keep the door open?" he continued. "John McCain."

Biden's speech this week to the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund was his second speech in two months in which he has sought high-profile venues from which to paint McCain as representing a third Bush term. On April 15, Biden went to Georgetown University to argue that McCain is "joined at the hip" to Bush.

Although Biden pulled the plug on his presidential bid after being trounced in the Jan. 3rd Iowa caucuses, he is viewed by some senior Democratic Party strategists as holding the potential to help Obama on two of his perceived vulnerabilities: foreign policy heft and an affinity with white-working class voters.

Biden is seen as filling the foreign policy void not only because of his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but also due to his outspoken support for achieving political reconciliation in Iraq by decentralizing power among the country's warring factions.

Biden's ability to reach working-class whites is less obvious due to his reputation in the halls of Congress for long-windedness.

But those who have observed him on the stump have lauded his ability to connect with voters. The garrulous Biden, who was born in Scranton, Pa., does this by invoking his Irish American roots and "Grandfather Finnegan." He also showed an ability to show a more personal side of himself during his 2008 White House bid when he discussed the death of his wife and infant daughter in a car crash shortly after his election to the Senate in 1972.

While Biden is aggressively seeking opportunities to hammer McCain, he has not made an endorsement in the presidential race and said Tuesday that he plans to remain neutral even after the nominating season draws to a close.

"I will stay neutral until it is settled," said Biden. "I don't plan even on June 3rd to announce because I believe that this process has strengthened the Democratic Party."

He did, however, describe Obama as the "probable" nominee and said that Clinton will face a "hard accounting" to embrace Obama shortly after Montana and South Dakota hold their June 3rd primaries.

One potential drawback from picking Biden is his propensity for sticking his foot in his mouth.

He spent his first day as a 2008 presidential contender defending himself for a controversial description of Obama.

In his interview with The New York Observer, Biden characterized Obama as "the first mainstream African American [presidential candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Obama subsequently absolved Biden and praised his record on civil rights during a Democratic debate in Iowa. But the episode would surely be part of the first-day coverage if Obama were to select Biden as his running mate.

More recently, Biden gave ammunition to Republicans by seeming to repudiate Obama's support for talking with rogue leaders without preconditions. 

Appearing Sunday on ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Biden said, "This is a fellow who, I think, shorthanded an answer that, in fact, was the wrong answer, in my view, saying, 'I would, within the first year' -- it implied he'd personally sit down with anybody who wanted to sit down with him."

Shortly after Biden made his comments, the Republican National Committee seized on them to argue that Democrats were running away from a position staked out by the party's likely nominee.
In his Tuesday speech, the Delaware Democrat attempted to paper over any differences between himself and Obama on the issue.

"Let's end this false argument about pre-conditions which has continued to bubble here," said Biden. "Senator Obama was right that the United States should be willing to engage Iran on it's nuclear program."

May 21, 2008 in Biden, Joe, Kucinich, Dennis | Permalink | User Comments (52)

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