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Biden: Difference Between Obama & McCain Is Faith in American People
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ShareSeptember 17, 2008 10:07 PM
ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: “The decision I respectfully suggest you have to make is who is better equipped, who is better prepared to deal with the issues that are going to determine the shape of your life -- is it John McCain and Sarah Palin?” Joe Biden asked Wednesday night at the College of Wooster in Ohio.
“No!” came the reply from the crowd of 4,500, so loud that Biden stopped to chuckle.
“Or is it Barack Obama and Joe Biden?” he said as the audience roared.
And so began an abbreviated, adapted stump speech from the Democratic vice presidential nominee, urging the collegiate crowd to imagine how different the country might look, depending on the next administration.
“What are the chances -- is it more or less likely with a President McCain that we're going to have a new cold war with Russia or maybe a hot war with Iran?" Biden asked.
But, on the other hand, he said, “Imagine a country that, once again, is the most respected country in all the world, imagine a country where we lead, where we lead by the power of our example and not by the example of our power.”
Biden recalled a story that former Sen. J. William Fulbright told him about John F. Kennedy sending former Secretary of State Dean Acheson to Paris to explain the danger of the Cuban missile crisis to French President Charles de Gaulle. As Acheson was about to produce reconaissance photos to prove his point, de Gaulle said there was no need -- the word of the American president was good enough.
“I am deadly earnest when I ask this rhetorical question,” said Biden. “Is there a single, a single world leader who, if Condi Rice, who's a good woman, if she sat across from that leader, explaining the matter of war and peace, that would raise his or her hand and say, 'there's no need, I know the president of the United States and I trust him?'
"The single most significant responsibility the next president of the United States has is to restore our standing in the world, because the rest of the world understands -- as much as they may resent it -- we are the only genuine catalyst for change. It's not American chauvinism -- there's no other nation in the world that, on its own, can be the vehicle, can be the vehicle for the kind of change the world is yearning for. Ladies and gentlemen, the opportunity is immense, immense,” he said, his voice fading to almost a whisper.
“You know, I truly believe Barack Obama has the opportunity, the opportunity to be the bridge between what we can imagine and what we can achieve.
“The Obama-Biden administration would speak to our hopes, rather than what we've seen the last eight and ten years of speaking to our fears, because of a basic fundamental principle that’s gonna sound naïve coming from a guy who’s been there for seven presidents. I'm not naïve, I'm not new, and I hope I'm not stupid,” he continued. “Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you the fundamental difference between us, the two, the four folks in this race: we genuinely, genuinely have faith in the American people -- we have faith that they will be able to rise up and deal with anything they're facing.
“And folks, this isn't blind faith, this isn't a faith based in, you know, a sense of American exceptionalism. It's a faith, a faith based on the journey and the history of our country, it's a faith based upon the generations that have gone before us. In every time of crisis, your generation, in every time of crisis, before us, when have we made great progress? All the great times of progress we have made in this country has been made in the face of a great problem -- that's the time, that's the time America responds.”
The McCain campaign, however, imagined the future under an Obama-Biden administration a little bit differently.
“It would be hard to imagine putting a rookie in the White House with no record of reform when Americans need change," said McCain spokesman Ben Porritt.
September 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (103)
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Biden makes a good point. It is and has been clear that McCain intends to be very hostile to Iran and has already started the new cold war with Russia.
Problem is, these are the wrong wars for us. Today, Al Qaeda attacks our embassy in Yemen - they are not in Iran or Russia. Time to fight the real battle rather than another distraction.
Posted by: MIguy | Sep 17, 2008 10:19:29 PM
Biden on Tuesday said an Obama-Biden administration would "increase regulatory oversight of the very people John [McCain] has refused to regulate."
Until recently, McCain consistently described himself as an opponent of most government regulation. In 1995, he proposed an across-the-board moratorium on all federal regulations, but that measure failed in Congress. Even the republicans were smart enough then not to do what John ( Give 'em what they want) McCain wanted to do we would have had this happen before this if John ( Maverick) Mccain had his way now thats what I call Judgement, bad Judgement
Posted by: richardcranium1 | Sep 17, 2008 10:22:06 PM
Biden has fallen into the BHO way of doing business. Say anything to get elected.Wow to those who believe all of this bull.
Posted by: William | Sep 17, 2008 10:40:42 PM
Biden has fallen into the BHO way of doing business. Say anything to get elected.Wow to those who believe all of this bull.
Posted by: William | Sep 17, 2008 10:40:55 PM
Biden is OK - it's that other guy -
obama - he is a FRAUD!!!!
Obama once again responded with "Present" on our current crisis - he will wait for his campaign to provide him with the "Politically Correct" answer. He has zero judgment to lead our country.
McCain/Palin -much better choice.
Posted by: Molly | Sep 17, 2008 10:45:43 PM
No, the difference between McCain and Obama is Obama's friends and mentors including the racist,America hating Jeremish Wright and Michael Pflager, the Marxist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, and Barack's real estate partner, the jailed Tony Rezko.
Posted by: Ron | Sep 17, 2008 10:51:59 PM
Obama has a good vision and leadership that have been proved throughout his campaign. America needs a new leader to get out of its economic and political crises.
Obama/Biden 08.
Posted by: Quy Tran | Sep 17, 2008 10:55:36 PM
Defensive posts by people trying to change the subject. Please go to another more relevant blog, or dispute Biden's comments.
Posted by: MIguy | Sep 17, 2008 10:59:26 PM
Thank you for publishing Joe Biden's speech. I love that he is doing this type of uplifting speech, too. Good for you, Joe. People are beginning to listen.
I've seen a lot of politicians, but what Senator Obama and Biden are doing to bring people together is astounding. Not since Robert Kennedy. No matter what the negative and contempuous posts here are said about Obama, the truth is these people that are voting come from many walks of life and many haven't voted at all or for a long time. If Obama and Biden win the presidency it is as much about them as it is about all of these people working so hard and believing for a little more than having their lives and their children's lives erode around them. I'm amazed at the community activism.
The McCain/Palin ticket has shown so much hate and contempt. These emotions devide people. No matter what, even if Mr. McCain wins, half the voting public will have voted for Obama and Biden. We need to keep this in mind and what it means.
Posted by: lucy2008 | Sep 17, 2008 11:05:54 PM
John McCain, who voted with Bush 90 percent of the time, now calls for reform. That just doesn't make sense. Does that mean John McCain thinks what he did by supporting Bush was wrong, and now wants to throw the rascals (including himself who supported Bush 90 percent of the time) out? It's not only McCain's logic that doesn't make sense, John McCain doesn't make sense. Either John McCain has problems with telling the truth, or he's beginning to experience early onset Alzheimer's, or both.
Posted by: JayMagoo | Sep 17, 2008 11:11:27 PM
"Time to fight the real battle rather than another distraction."
And had it been up to Barack Obama, we would've been fighting that real battle for a year now. If Barack Obama had his way, we'd have the extra troops in equipment necessary in Afghanistan to stop the new onslaught of Taliban activity. We would've been able to stop them in the Afghan/Pakistan mountains before they had a chance to regroup there in those safe havens.
When we start to hear about the rise in troop deaths in Afghanistan care of a more powerful Taliban, when we start to hear about dead soldiers and Marines who don't have enough help to stave off the terrorists, we can thank John McCain and George W. Bush who lacked the judgment to see this coming. We can thank John McCain and George W. Bush who would rather waste time, money, resources and blood in Iraq where we never should've gone in the first place.
Posted by: Mike H. | Sep 17, 2008 11:26:33 PM
Biden, you are sounding like an idiot speaking for this OBAMA guy.
You know that Obama is not READY to be the President of the U.S. ... his resume is despicable ...
So, please dont jeopardize your own reputation by speaking highly of someone you know is more about personal ambition and personal gain than change for country or anyone else.
Posted by: QuiteNowBiden | Sep 17, 2008 11:27:14 PM
Interesting...so the U.S. should go into a Yemen to get terrorists...but we shouldn't fight them in Iraq since they're there, oh, and don't antagonize the peaceful Putin political machine. Amazing that Iraq under a ruthless dictator who murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people and threatened millions more with WMD was a poor 'sovereign nation' as the Dems' talking points always said. So I guess Yemen isn't a sovereign nation?
We are to fight battles, but just not the ones President Bush picks. Hmmm.
As for Biden, I see he's using the same tired Dem argument about the Bush Administration hyping irrational fears in order to take over America-I suppose Bush will refuse to leave the White House next January because he is now the Fuhrer?
How about Obama telling us we'll be selling apples and pencils on street corners in a few months-maybe economic setbacks don't count as fear-mongering.
I guess the disaster of a more stable Iraq left the Obama campaign panicking until something else bad happened to the U.S.?
All in all that speech was weak and boring.
Posted by: Grand Old Party | Sep 17, 2008 11:43:01 PM
Joe Biden strikes fear in the heart of Republicans. You hoped he'd be this magical gaffe machine that created fake cable news controversies every week. Instead he's turned out to be a tremendous asset, the best surrogate Obama could ask for.
While Sarah Palin got the excitement and headlines (and that star now begins to fade), Give 'Em Hell Joe was out on the stump in battleground states helping to lay the economic seeds now beginning to sprout. He is doing more for Obama in the eyes of the American public than Sarah Palin, who 75% of the country thinks was a pure political VP choice according to the latest CBS/NYT poll. That's opposed to 57% who say Obama made the wise choice of an executive officer by selecting Joe Biden.
I wouldn't go talking about personal gain and political ambition. You support a man who chose Sarah Palin as the person to govern this nation should he be rendered incapable of fulfilling his duties as president.
Posted by: Mike H. | Sep 17, 2008 11:50:52 PM
Someone at Political Radar loves Joe Biden...he has 6 headlines. You guys are generous, as the press don't even want to follow him and I hear his plane is always empty. Biden is grateful, I'm sure.
Posted by: Emma | Sep 17, 2008 11:57:00 PM
Biden, the American people better be smart enough to distinguish between TALKERS like Obama and DOERS like Palin and MCCain.
If America votes Obama for their president, America will be the laughing stock of the ENTIRE WORLD for no other country in the world will ever vote someone like Obama with such a THIN RESUME and such a questionable past with associations with Rev. Wright for 20 years, into their highest office - the Presidency ...
And to have the country, at that point, under the control of the unknown Obama and the DO-NOTHING CONGRESS led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid ...
I have FAITH IN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, that when election day comes around, ENOUGH AMERICANS WITH COMMON SENSE WILL HAVE THE RIGHT JUDGEMENT TO PUT MCCAIN/PALIN in the White House.
THAT IS WHAT I HAVE FAITH IN, MR. BIDEN.
I HAVE FAITH THAT AMERICANS WILL KNOW TO PUT COUNTRY FIRST ... WHEN THERE IS DOUBT, ALWAYS VOTE IN THE SIDE OF CAUTION ... MCCAIN WE KNOW. PALIN HAS A RECORD OF CHANGE IN ALASKA ... AND HAS GOVERNED A STATE WITH AN APPROVAL RATING OF 80%.
I BELIEVE THAT WHEN SHE BECOMES VP OF THE U.S, SHE WILL ALSO HAVE A HIGH APPROVAL RATING, this just based on her past records ..
OBAMA, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAS A RECORD OF NON-REFORM AND NON-CHANGE ... THIS OBAMA GUY TALKS CHANGE BUT HAS PRODUCED NO CHANGE HIS ENTIRE POLITICAL LIFE...
PERSONAL AMBITION, PERSONAL GAIN IS ALL OBAMA IS ABOUT AND I HAVE FAITH THAT AMERICA CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AMBITION AND SERVICE.
Posted by: FAITHINAMERICA | Sep 17, 2008 11:58:43 PM
QuiteeNowBiden-maybe you should take 2 aspirins and go to bed-you are seeming very confused.
Barack Obama's resume-THE REAL ONE-is the best resume we have ever had in a presidential canidate!
You must be confusing McCain's resume of past work.
Posted by: RosettaRealist | Sep 18, 2008 12:01:10 AM
Wow...."words, just words"....and too many of them. Biden and Bozo, blah, blah , blah, blah, blah,....McCain....to the point, clear and decisive....just like at the Faith forum at Saddleback and just like upcoming debates. I know they call BO "nuanced", I call it full of hot air. I like Biden, but he's a gaffe master and not at the top of the ticket. Biden love McCain too, they go way back and as he once said he'd be proud to run with McCain....and Obama isn't ready to be Prez. I wish McCain would start running those ads again, after BO announced the Biden pick...they always make me chuckle.
Posted by: Emma | Sep 18, 2008 12:03:23 AM
lucy2008...The McCain/Palin ticket is the only one with energy and optomisim, what are you talking about?
Posted by: Emma | Sep 18, 2008 12:06:25 AM
PALIN ... AND HAS GOVERNED A STATE WITH AN APPROVAL RATING OF 80%.
Posted by: FAITHINAMERICA
****************************************** George Bush once Governed an entire country with an approval rating of 92%. We stood by him and gave him the benefit of the doubt.
We said if we are going to make our country strong, we must stand together. George W. Bush took us all for a bunch of fools and suckers. Now we know who he is and he has an approval rating of 27%.
Posted by: Truth Matters | Sep 18, 2008 12:07:47 AM
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