Biden: Voters "having a difficult time" electing first African American president

Subscribe to this blog's feed

« Previous | Main | Next »

Biden: Voters "having a difficult time" electing first African American president

October 19, 2008 6:30 AM

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: As Election Day looms just over two weeks away, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., said Saturday that with Republicans firing "vicious" and "dangerous" attacks at Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., voters are "having a difficult time" opting for the man who would become the nation's first African American president.

"Undecided people are having a difficult time just culturally making the change, making the move for the first African American president in the history of the United States of America," the Democratic vice-presidential nominee said at a San Francisco fundraiser Saturday evening. "So we need to respond. We need to respond at the moment, immediately, not wait, not hang around, not assume any of this won't stick."

"You see these vicious attacks on Barack's character," Biden told supporters. "I mean, this is dangerous stuff these guys are doing. This stuff is on the edge. It's on the edge. You know, there's some folks out there in the community nationwide that aren't as stable as others. It's a very small minority. But having these rallies where people are showing up saying, you know, the things they're saying - I don't even want to repeat them -- it's not a healthy thing."

Biden cited automated GOP calls describing Obama as having "worked closely" with "domestic terrorist Bill Ayers", Virginia Republican Party chairman Jeff Frederick telling volunteers to tie Obama to Osama bin Laden, and speakers at Republican rallies referring to Barack Hussein Obama.

The six-term senator promised that Democrats would not get "banged around" like they were in 2004 when Republicans "did a hell of a good job" portraying Democratic nominee John Kerry as a "coward".

"I am so sick and tired of being, of us being banged around that they are going to have to beat me with a stick before we are going to break down," he said.

Biden hit the Bay Area for three fundraisers Saturday, helping rake in an estimated $2.2 million for the campaign. At his second event of the day, in Piedmont, Biden predicted that the ticket will experience a drop in polls this week.

"Mark my words, you're going to see these polls drop this week," Biden forecasted. "We got a bump. We're going to be in good shape. You're going to see them drop. There's nothing automatic about this at all."

In the state where former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley, an African American, lost the 1982 gubernatorial race after exit polls showed him leading by a wide margin, Biden attempted to assuage concerns that Sen. Barack Obama would suffer a similar fate by noting that Democrats had "the most incredible field organization in the history of American politics".

"It costs tens of millions of dollars to do this," noted Biden. "And that's our secret weapon. That is our equalizer to when anybody talks about the Bradley effect. This is the ultimate equalizer."

Still, Biden cautioned that Obama has a tough task ahead of him in southern states such as Virginia and North Carolina, reminding supporters that Harold Ford Jr. was leading his 2006 Senate race in Tennessee before ultimately falling short.

"We're ahead in Virginia, but the idea that we'd have a lead like they're saying we have -- we haven't won that state in over 40 years," Biden said. "We're leading in that state with an African-American of incredible capacity. We're leading in North Carolina. But you also saw how we were ahead in Tennessee with a brilliant young senator last time out who was an African-American."

But Biden boasted that Obama has the capacity to withstand GOP attacks and win the White House.

"Barack Obama communicates an absolute sense and certainty that is the most typical American instinct that there is," Biden said. "That we do not have to accept circumstances as we find them. That it is totally, thoroughly within our capacity to change our circumstance. That's why he touched those people helping feed us tonight. That's why he touched all those white and black folks around the country. The African American population in my state and in South Carolina, and the white population in the state of Iowa. Because he means what he says. It's not about black or white. It's not about - it is about all being Americans."

The Delaware lawmaker noted how far the country has come to now be on the brink of possibly electing an African American president.

"I got started in the civil rights movement as a young kid in a state that had been segregated by law with the eighth largest black population in America, as a percent of population," Biden said. "And I never thought, but I prayed I'd live to see the day, when -- and I never thought I could be part of it - a part of seeing to it that we for the first and significant, fundamentally significant way, put a lot of that past behind us and began to unite the nation."

October 19, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (334)

User Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

We are going to turn North Carolina blue.

Posted by: rdf | Oct 19, 2008 7:09:50 AM

All these negatives attack won't work.No this time , not this year. Enough is Enough. All these tactics will go in vain.

Posted by: I.A.T.SMITH | Oct 19, 2008 7:15:56 AM

the "old" John Mccain is dead...

he was killed by the "new" John mcCain, his own self fulfillment, Sarah Palin and the tactics that the "new" John mcCain is using ...that the "old" John McCain called disgusting.

The old John McCain would have been offended and angry that someone would risk our nation for the choice of Sarah Palin as the back up leader of the free world.

The old John McCain would not risk radical incendiary behavior that could risk a too often existing "timothy McVeigh" mentality...being pushed over the top.

what will they say ...that they did not contribute if heaven forbid there is an assasination attempt in the first weeks of Obama's election?

how dumb do you have to be to not realize Palin's remarks made things worse within our country not better.

It is one thing for a candidate to deride the other on issues...it is another to portray them as a "friend of the enemy"... in a chanting revelatory manner at a pep rally...

bad judgments all around

get these people off stages with microphones...and take our country back.

Posted by: dl | Oct 19, 2008 7:18:47 AM

Biden is absolutely correct. Negative tactics only serve to divide. Undecided voters are like children, thy have to be coddled. They can't make adult decisions. Makes you wonder why they even vote.

Posted by: William | Oct 19, 2008 7:28:50 AM

A lot of attention has been given to race as a reason NOT to vote for Obama. Little attention has been given to race as a reason TO vote for Obama. 95% of all self perceived "minority" groups are reportedly voting for OBAMA. So along with the class warfare, we see a racial divide with only some of the "white" voters crossing the line. This country needs to stop counting people by their race. It should be illegal for the census or any applications to ask a person's race!

Posted by: True Racial Freedom | Oct 19, 2008 7:53:44 AM

Reuters/Zogby within 3 points. Money cannot buy elections ( ask Perot, Forbes,..). Hilary beat him in the mid west inspite of spending 4 to 1. Also some of these money is tainted coming from overseas drugs and terrorist connections...

Trying to cover up Rezko/Ayers/Wright/Farrakhan/Jesse Jackson/Drug habits/Smoking/Bitter americans/HIgher taxes/Socialist distribution of wealth/sitting with Iran/Venezuela without conditions/Against guns/against drilling/against nuclear power/against victory in Iraq...... will behis downfall

Posted by: vs | Oct 19, 2008 7:57:18 AM

Obama wants to set up a federal WELFARE program. That is a fact. He voted many many times for huge welfare give a way programs when he was in the state senate. Obama is a leftist radical we don't need and can't trust.

Posted by: Duane Z | Oct 19, 2008 8:14:24 AM

John McCain is a traitor
Cindy HATES John
Vietnam vets HATE John
And I'm leaning toward intense dislike

Posted by: 9michael99 | Oct 19, 2008 8:18:05 AM

Did anyone read in the Washington Post article yesterday that McCain's cancer has returned?

Posted by: mememe | Oct 19, 2008 8:29:57 AM

Uh yeah the tired race card again!!

Posted by: karen | Oct 19, 2008 8:31:04 AM

But, where is the money coming from? I'd like to think it's coming from just individuals...like myself...white, black, Hispanic, Asian....smart people who don't see color or race, but, see a chance for this country to do what's right. But, really...where is the money coming from?

Posted by: pam | Oct 19, 2008 8:33:24 AM

LOVE CONQUERS ALL FOLKS, it's very foolish to continue to point this race card out because there are a few bad apples on both sides of the campaign this election. Vote for the person most qualified not by race,age, sex, and or gender. The media needs to stop posting these stupid articles, because it then clearly shows a bias for the candidate they prefer in this election. Just this week a little 12 year old girl was tormented by her class mates for being Racist by just wearing a Palin t'shirt. Some folks in many communities out right claim your racists if you don't vote Obama, so I say again this behave, while very childish, hateful and harsh, does not belong in this campaign. This is very negative publication by the media to evoke sympathetic voters emotions. Guess what it's working. I am a woman & Hispanic and I am choosing my candidate according to his experience not color. It's time the nonsense stops and the people rise up to the challenge of seeing clearer through this rhetoric and stand up for the HUMAN RACE we are all one, color doesn't matter and racism is an illness that has no business in this election. However there still are a few out there with this illness, it doesn't mean it represents all people and those of us who know the difference must make clear examples of just being Loving and Compassionate Human Beings, because guess what the world is watching, and more importantly our children... PEACE UPON US ALL!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Mel | Oct 19, 2008 8:35:48 AM

So we're suppose to vote for Obama because he's black. I'm not voting for him just to put him on a throne! No thank you. If this guy had better morals, seeing he was the only senator to oppose a bill protecting babies born alive from botched abortions from being left to die, or had aknowledge of economics which he absolutely DOES NOT HAVE or understand, I would vote for him. It has NOTHING to do with color of skin.If that's the reason, then you're in for trouble.

Posted by: william | Oct 19, 2008 8:38:02 AM

My GrandMma made me the happiest person
this morning. She said after
watching the huge crowd greeted
Obama in St. Louis yesterday, she will
now vote for him.
She said a person is the person
regardless of the color. She now thinks
Obama is for the job.

Posted by: FM | Oct 19, 2008 8:41:33 AM

No, William. It has nothing to do with the colour of his skin. That's a bonus. Black children get a chance to see that they really can get to the very top in America if they have what it takes on the inside - and black and white children get to grow up in a country that finally puts the stain of racism where it belongs - in a sad chapter of our history. But that's the bonus part. The main event is Obama - the person. The best person to be the next President of the United States of America.

Posted by: chester burns | Oct 19, 2008 8:49:13 AM

The old McCain is dead. The new McCain had turned to the Dark Side.

McCain: "Barack. I am your Father"

Barack: "Nooooooooo"

Posted by: BobC | Oct 19, 2008 8:50:42 AM

Obama is the most intelligent presidential candidate USA ever had. He will not only fix the economic melt down but end the unnecessary war also.

Posted by: robinson | Oct 19, 2008 8:51:52 AM

I find it amazing that after 2 years of the most intense scrutiny and investigation, that turned up nothing wrong done by Obama, that people continue with the smear tactics and actually believe the trash being leveled at Obama. They demand the truth but obviously want their own truth as the truth about Obama is already out there. These types of people will not accept the truth because it is not what they want to hear.

Posted by: Rob | Oct 19, 2008 8:52:27 AM

Just remember one thing...

A vote for McCain is a vote for Sarah Palin.

John McCain sold his soul to the extreme right, and endangered America through his choice of a VP running mate.

Posted by: Rob | Oct 19, 2008 8:54:51 AM

the negative color crap is the same bs that went on when jfk ran for pres----WE CAN NOT HAVE A CATHOLIC IN THE WHITE HOUSE--PEOPLE NEED TO GROW UP.

Posted by: rodney | Oct 19, 2008 8:55:56 AM

Post a comment