Joe Biden is Jerry Brown without the weed.

[barking_iguana]

I'm talking about physical and especially vocal presentation and about habits of thought, not about specific issues or experience.

Obama said he wanted someone who could and would stand up to him intellectually, and I think that's what he got. Biden doesn't have Brown's sometimes uncanny recognition of the underlying issues behind the surface issues, but he does have a very good mental map of how a myriad of issues all interconnect. Like Brown, he's sometimes dead wrong, but always for interesting reasons. And he's very good at explaining what he thinks.

And even on issues, their liberal Catholic backgrounds give them many similarities.

Comments

[chemoelectric.livejournal.com]

Biden was the only white male I could think of who is really well known, is a frequent Charlie Rose guest, is clean and articulate*, views wars as manly, and has plenty of Washington experience.


* Unlike another frequent guest, Tom ‘Me Kill Arabs, Show Who Boss’ Friedman.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

For someone else who isn't thrilled about Biden, check out Shakesville.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

This can't be real. I didn't support either Clinton or Biden for the presidential nomination largely because they supported the war. Now, because Biden got the job that's not worth a bucket of warm piss, I'm supposed to blow a gasket or I have a double standard? And would I also be obliged to blow a gasket if Clinton got the job that's not worth a bucket of warm piss? I'm not excited but I'm OK with Biden in that role, just as I'd be OK with Clinton in that role.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

You really think Cheney's job is not worth a bucket of warm piss?

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Obama's no Shrub. Biden will probably get a higher profile than John Nance Garner, but no more real power.

And should he ever get to be President, I'd expect him to be as good or better than Bill Clinton and better than Carter. To have both a presidential and vice-presidential nominee I can say that about is unusual. Perhaps unprecedented, but Mondale/Ferraro and McGovern/Shriver are possibilities.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

So... Biden's hawkishness, his bankruptcy bill, his vote on FISA, and his waffling on choice mean nothing to you.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Where did I say that? On a scale of 0 to 100, I'd guess as a President he'd be in the low 60s. That's hardly being head over heels in love with they guy.

Unfortunately, depending on how important you think LBJ's Vietnam debacle is in comparison to his domestic accomplishments, no President in the last half a century has been even Biden's few points over Clinton's 60.

Since I project Obama as high 70s and Biden as low 60s and the American public including we on the left have not proven we can do even that well, I don't see good cause for outrage that we're not attempting even better yet.

Part of the reason Obama is a good person for the nonce is that, like Reagan, he can move the perception of what is the presumed center. I think Biden is probably a good assistant in that regard, but I'm not sure. But Biden aside, Obama's job of governing in a lousy but better than we've had fashion while seeding the ground for something better yet hasn't been accomplished yet. I think you're judging the ticket by standards that just don't make sense for American politics in 2008. From what I hear, the land of your ancestors has much saner politics. But we're not there. And in order to serve this country, we have to staunch the bleeding away of the sense of shared purpose and shared fate that was a hallmark of this country as it made progress from 1933-1980.

Hello

[(Anonymous)]

I'm new here, just wanted to say hello and introduce myself.

Re: Hello

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Hi. But it's not much of an introduction if I have neither a real name nor a nom de plume to associate this introduction with anything else you write or any other aspect of you.