He never seemed willing to ask any but a small percentage to make a real sacrifice to win the war. I still maintain that the costliest mistake the president made was his unwillingness to level with the American people about what would be required to prevail in Iraq. In Promises to Keep, Biden’s 2007 memoir, he wrote: Bush authorization for the war, and though he was critical of Bush’s preparation and execution, his primary argument wasn’t that Bush was wrong to invade but that he was insufficiently committed to the intervention’s success and hid the true cost from the public. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Imagesīiden and Obama were on opposite sides of the central foreign policy question of the era: whether or not to invade Iraq. Joe Biden, then chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, leads a 2007 hearing on Iraq. Start with foreign policy, where the president has maximum authority and where Biden’s policy roots run deepest. It is time for Joe Biden to stop campaigning for Obama’s third term and focus on the case for his first. ![]() So in campaigning so explicitly as the inheritor of Obama’s mantle, he obscures both his distinct strengths and his weaknesses, and confuses voters about the kind of president he would be. But that’s why, by definition, Biden doesn’t mirror Obama’s political appeal or personal style and will not mirror Obama’s approach to governance.īiden is not neatly to the right or left of Obama on foreign or domestic policy, and he diverges dramatically in how he makes decisions, how he understands the basic material of politics, and how he’d run an administration. Biden’s presence on the ticket showed that Obama knew what he didn’t know. “I want somebody with gray in his hair,” Obama said. Others are picked for balance they’re chosen not for their similarity to the nominee but for their difference. Some vice presidents are picked for emphasis Bill Clinton chose Al Gore to drive home his youth and moderation. When the Democrats held their 2012 convention, it was Biden’s speech that pulled the highest ratings - beating both Bill Clinton and Obama.īut Joe Biden is not Barack Obama. When Obama flubbed the first debate against Mitt Romney, it was Biden who restored the ticket’s mojo by bullying his way past Rep. When the White House wanted to avoid the fiscal cliff, it was Biden who closed the deal with Mitch McConnell, then the Senate minority leader. When Obama wanted to make sure stimulus money didn’t disappear to fraud, he turned to Biden - “nobody messes with Joe,” he said - and Biden came through. To twist Biden’s 2007 line about Rudy Giuliani, it often seems that, for Biden, there are three parts to a sentence: a noun, a verb, and Barack Obama.īiden served loyally and effectively as Obama’s vice president. ![]() Elizabeth Warren and said, “the senator says she’s for Bernie. In the first answer Biden gave at the debate, he turned to Sen. “Barack Obama was a great president,” could be the slogan of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. FLiYpg8jLR- Joe Biden September 12, 2019
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