Vetting Joe Biden: My Conversation With His Classmate

One summer, while visiting the Boardwalk at Atlantic City with a small group of friends, Joseph Biden, then the student body president at Archmere Academy, one of them asked what he was planning to be when he grew up. His answer: "I'm going to be president." His friends were skeptical. As a childhood friend, Maggie C. Martins puts it, "We all kind of laughed. 'Yeah, yeah. Okay, we know you're going to do something, but president?' He said it could happen to anybody. When he went to run for Senator, I thought, okay, he's doing what he was saying he wanted to do. Not that he was running for president then but I'm going to do something big so that I can help everybody.'"

While still committed to running for president during the start of primary season, Biden gave every indication that he would not accept any slot for Secretary of State, (as he currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee), or the vice presidency. His reasoning: if a person, (Biden), is qualified to be president, then why would you want the person to run for a lesser position? However, that was back when he was in the race for the presidency, when such a statement could land him some coverage by a news media absorbed with the frontrunners. The true intention of the statement was obvious: I am committed 100% to running for president, so vote for me.

"If the candidate asks me to be vice president, the answer is I got to say yes. But he's not going to ask me. Unlike most other people, I'm being straight with you. If asked, I will do it. I've made it clear I do not want to be asked," Biden said that just two months ago. In other words, he is willing to take any post the presumptive Democratic nominee offers him.

Why should a politically ambitious man refuse? One year after he graduated from Syracuse University College of Law, Biden won election to the New Castle County, County Council. He served for two years before his successful Senate bid in 1972, turning the required age of 30 shortly before the swearing in. But Delaware's Senator-elect would face a more difficult challenge soon after his election, when a drunk driver struck the car carrying his family, killing his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi and severely wounding sons Hunter and Beau. "There was a question as to whether he wanted to continue on [and become senator] because it affected him so much," recalls Martins. Biden reconsidered accepting his Senate seat, but eventually took his oath of office at his sons' hospital bedsides. As a senator, he began his habit of taking the 250-mile roundtrip commute from Washington, D.C. to Wilmington, Delaware to see his sons, who would go on to make full recoveries. Nevertheless, Biden's trademark commutes from his home state and back, as well as his support for Amtrak, have continued to this day.

"His family is most important to him. And then his friends. And then, constituents," says Martins. "The person that's he's dealing with is more important...He'll always have the time for the everyday, average person...If he was talking to you and someone would say, 'Senator, so and so needs to talk with you right now, he would say, 'I'll be there in just a minute, I'm not finished.' So he makes the people that are his constituents feel very important because he gives them time."

Biden is one candidate who does not always stick to the script, preferring to speak his mind versus rehearsing talking points. That does not always help him. Shortly before launching his 2008 presidential campaign, he repeated his infamous 'Dunkin' Donuts' joke in front of a television crew, commenting on the growing number of Indian-Americans who own convenience stores, a remark perceived as racist. Soon after he announced that he was running for president, he made yet another gaffe when he called the future top-of-the-ticket, Barack Obama, who was then a possible presidential rival, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." However, perhaps the most notable campaign misstep occurred in 1987, in his first bid for the presidency, when he used parts of a speech by then British Labor Leader Neil Kinnock without citing the source. Even though Biden had cited Kinnock in previous speeches and regretted the one incident where he did not, he withdrew from the race amidst allegations of plagiarism and the subsequent media frenzy.

The six-term Senator has spent more time in elected office than John McCain himself and has spent four of the last eight years as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also has his list of domestic accomplishments to tout, having written and sponsored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act.

"He's going to tell you what he's thinking...If he makes a mistake and it's a blunder in the way it sounds; he's going to explain it later," says Martins. "But I don't think you'll ever get him to be another person."

Biden's version of straight talk will make him the greatest liability for the Obama campaign. Would American accept a blunt, gaffe-prone, policy wonk for president, seeing that past "know-it-alls" Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry have failed to capture the presidency? Are the Democrats back to winning people's minds over their hearts, a type of campaign that almost never wins them an election? Can we go through the remaining election season without hearing a single controversial statement from the senior senator of Delaware? We will have to wait and see.

Comments

[LizM]

It's always advisable to know ALL of the facts when you imply what you did by recalling the “Dunkin Donuts joke”. First off, it wasn’t a joke but simply a recognition of the growing and vibrant Indian-American community in Delaware. And, his audience - the people who were agreeing with him - were...get ready for it...India­n-American­s!

You also fail to understand the message behind the ‘clean and articulate’ remark which anyone with any personal character and integrity (and no political axe to grind) understood the ENTIRE quote as an accurate statement and a compliment to Senator Obama.

I would really have to question why on earth you would even bring up the ‘plagiarism’ allegation which you seem to understand is a non-event and a non-issue. I am curious as to your motivations and intentions.

It is obvious that you don’t understand the first thing about what makes Senator Biden tick - not by a long shot! Not when you use terms such as “gaffe-prone”, “policy wonk”, and “know-it-alls” and imply that Biden’s straight talk could be a liability for the Obama campaign. It sounds to me like you may have bought into those media-driven national myths they have created about Joe Biden - hook, line and sinker. That is not only sad, depressing and exceedingly frustrating for a Biden fan like myself, but it amounts to a tragic attempt to sell the country short and help to deprive the people of truly great leadership.

[toochie50]

Bravo RebaG
he is as REAL as they come yes in deed!

[Cristina Chang - Huffpost Blogger]

First of all, let me make clear, I did not call Biden Obama's the greatest liability, I said his "version of straight talk" is his greatest weakness. In a media that concentrates on controversy, he may and will be easily and even willfully misinterpreted, and just because it isn't fair or being taken out of context doesn't mean it's not going to happen.

I agree that the Niel Kinnock and Dunkin' Donuts controversy has been blown out of proportion, and I apologize for not citing the full story about the Kinnock controversy earlier, an idea that surfaced after I had sent the article.

[rcksgl]

Christina, the man you described, one who can't help but fumble, would never garner the respect Sen. Biden has with leaders at the pentagon, the halls of congress, and foreign governments.

As for the 'gaffes' you cite...
Perhaps you are unaware that in previous speeches during his first presidential run, Biden cited the quote to Neil Kinnick. Or that past the light of a competitive race against Sen. Obama, his comment about the candidate is considered completely benign and complimentary. And while the Dunkin' Donuts comment was clearly a mistake, would you be more apt to trust a man who sings, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran?:"

Once someone gets a reputation for something, it's difficult to break, be it Gerry Ford's clumsiness -- he wasn't -- or Biden, a man of supreme intellect, being labelled a gaffer. Especially when his competitors hope that their efforts in such branding -- the RNC website has a "TIME SINCE LAST BIDEN GAFFE" clock -- will lead well intentioned folks like you to fear his involvement in this process.

[RebaG]

Sorry, you're wrong. Senator Biden will NOT be "the greatest liability for the Obama campaign" for 8 simple reasons -- the first eight paragraphs of your post. This is a man who is as American as it gets and people get him. Only the media (yes, you are the media) seem to have a problem with him. Maybe because you're all so used to being lied to, spun and manipulated and Joe just doesn't paly that game.