Don't Put a Muzzle on Biden

So Senator Joe Biden is the pick. The wait for the text message is over. Everyone can go back to their business.

The temptation for Barack Obama's team will be to keep Biden on a short leash, as the pundits have been advising. Senator Biden is notorious for speaking before he thinks, which often gets him into trouble and has plagued his political career. In 2006, for example, Biden displayed made an exceptionally insensitive comment when he said, in front of C-SPAN cameras, "in Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I am not joking."

Biden's penchant for poorly-thought out remarks violates an important characteristic for vice presidential candidates in this 24 hour, instant media age--pick someone who won't make an embarrassing mistake and turn into a liability for the campaign.

But Biden's quick verbal skills can be an asset for Democrats, and they should risk giving him room to speak his mind. The fact is that Democrats have not had a good "attack dog" as their vice presidential nominee for a long time. Just think of 2004, when Senator John Edwards sat there in a televised debate with his polished smile as Vice President Cheney systematically eviscerated his record and the Democratic Party in general.

Biden is a different kind of vice presidential candidate. During this campaign, Biden has offered some of the most biting comments about how Republicans have conducted the war on terrorism and foreign policy. In one debate, Biden offered a devastating critique of then Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani--and implicitly the entire Republican Party--when he said that all of Giuliani's sentences consisted of "a noun, a verb, and 9/11." Biden has called Bush's administration the "worst" in modern history with regards to foreign policy and argues that "every single thing they've touched has been a near disaster." He has been equally tough in his criticism of Senator John McCain. "The administration's policy and John McCain's view-- and I love him--are abject failures. We have never been weaker in relative terms than we are today," Biden said of their foreign policies.

This is the election when Democrats have the opportunity to go on the attack. The incumbent president is overwhelmingly unpopular, the economy is facing tough times, there is real confusion and uncertainty in foreign policy, and the Republican candidate only has tepid support from key factions in his own party.

From a strategic perspective, this is not the time for Democrats to play nice. Biden is the perfect candidate to take on this challenge, a man with a wealth of foreign policy expertise and political experience, yet a hardened politician who is willing to be as aggressive with the GOP as they have been with Democrats in recent elections. Democratic operatives should take the risk and give Biden some room to say the things that Obama himself probably can't say.

Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He is the co-editor of "Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s" (Harvard University Press) and is completing a book on the history of national security politics since World War II.

Comments

[SeattleGator]

Oh, please, ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!

[frappe]

"....From a strategic perspective, this is not the time for Democrats to play nice. Biden is the perfect candidate to take on this challenge, a man with a wealth of foreign policy expertise and political experience, yet a hardened politician who is willing to be as aggressive with the GOP as they have been with Democrats in recent elections..."

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I couldn't agree with you more. Having been witness to too many Democratic presidential campaign busts simply because of a (foolish) reluctance to fight back in ways that both inspire and make sense, I hope and pray that Obama does not fall prey to the same line of thinking. Because if we enthusiastically engage in this fight, we come out the victors -- and by a unanimous decision.

Let's face it, just about everyone in this country who wasn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth feels that the country, under Bush, has taken a decisive turn for the worst. When the vast majority of Americans readily acknowledge that we are on the wrong track, it makes enormous sense to reinforce and confirm those beliefs, making it all the easier for them, the voters, to thoroughly reject the Republican argument.

To paraphrase Paul Begala from the other day, the Obama campaign needs to unashamedly hit the McCain campaign (and the Republican Party in general) with a metaphorical 2x4. They deserve it -- in spades. There should be no hesitation. NONE.

[gobarackgo]

"...this is not the time for Democrats to play nice. Biden is the perfect candidate to take on this challenge..."

That's why O picked Joe. Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumble.

[peter777]

Joe Biden can keep McCain occupied and befuddled for the next three months if he is not bridled. It should be interesting if the Democrats go after all the materials that the Republicans have provided for 8 disastrous years, with John McCain promising more of the same.

[Forest]

Finally, in Obama and Biden, we have two adults running for president.

[mosh]

It is the smack down, baby!

[S1m0n]

"in Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I am not joking."

What's the 'insensitive' part of this statement? There's no expression of disapproval about the facts he notes. In fact, there's nothing negative in it that I can see.

[Techboy308]

Thank you. I've thought the same thing myself for years. It's not a value judgement, just an observation.

[seedyrum]

The World is watching

what is Patriotism?

sending young men and women to fight a war based on lies

Watching as soldiers die and lose limbs for oil?

bringing the injured soldiers home to hospitals of mold and faulty plumbing and sewage?

BANKRUPTING AMERICA AND ITS CITIZEN FOR A BOGUS WAR?

Poisoning americans with inferior products and foods for profit?

making tax laws favoring the rich but when the rich are introuble with their business then using tax dollars to bail the rich out?

what is patriotism?

the World is watching

[mike53]

I hope they let Biden talk all he wants. It should be very entertaining.

[babyboomerorig]

I can't wait to see Biden take them all on. This is something we've needed for years.

You go, Joe!

[Oldbuck]

I total agree Biden will tell it like it is that what I like about him. I agree with Obama that we should act like grown up but if they don't want to play fair then send in Biden he take care of it.

[truegreen]

Let Biden, be Biden.

[Gemma08]

Yes!!!

[teacupsnpots]

Let Joe go at it

At least he started correctly.

After complimenting his friend, John McCain, he hooked him to Bush in a direct easy to understand way. Obama couldn't do that. He would infer it or talk around it but Biden just came out and said it.
That's the art of 10th grade level communication, one which lofty "eggheads" like Barack have to relearn. They have been schooled out of it and forgot how to say something simply and quickly. Hillary was good at that too but Biden is even more direct. Can he win most of Hillary's vote? I don't think so but the more he wins back, the better it will be.

The analogy is these two statements:

"Your visual acuity is excellent" vs. "You got good eyesight." Until Barack learns how to speak 10th grade again, he's lost.

[Aleka4]

Oh geez.

You tool. Think. It has nothing to do with how much education you have. Some people use a lot of words when 4 will do, and others use 4 when they need to use more. It is a "person" thing, not an intelligence or education thing. It isn't confined to "eggheads" (IMO using the term shows jealously and insecurity about your own intelligence levels) as I have seen non-educated people do the same thing.

I have never heard 0bama over-use big words, as you so pettily imply. He does sometimes over-explain, but again, nothing to do with "speaking 10th grade".

[mosh]

Hmmmmm perhaps. It's a thought. Glad Joe's on the ticket just in case you're somewhat right.

[allwrite]

Mr. Zelizer is proposing a strategy of attacking the Republican Party and its governing philosophy. Spot on! Sum up all the costs to the nation attributable to laissez faire economics (and its deregulatory side kick) and a trigger happy militancy and Hammer, Hammer, Hammer.

The Dems have been complicit, but the Pubs have been in the driver's seat for the last 28 years. May they get what they so richly deserve.