Joe Biden Joe Biden
By Ben Cohen
As a progressive, I have hard time getting excited by Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate. Biden has a sketchy record on a number of issues – the credit card industry, the war in Iraq, and his position on Israel to name few.
However, the loud mouthed Senator does have a few things going for him:
1. He has a loud mouth (This makes a refreshing contrast to Obama’s restrained Havard lawyer vernacular).
2. He likes to bash Republicans. His quote about Rudolph Giuliani only being able to mention three things in a sentence, "A noun, a verb and 9/11" was inspired.
3. He has ideas. They may not be great ones (like splitting Iraq up into three federal states), but they are a million miles better than the garbage passed of as policy by the Bush Administration.
4. He knows alot about foreign policy. He knew who Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites were before George Bush did, and he knows many foreign leaders who respect him a great deal.
And for those reason, Biden was probably the smartest choice for Obama, who lacks gravitas in the foreign policy department, and refuses to get into a mud fight with Republicans who are trying their hardest to drag him there. True progressives like Dennis Kucinich and Russel Feingold were never going to make the team, so Biden is a reasonable choice given the other options were Hillary Clinton and two other Senators you have never heard of (Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh).
By Ben Cohen
As a progressive, I have hard time getting excited by Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate. Biden has a sketchy record on a number of issues – the credit card industry, the war in Iraq, and his position on Israel to name few.
However, the loud mouthed Senator does have a few things going for him:
1. He has a loud mouth (This makes a refreshing contrast to Obama’s restrained Havard lawyer vernacular).
2. He likes to bash Republicans. His quote about Rudolph Giuliani only being able to mention three things in a sentence, "A noun, a verb and 9/11" was inspired.
3. He has ideas. They may not be great ones (like splitting Iraq up into three federal states), but they are a million miles better than the garbage passed of as policy by the Bush Administration.
4. He knows alot about foreign policy. He knew who Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites were before George Bush did, and he knows many foreign leaders who respect him a great deal.
And for those reason, Biden was probably the smartest choice for Obama, who lacks gravitas in the foreign policy department, and refuses to get into a mud fight with Republicans who are trying their hardest to drag him there. True progressives like Dennis Kucinich and Russel Feingold were never going to make the team, so Biden is a reasonable choice given the other options were Hillary Clinton and two other Senators you have never heard of (Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh).
Ben,
Why do you think splitting Iraq into states under a centralized federal government would be bad?
I don’t necessarily disagree with you; I am just wondering why you think it’s a bad idea.
Rick,
The reason I think it is a bad idea is because it isn’t Biden’s place to decide how to carve up a country he has nothing to do with. Iraq is a sovereign nation, and has the right to decide for itself. Biden’s arrogant statements smack of imperialism, and for that reason I think it is a bad idea. That’s not to say it’s worse than Bush’s ideas (he doesn’t have any), so it’s better than nothing!
Ben,
So, it’s not actually the IDEA that you oppose, but the imposition of anything upon the people of Iraq.
It seems that since there are such problems with the different factions of Iraqi people co-existing, one would hope they might arrive at such a solution on their own. Logically, it seems like the only feasible thing, unless they go back to a militaristic, or theologic, dictatorship.
I assume any attempts to create such a federalist division in Iraq would necessarily involve the Iraqi government (such as it is).
Rick,
I would hope that the Iraqis can find a workable solution to their terrible situation, but I don’t think it will happen in our life times. What that solution would look like, I do not know, but I agree, some sort of federal arrangement might be a good idea. The reason I don’t like Biden shooting his mouth off is that it isn’t his to carve up, just like it wasn’t his to invade (he voted for the invasion back in 2003). Biden should respect Iraqi sovereignty, just as he would expect everyone to respect American sovereignty.
Ben,
I totally agree. i don’t know that America can ever live down the disrespect shown the Iraqi people in this debacle. I suspect that Biden does respect Iraqi sovereignty. But then, one never really knows what someone else is thinking.
One thing about Biden is that he appears more genuine than some politicians, and sometimes sincere people speak their minds before they consider ALL the possible interpretations of their words. My guess is that Biden proposes this solution respectfully, and hopefully, not disrespectfully, as the Bush administration has treated the Iraqi people.
Of course, as soon as I read that sentence back, my cynicism strikes and I come back to, “One never knows…”