Thoughts On Biden, Before He Was VP Pick

Mark Halperin from Time Magazine posted an anonymous memo from a Democratic strategist I want to reproduce in full here, as it echoes some of my own thoughts. Note that this was circulated before Biden was in fact selected.

“Biden is deeply thoughtful, serious, passionate, experienced, highly knowledgeable, and incredibly sensible and clear when talking about major issues. He has a vast and creative understanding of politics and policy, a sharp mind, and a sincere heart. He’s totally ready to be president. Together, Obama and Biden would represent the best of the last 30 years of the Democratic Party, and the hope for the next 30.”

“Biden may be a ridiculous, overbearing blowhard, and he’ll doubtless make foolish blunders and imprudent comments if he’s on the ticket, but he’d still be an excellent campaigner, surrogate, and debater. He’d be thrilled at the prospect of being vice president (his own aspirations aside), and grateful and proud to have been chosen–he’d work hard to make Obama look good, and not deliberately outshine him–plus the chemistry will be appealing, and they genuinely like and respect each other, which will be winningly apparent.”

“Also, America is no longer a place where citizens care about plagiarism or hair plugs. A Biden pick would immediately elevate Obama’s gravitas, give him a semblance of humility, delight the media, and reassure the nation that a grownup is involved. Democrats would be simultaneously relieved and apprehensive, but they’d be pleased with the choice overall. Plus, Biden is Catholic, is a Washington insider in a good way (a hardworking man of the people unchanged by three decades inside the Beltway), and has a tragic history with a happy ending.”

Here's David Brooks - Hoping It's Biden

Also worth checking out is Josh Marshall re-posting of a 2004 interview he did with Biden.

Back in 2004, I sat down for an at-length interview with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) in his office on Capitol Hill. The context of the time was the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry, and the foreign policy particulars of four years ago. But I think it's still a very valuable prism to understand how he thinks about foreign policy. Biden is going to do plenty of interviews about foreign policy questions over the next two months. But it will be in the context of his running as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee. So obviously he'll be more careful, more scripted, less willing to think outloud about Iraq, Afghanistan and the differences between Democratic and Republican foreign policy thinking.