Joe Biden: Like Dick Cheney, But a Necessary Risk

I spoke about the Joe Biden pick being similar to the Dick Cheney pick for Vice President in 2000. Now here is an article that really breaks it down that I found very intriguing to read. Obama-Biden is similar to Bush-Cheney 2000 regardless if we like it or not. It is a good and bad thing but remember Bush-Cheney 2000 went on to have two terms as President and Vice President. So here goes the article that is written Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, specializes in polling of electoral battleground states, including Ohio and Florida. Click here for Mr. Brown’s full bio. Write to Peter Brown at peter.brown@quinnipiac.edu.

Sen. Barack Obama probably would not like the comparison, but on paper his choice of Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate looks a lot like President George W. Bush’ s pick of Dick Cheneyeight years ago. But there is one striking difference. Sen. Obama’s selection signals his willingness to ignore the conventional wisdom that a running mate should never pose a potential risk to the ticket.

He made the choice knowing that Sen. Biden was on videotape during the primaries saying that Sen. Obama lacked the foreign affairs experience to be president. Given that polls show millions of Americans are skeptical of Sen. Obama on that issue, the selection provides the Republicans potentially effective campaign fodder. There’s also another video clip of Sen. Biden saying he would be happy to run against Republican John McCain as the Democratic nominee – or to be his running mate. Whether those video clips become a serious problem for Sen. Obama remains to be seen, but Sen. McCain’s decision to promptly air a TV ad using Sen. Biden’s remarks shows the GOP views the choice as a gift.

Obvious Differences, Surprising Similarities
To be sure, the comparison of the Cheney and Biden selections is inexact because of the obvious differences in party and ideology. Yet in many aspects they are surprisingly similar. In 2000, President Bush, then a two-term Texas governor, lacked Washington and foreign affairs experience, although at that point — prior to 9/11 and the re-emergence of the Russian bear — national security was not the huge issue it is now.

Mr. Bush picked Mr. Cheney, a former defense secretary, White House chief-of-staff and longtime member of Congress from Wyoming. He didn’t care that Mr. Cheney, then the CEO of oil service giant Halliburton Co., brought him little politically since Wyoming’s three electoral votes were sure to be in the GOP column. Mr. Bush wanted a more-experienced running mate who was prepared both to become president and attack the Democrats.

Similarly, Sen. Biden’s selection won’t make a difference in his home state of Delaware, whose three electoral votes are going for Sen. Obama unless the election turns into a GOP landslide. What he has going for him in Sen. Obama’s eyes is his 35-year Senate career, strong standing in the party, and demonstrated ability to be a partisan attack dog during the campaign. And there is some hope – although no evidence yet — that Sen. Biden’s working-class roots and Roman Catholic faith might help Sen. Obama among white voters without college educations, a group with which he is weak.

Foreign–and Washington–Expertise
At age 65, Sen. Biden is 18 years older than Sen. Obama, well respected within the Washington Beltway as one of the Democratic Party’s leading experts in foreign affairs. He is very much a member of the Washington establishment that Sen. Obama has promised to shake up. In fact, Sen. Biden’s vote for the Iraq War in 2002 was one of the keys to President Bush’s ability to put together a coalition to authorize the invasion, although he has since become a major critic of the president’s war policy.

It is foreign affairs and national security – and Sen. Obama’s perceived weakness on those issues — that put Sen. Biden on the Democratic ticket. There are questions whether voters, especially the undecided millions, will see his Senate career as giving the Democratic ticket sufficient expertise to keep the nation safe. But Sen. Biden was the only person under serious consideration for the vice presidency with a chance to accomplish that very important task. The McCain campaign’s effort to make Sen. Obama’s lack of experience, especially in foreign affairs, a major talking point. And it is clear those attacks have been working.

A Dead Heat Race
When the summer began, polls showed Sen. Obama with at least a high single-digit lead and heading to an Electoral College landslide. In late August, he is entering his own nominating convention in a dead heat with Sen. McCain. That is why Sen. Biden’s disparaging remarks about Sen. Obama’s qualifications to be president are such a potential problem for the Democrats. Presumably, Sen. Biden now believes Sen. Obama is well-qualified.

That raises the question of whether Sen. Biden really meant what he said the first time – God forbid, a politician not being always truthful — or honestly believes the experience of being a presidential candidate somehow makes one better able to deal with Islamic terrorism and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Democrats, of course, argue that Sen. Biden’s comments came during the senator’s own campaign against Sen. Obama for the presidential nomination and voters will take them in that context.

They may well turn out to be correct. In any case, Sen. Obama probably did not have much choice. With the polls showing increasing voter wariness of Sen. Obama’s foreign affairs expertise, Sen. Biden was the obvious pick, and his past remarks became a necessary risk.