Obama-Biden

It will be a matter of time before the Republicans begin highlighting the obvious wordplay that can convert the Democratic ticket to Osama Bin Laden. I hope not too many fall for this. I am not surprised that a recent poll among white voters revealed that a full 16% believed Obama was a Muslim. Not that it should make any difference but these percentages are scary because even in a thoroughly modern USA, where access to information is universally available, it is very hard to think that people essentially continue to believe what they want to believe. As they say, the hardest to wake up is the person who is awake.

Biden brings a lot of experience and Washington savvy to the ticket. While I personally would have wanted to see Hillary as the running mate, it was solely Obama’s choice and deserves our complete support.

21 years ago, Biden made an unsuccessful bid for the Presidency, brought about in part when the Dukakis campaign circulated a video of Biden delivering a stump speech which he did not properly attribute to Neil Kinnock, a Welsh politician. While it is beyond dispute that Biden did not acknowledge Kinnock in the tape, it was established that he had properly recognized Kinnock in previous renditions of his speech that he must have repeated more than 50 times. What follows is the comparison of the 2 speeches:

Kinnock: "Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? ... Was it because our predecessors were thick? ... Was it because they were weak, those people who could work eight hours underground [as coal miners] and come up and play football, weak? ... It was because there was no platform upon which they could stand."

Biden: "Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? ... Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I'm the first Biden in ... generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest? ... Was it that they didn't work hard, my ancestors who worked in the coal mines of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours? ... It's because they didn't have a platform upon which to stand."

This will also come up during the next 9 weeks, I just hope that everyone realizes how badly we need change in the country. How we must leave Iraq as soon as possible, how we must have a sensible energy policy, how we must return to the values that made this nation great: industry, patriotism, making sure nobody is left behind. We’ve had enough of irresponsible tax cuts and unfair policies that favor the wealthy and powerful which has the effect of promoting unbridled greed and selfishness.

We need Obama-Biden to win.