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October 3, 2008 at 09:07:39     Permalink Joe Biden, Darfur, the Older Voter, and Appearing Presidential Diary Entry by E. Nelson (about the author)

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Joe Biden tackled the issue of Darfur, appeared Presidential, connected with older voters, and gave them hope that an Obama / Biden ticket would work hard to come up with fair and lasting solutions for our crises both in the economy and in providing affordable health care.

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Last night’s debate solidified confidence by millions of Americans in Joe Biden and reaffirmed the good judgment qualities that I believe Barack Obama has when it comes to moving our country forward. I confess I didn’t know a lot about Joe Biden other than remembering some of his great snappy one-liners during the early Democratic nomination process.

I, like millions of others, thought Hillary Clinton would have been a fantastic Vice Presidential pick for Barack Obama and I had serious reservations about having a relatively unknown Washington insider like Biden as the number two pick. Not anymore. No one in the Democratic party after watching last night’s debate can say they would not be comfortable with Joe Biden taking over the responsibilities of the Presidency. In fact all ideologies aside, I doubt many Americans could argue with any sense of honesty that Joe Biden would not be a highly qualified and highly competent President that would lead our country through any crisis with great confidence and conviction.

If you could find someone who hadn’t followed U.S. politics for the past 20 years and they just started to tune in over the past month and you told that person one of these four politicians, Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin had the nickname “Straight Talk Express”, I would be willing to bet after last night’s debate every person would say it was Joe Biden who was most deserving of the nickname.

Over the past few months I have had a hard time discerning from McCain why he was ever deserving of the nickname the “Straight Talk Express”. The duration of his flip-flops are no longer measured in days but rather now in hours. Last Monday in a morning campaign stop in Florida he said the “fundamentals” of the economy was strong and then 4 hours later he said the economy was in crisis.

The turning point for my wife was Joe’s answer on what an Obama / Biden administration would do about a humanitarian crisis like Darfur. She had been watching intently and reserving judgment on him up until that answer. His answer was refreshingly straight, honest and powerful. I haven’t seen a politician on this large of a national stage powerfully express that, as a leader in the free world, it is our moral duty to do whatever we can to assist and rectify humanitarian crises like the one that has been ongoing in Darfur. He did not hesitate to include military intervention if all other options were exhausted. As a Christian this is one time I feel a country of our stature has a moral obligation to use our military superiority in an interventionist manner. Not to invade and occupy a country for its oil and natural resources but to try and right an atrocity that is happening before our eyes. After his answer there was no doubt in our minds why Obama picked Joe Biden to be his second in command.

The Darfur question was the point in the debate where people who were truly tuned in and paying attention saw Sarah Palin in a moment of being asked to venture into the unscripted. A world not unlike what our next President will face every day in office. There is no coaching and there is no debate practice that will prepare anyone to hold the office and duties of the Presidency. Every day is an unscripted day in the oval office. This was probably the only question of the entire debate where it was doubtful that she had been adequately coached and it was a question Palin quickly side-stepped and moved back into the comfort of the scripted and the world of energy and oil talking points.

Shame on you Gwen Ifill for letting Sarah Palin side-step this question. That was by far the most disappointing point of the entire debate. This was the one question where Americans had a chance to see the real Sarah Palin, to see an answer that wasn’t laced with platitudes and talking points, and to truly convince older Americans that she has the judgment, the character, and the experience to lead our country out of any of the many crises that we now face. Older Americans, who are seeing their health care premiums explode upward and their pensions and retirement accounts disappear, don’t need talking points. They need real honest answers and solutions.

 

Eric Nelson is freelance writer, an editor at OpEdNews, and a spiritual progressive from Minnesota who has become more politically active. The reasons for this should be obvious to most; rising poverty, a broken health care system, and a growing (more...)
 

 

 
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