Joe Biden by Jon Sterngass

Author:Jon Sterngass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biographies
ISBN: 9781438199597
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
Published: 2020-12-16T03:45:40+00:00

"That's the kind of fighter who I want by my side"

Biden and Obama had served together on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but they had not been close. Biden resented Obama's quick rise to political celebrity and Obama viewed Biden as overly talkative and condescending. Obama's young staff tended to view Biden as 'yesterday's man.' Biden's gaffe about Obama being "a nice-looking guy" did not help.

The Democratic presidential campaign began a change in their relationship. Obama slowly came to appreciate Biden's campaigning style and appeal to working-class voters, while Biden acknowledged that Obama was a political genius and a potential winner. After winning the nomination, Obama began to consider Biden as a possible running mate.

Biden had lots of positive qualifications to be Obama's vice president. To begin with, Biden was thought to be too old for another run for the presidency in 2012 or 2016. That seemed to ensure he would be loyal to Obama with very little political drama. In addition, Obama was worried about a U.S. backlash against the first Black man running for the presidency. He believed that Biden, an older white running mate, would ease white fears in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana that Obama had lost in the Democratic primaries. Biden also had 36 years of experience in the U.S. Senate and was known as someone who was willing to work with Republicans and occasionally win their support. This would be a useful skill for a President who only a few years on the national stage.

Most of all, Biden gave Obama someone with foreign policy and national security expertise, especially regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. Biden had a deep understanding of international issues, and had participated in some of the most critical foreign policy debates in the past two decades. He could provide a sounding board on foreign affairs for Obama, especially in the early years when Obama would be finding his footing.

Biden's main liability, a serious one, was his tendency to drift away from prepared remarks and say whatever popped into his head. This lack of discipline occasionally led to gaffes. Obama's advisers presented about 30 alternative vice-presidential choices but although Obama considered all of them, he preferred Biden from the beginning. When it came time to decide in August, Obama chose Biden over two younger finalists—Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia (who would run for vice president with Hilary Clinton in 2016) and Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. Obama said that Biden "is still that scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds, the dedicated family man and committed Catholic who knows every conductor on that Amtrak train to Wilmington. That's the kind of fighter who I want by my side."

Only Biden was not sure he wanted to be vice president. He had spent more of his life in the Senate than out of it. He worried that the vice presidency would mean a loss in status and power from his position as senator. In some ways, he preferred to be secretary of state, a position that dealt solely with foreign affairs.

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