Biden Cuts To The Chase at 11/15 Debate
Senator Biden may have a reputation for long-winded answers, but faced with little air time at the last debate he set the standard for no-nonsense responses that left viewers with a clear understanding of his grasp of complex issues and of how he would deal with those issues as president. No other candidate offered such clarity on the challenges we face in Pakistan and Iran.
In my opinion, the only other person on the stage who expresses his views as forthrightly, without consideration of how they will be taken by the chattering classes, is Rep. Kucinich. I wish the world were ready for a Kucinich presidency, but it isn't. (I do give Senator Obama credit for being willing to address issues like higher taxes and higher energy prices.)
But I do believe the country and world are ready for a Biden presidency. None of the candidates are perfect, but Biden has an incredible combination of traits that I want to see in our next president.
Biden will tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, and is willing to forego the presidency if he we reject his view of the world we face. I don't believe some of the other candidates meet that standard.
We are in a global economy, and a global society, and the number one challenge for the next president will be in the foreign policy arena. Foreign trade, immigration, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global warming, you name it, they are all foreign policy issues. No other presidential candidate has Biden's experience in foreign policy, experience well-respected by all of his Senate colleagues, with whom he would have to work closely as president.
Biden has made a commitment to veterans that stands above the commitment of any of the other candidates, so far as I know. He told a veterans group that as president that he would fully fund our veterans health and medical care programs as a first priority of Federal spending. He states, "we have a sacred obligation to take care of our veterans." There is true passion in his voice when he makes that statement.
There's more, but that's all for this entry.
