Vice-President Joe Biden’s
appearance on 60 Minutes with his
wife last Sunday was terrific. While
explaining his decision to remove himself from the 2016 presidential race
(Don’t try to argue he was never in the race, unless you are given to hiding
behind technicalities.), Mr. Biden came across as human, kind, introspective,
friendly, reasonable, bi-partisan, and devoted to his family and country…all
the things we’re looking for in a politician.
However, lot of pols can come across as whatever the voting public deems
desirable at any given time; doing so is part of the job description of a
successful “public servant.” So what
made this appearance so emblematic of Mr. Biden’s skill at his craft?
Mr. Biden’s only hope of
winning the Democratic nomination was for Hillary Clinton to somehow stumble,
either over a scandal or over her own words, which she seems to have some
difficulty selecting of late, but I digress.
At this point, the chances of such a stumble seem remote (See my 10/16/15 piece WILL
HILLARY BE WILD AND CRAZY…LIKE BILL ?), but not completely out of the realm of possibilities. And if she does, who has just set himself up
perfectly for a draft? Of course…Joe
Biden. While the appearance on 60 Minutes may not have had as its
primary objective making Mr. Biden the obvious choice if Mrs. Clinton somehow
blows it, setting such a table had to be a secondary objective. In any case, surely the masterful interview
had the result of making Joe Biden the obvious relief pitcher should Hillary
start throwing the game away.
Yes, it’s a long shot that
Hillary stumbles and Joe emerges. But
Mr. Biden’s candidacy was always a long shot, thoroughly dependent on Hillary
dropping the ball. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is that now Mr. Biden will
not have to go through the time, expense, and risk of running a campaign to
merely place himself in the wings. Especially
after his and Mrs. Biden’s appearance on 60
Minutes, Joe Biden is firmly in the wings without having to spend
brobdingnagain amounts of money and without running the risk of saying
something, er, subject to misinterpretation, always a big risk in Mr. Biden's case.
Yet another political master
stroke Sunday night was the grenade Mr. Biden lobbed at Paul Ryan. Mr. Biden welcomed Mr. Ryan’s ascension to
the Speakership, calling Mr. Ryan a “good guy” with whom the Democrats could
work. Does anyone who is not hopelessly
naïve really believe Mr. Biden thinks Mr. Ryan is a “good guy” after the
dismissive abuse Mr. Biden tossed Mr. Ryan’s way in their vice-presidential
debate? By calling Mr. Ryan a “good
guy” with whom the Democrats could work, Mr. Biden destroyed whatever shred of
support and respect Mr. Ryan had among that wing of the GOP that has not
dispensed with principle and thereby made Mr. Ryan’s upcoming tenure as House Speaker
even more challenging than it would already have been.
Finally, I’ve always liked
Joe Biden even though I disagree with him on nearly every issue of political
consequence. He seems engaging, funny,
gregarious, and even avuncular. On the
other hand, I’ve never liked Paul Ryan even though I agree with him on most
issues of political consequence. He
seems stiff, hypocritical, humorless, narcissistic, and even more childish than
your typical politician. I wasn’t the only one who felt this way about
Mr. Biden before last Sunday’s 60 Minutes
appearance, and surely our ranks have expanded after that triumph of
politicraft…yet more evidence of the political brilliance of Joe Biden.
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