JOE BIDEN AS MIGHTY MOUSE, OR MAYBE BR'ER RABBIT: SOMEBODY’S READERS ARE NOT SURPRISED

5/30/16

Now that the major party nominees have been more or less decided, or as decided as anything can be in this year’s madcap presidential selection process, the talk has turned to running mates (See HILLARY WON’T PUTBERNIE SANDERS ON THE TICKET; INSTEAD, SHE’LL SELECT…, 5/21/16) and “what if?”s.  The most intriguing “what if” surrounds the albeit distant possibility that Hillary Rodham Clinton gets into legal trouble either before or after the convention.    Most of the talk of late has centered around Vice-President Joe Biden’s being drafted, doubtless kicking and screaming in the tradition of Br’er Rabbit, to save the day by carrying his party’s standard.

When my readers hear this “suddenly emerging” talk of Mr. Biden’s being called into service, they merely yawn and move onto the next story.   This is old news to them.   See

IS JOE BIDEN A POLITICAL GENIUS OR WHAT?

that yours truly wrote back on October 28, 2015.    The most telling, and prescient, paragraphs in that now seminal piece are as follows:

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 brobdingnagian amounts of money and without running the risk of saying something, er, subject to misinterpretation, always a big risk in Mr. Biden’s case.

Bold emphasis added by yours truly.   But do read the entire piece; it is rich with nuggets of wisdom.

It’s still a very long shot that Mr. Biden somehow gets the big prize, but, so far, the effort has cost him nothing so the payoff would approach infinity.   Say what you will about the man, but Mr. Biden knows his craft.