Joe Biden really gave three speeches last night. The most successful was the first –his identification with the struggle of ordinary working voters. Yes, it was a bit overwrought, but this is a Democratic Convention and their job is convince us everyone is being “knocked down”–as Biden says–and that only Barack Obama can pick them up. But in tone and theme is was on the money.
The second speech was aimed at McCain. Biden went not at McCain’s ideas, but at his “judgment.” This is the “best defense is a good offense” strategy: it is, of course, where Obama is most vulnerable. From his choice of associates (e.g. Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers) to his foreign policy views (e.g. moral equivalency between the U.S. and Russia, the surge) Obama is being hammered. If they can’t adequately defend him, they must reason that they can knock McCain down a peg. This part of the speech was problematic at best because the retort will be furious and Biden himself questioned Obama’s judgment and preparation.
The third element of the speech was the foreign policy “analysis”–including an effort to sound tougher on Russia and an attack on how “alone” we are in the world. Here the question remains whether this is just wasted breath and time. Polling is overwhelmingly, embarrassingly in McCain’s favor on national security and the war on terror. Which reminds me: the words “surge” and “Islamic terror” were never uttered. (“Al Qaeda” was mentioned once in passing for the notion that this threat resides in Afghanistan and Pakistan, blithely ignoring that in fact we and the Iraqis have been killing them by the thousands in Iraq.) The fact that the Democrats refuse to speak of such things may indeed be the explanation for why the public rates them so poorly on these issues.
It is a preview of things to come. Biden will likely now recede to the “B” and “C” news story of the day (unless a gaffe takes elevates him to the “A” story). Still, the question remains what Biden does for Obama and whether he helps or disrupts Obama’s messge. With Biden’s appearance the “change” and “experience is hooey” memes are severely compromised. And he does remind us how shallow and insignificant his running mate’s record is. As John Dickerson notes:
Biden talked at length about change in Washington, but with the tailored suit and leonine hair, he looks as much a Senate institution as the bean soup. Biden said Obama was ready to be commander in chief, but there are plenty of times when he’s said the opposite. “I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is,” he said during the primary. “It’s awful hard, with only a little bit of experience to have a clear sense of what you would do on the most critical issues facing us today.”
In the end, Biden’s greatest contribution may have been to remind Democrats that their best hope lies with kitchen tables, flickering lights, and empathy with financial woes of the middle class. Obama hasn’t connected very effectively yet in this area. He could do worse than to crib from Biden’s speech.
