Biden is a 2008 Contender

Rumor hath it, from a reliable source close to insiders, that Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is very serious about running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Biden has said he was considering it, but from what I hear, consider him a contender.

Listening to Biden in the last couple of years, I've been impressed by his relaxed and knowledgeable common sense, independence of mind, and centrism. To sample his thinking, here's an ironic snippet from a March 2004 interview with Talking Points Memo's Joshua Micah Marshall:

In 1994, when I was pleading with the president to use force in the Balkans . . . I made a very controversial speech . . . saying I believe countries forfeit their sovereignty when they engage in certain activities --- genocide being one of those activities, harboring terrorist organizations with the knowledge that they are doing damage to other nations.

I was roundly criticized by the foreign policy establishment in my party for that at the time and ironically by the Republicans. When I introduced legislation here to give the president authority to use force in Kosovo the people who blocked it were the conservative Republicans. And if you go back and look at their argument it was the sovereignty of Yugoslavia --- ‘we had no right to intervene’.

Biden made a fine distinction between what might roughly be called neoliberal and neoconservative foreign policies. The main difference, it seems to me, is the arrogance quotient:

[T]here's kind of a new standard that has emerged, that I think is the combination of what I refer to as this enlightened nationalism, that we operate in our national interests in every circumstance where we can under the umbrella of international rules and the international community. But where the damage and danger is irrefutable, we reserve the right to act in our own interest or in the interest of humanity, if we have the capacity. And that is a different standard than existed for the first 27 years I was a United States senator.

That is different than the standard and the rationale of our neoconservative friends. They argue that the exercise of force is important because we are at the apex of our power and that we are more enlightened than the rest of the world. And when we have the ability to exercise force it allows us to leverage our power in direct proportion to the moral disapprobation of the rest of the world.

Back in 1988, the ambitious, prolix young candidate was a disappointment, and not only because of his unattributed "borrowings" from British Labor leader Neil Kinnock and others. But during the run-up to the 2004 primaries, when he appeared often as a talking head on TV, I often found myself frustratedly wishing Biden would run, now that he's matured.

Be careful what you wish for, 'cause you just might get it!

Unfortunately, my source also points out that in preparation for his run, Biden has begun tacking to the left, making the obligatory play for the "base" that is still believed (against all the laws of baseball!) to be out there in left field somewhere. Both diehard centrists, my friend and I agreed that this would be another huge disappointment and fatal mistake. For God's sake, Hillary, of all people, is doing just the opposite! ("That's because Bill is her Karl Rove," Deep Throat joked.)

Listen up, Joe -- that's not a base, it's a rump. Traditional liberalism is ready for the taxidermist. (Sorry, Dad. Don't get mad, get even.) Anyone who wants to compete with the booming new "conservatism" -- which is so far from traditional conservatism, both fiscally and internationally, that it needs a new name -- will have to invent something totally new, equally paradoxical and vital.

And, Joe, listen to Hiram Wurf at WurfWhile, and get your website's act together. Those bad links are so lame.

- amba

Comments

[Michael]

Heh.. define what you mean by the liberal 'rump'.

I think the right wing in this country has managed to so change the groundrules of political discourse in this country that folks like myself, who would have been considered fairly moderate 12 years ago, are now demonized as 'left wing radicals' and accused of embracing treason by the like of Ann Coulter.

Frankly, I think the right wing in far too many of its manifestations shows very authoritarian, and even Stalinist tendencies, and in subsuming truth to political goals.

Maybe Biden knows what he's doing.....

[MrProliferation]

I was also eagerly hoping Biden would run in 04, and was disappointed when he didn't. I also lament his possible turns to the left. I think many in the Democratic party are starting to realize the problem of this "rump" and what it is costing them, however. Dean and Reid mean the complete end of the gun-control lobby's power, and many pro-life candidates are starting to run under the Dem banner. Perhaps Joe will wise up and drop this act. We can hope at least.

[Stewart Epstein]

In 1987-88, I was Joe Biden's County Coordinator in Clinton, Iowa...if he runs in 2008, he has my vote and services available again. Folks, look up Joe's ratings by the Americans for Democratic Action and the American Conservative Union...Joe is and has always been liberal on the economic and political issues that matter: health care, education, the elderly, children, and the environment--issues Americans have always wanted more government action and spending on...run on the economic issues, not the social issues, and you win because Joe is not as liberal as Kerry...check the ratings..now, I may jump ship if Barack Obama decides to run...Obama is AWESOME !!!!...Either would make a great President.