Biden's warnings
Posted: Monday, October 20, 2008 4:45 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Joe Biden
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
Over the course of five fundraisers on the West Coast this weekend, Biden offered some pretty honest assessments of the state of the race, even by his standards.
He warned that the polls will tighten. He said that some undecided voters in battleground states are still having a difficult time with the idea of voting for an African American. And, he expressed concern that some of the earlier sentiments on display at McCain and Palin rallies were “dangerous,” particularly amongst those who aren’t “stable.”
Attracting the most attention this morning was his prediction on Sunday that within six months of his administration, Obama would be tested just as John F. Kennedy was.
“Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," Biden said. "And he’s gonna have to make some really tough -- I don’t know what the decision’s gonna be, but I promise you it will occur. As a student of history and having served with seven presidents, I guarantee you, it’s gonna happen.”
The McCain campaign has pounced on the statement as Biden perhaps implying that Obama could not handle a crisis alone. The Obama campaign disagrees, however, saying Biden just “referenced the simple fact that history shows Presidents face challenges from day one.”
And they emphasize the larger context of Biden’s statement, that the nation would be “in the right hands” with Obama. The help Biden was calling for was as support for Obama would have to make “sound,” though likely unpopular decisions.
"Be prepared to stick with us," he said. "Remember the faith you had at this point because you’re going to have to reinforce us."
It is noteworthy, though, how similar Biden’s comments were to a statement in June by McCain supporter Joe Lieberman, one that was strongly criticized by Obama supporters.
“Our enemies will test the new president early,” Lieberman said on “Face the Nation.” “Remember that the truck bombing of the World Trade Center happened in the first year of the Clinton administration. 9/11 happened in the first year of the Bush administration.”
Biden’s assessment would seem in line with Lieberman’s, but rather than evoking the potential for a crisis as evidence Obama was not ready, Biden raised the notion to argue precisely the opposite.
“They're going to want to test him, just like they did young John Kennedy,” he said Saturday night in San Francisco.” They're going to want to test him. And they're going to find out this guy's got steel in his spine.”
