SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Barack Obama on Saturday described Joe Biden, his newly picked running mate, as a leader with a “distinguished record and a fundamental decency” who will be his partner in putting the country “back on track.”
Biden, a veteran senator from Delaware, used his first vice presidential appearance to launch attacks on Republicans and John McCain.
“You can’t change America when you know your first four years as president will look exactly like the last eight years of George Bush’s presidency,” the 65-year-old Biden said to a crowd — estimated at 35,000 by the Obama campaign — in front of the Old State Capitol.
“I’ve been disappointed in my friend John McCain, who gave in to the right wing of his party and yielded to the very Swift-boat politics that he so once deplored,” he said.
Obama, who announced he was running for president here more than 19 months ago, emphasized Biden’s strengths in foreign policy and his record in the Senate. He also pointed to Biden’s working-class roots.
“He’s that unique public servant who is at home in a bar in Cedar Rapids and the corridors of the Capitol, in the VFW hall in Concord and at the center of an international crisis,” Obama said. “He’s an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class. He has stared down dictators and spoken out for America’s cops and firefighters.”
Biden, who is chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, is widely viewed as adding national security and international affairs bona fides to the Obama ticket. Biden spent last week in Georgia during that country’s conflict with Russia. Although he initially supported the war in Iraq, he has repeatedly criticized the Bush administration for mismanaging it.
A blunt Irish Catholic from a working-class family in Scranton, Pa., Biden is expected to help Obama deliver his message to blue-collar voters throughout the country. Obama struggled to connect with many of those voters during the Democratic primary.
Jogging out on the long, black stage in sweltering heat, a jubilant Biden waved to the crowd and hugged Obama. His wife, Jill, and his three adult children were sitting nearby. His son Beau, a captain in the Army National Guard, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in October.
Referring to McCain, whom he called a “genuine” friend, Biden said the Arizona senator will have to “figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at” when trying to sort out the country’s economic issues. The remark was a jab at McCain’s recent comment that he did not know how many homes he owns.
Immediately after the event, the McCain campaign jumped on comments Biden made about Obama while both were running in the Democratic primary.
“Nothing has changed since Joe Biden first made his assessment that Barack Obama is not ready to lead. He wasn’t ready then, and he isn’t ready now,” said McCain spokesman Ben Porritt.
Earlier in the day, Republicans put out a video showing Biden criticizing Obama last year for lacking experience in international affairs.
Biden was expected to return to Delaware on Saturday night and is scheduled to arrive in Denver on Monday. His vice presidential speech at the Pepsi Center is Wednesday.
The choice of Biden, who has been a senator for more than 30 years, indicates Obama decided experience, not change, was needed to bolster his campaign. However, in his speech, Obama referred to Biden as a man who “brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn’t changed him.”
The father of three and grandfather of five was formally offered the job when Obama called him Thursday night. The pick remained a secret until nearly midnight Friday, when the news started to leak out. The Obama campaign sent out a text message to thousands of supporters announcing the choice about 1 a.m. MDT Saturday.
After the announcement, Democrats resoundingly backed Biden as vice president. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who ran against Obama in a hard-fought primary and was considered a potential VP pick, said Biden is “an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant.”
He edged out a number of others reportedly in contention, including Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. On Tuesday, purportedly before he was asked to be Obama’s running mate, Biden told reporters: “I’m not the guy.”
Biden’s bluntness has caused problems for him in the past. Right after he announced he was running for president, Biden described Obama as “articulate and bright and clean,” which some took as a racially loaded statement. He apologized.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
Back him or balk?
Political experts pondered Saturday the pros and cons of Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate.
Positives
Experience. Has served as chairman of Judiciary Committee and now chairs the Foreign Relations Committee. Republicans and Democrats praise his mastery of international affairs.
Biography. Working-class, Irish-Catholic roots and colloquial rhetorical style appeal to “lunch-bucket Democrats” and may peel off some independents.
Good guy. “He seems to be one of these people who’s just a good guy,” said Paul Allen Beck, a political scientist at Ohio State University. “It would be harder to level elitist charges at Biden, which you can’t say about Obama.”
Negatives
Caught cheating. While running for president in 1987, was caught plagiarizing a political speech. Was then forced to admit he failed a law school class for plagiarism.
Experience. Watch to see how a base that embraced a “change” campaign reacts to a longtime Washingtonian on the ticket.
Loose cannon. In the primary campaign, Biden said Obama “was the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
Chuck Plunkett, The Denver Post
