Monday, October 20, 2008

Joe Biden Sends Obama to Clean the Augean Stables

Biden's latest comments about Obama being "tested" and the need to clean the Augean Stables of the Bush administration have created the predictable tizzy, both on the wacky left - who claim he's preparing us for "warmonger Obama" and the hysterical right, who claim this is a sign of Biden's baffoonery.

I have had a different reaction.

My reaction is basically this: Biden doesn't represent the wacky left or the hysterical right. What he represents is the reasonable middle. But Biden gives the reasonable middle some powerful color and candor. He's like a Rush Limbaugh of the middle: telling us what it is, in no uncertain terms.

This is one of the things about Biden that I've always loved.

What Biden is saying about Obama being "tested" overseas is probably true. All Democratic Presidents get this test (for instance Clinton). Biden was essentially saying, Obama will have to respond to such a test in a politically "middle" approach, one showing military strength, and the left will have to be patient with that (if they want to continue to maintain support for Obama's domestic agenda). He may have put this colorfully, he may be a bit premature in saying all this (better to have waiting till after November 4th to bring this up), but it's no doubt correct. And personally, it's no doubt the correct thing to do.

The scandalous thing here is, Biden is setting out a pretty moderate agenda for Obama. He's basically saying, "guys, don't buy into the Republican hype. We aren't really socialists. This is going to be a pretty centrist administration. But if you want us to be able to deliver on healthcare, economic improvement, and environmental protections - the key tenants we all share - then suck it up and accept that we're going to be moderates on everything else. And accept that the far-right rudder is going to take some time to steer back to the middle." But he says it with predictable Biden color.

It couldn't make me happier.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude Biden is freaking out because Powell's endorsement means that Obama is implementing the next stage of HW Bush's / Brzezinski NWO, thats why he voted for FISA (also supports death penalty!!!)Biden was trying to tell us this during the VP debate when emphasizing "FUNDAMENTAL" change like Obama says--the older tapes of Brz have him saying the same stuff, this is no joke why do you think all those Bush Repubs are switching to Obama, they're out to control Eurasia. Obama pretends to be moderate but hes a global interventionist on behalf of corporate interests, that's why people call him a warmonger

Anonymous said...

Joe Biden says the election of Obama may lead to a new conflict, terrorist attack, or a third war. A careful analysis of history says he may be correct.
http://strategicthought-charles77.blogspot.com/2008/10/can-we-afford-third-war-that-obama.html

Anonymous said...

It will take intelligence to deal with the complicated problems we face. Give me the people who use the term "Augean Stables" instead of "deep doo doo." Let's also remember that Hercules used brains AND brawn to take care of 30 years of neglect and clean up those stables.

What else can we hope for?