Biden: when Obama is faced with a crisis in six months you gotta support him

[Undertoad]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalra...to-suppor.html

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

[glatt]

wtf?

It will be interesting if he's right.

[glatt]

And now that I've actually read the article, I have to laugh.

After speaking for just over a quarter of an hour, Biden noticed the media presence in the back of the small ballroom.

"I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here," he joked.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by glatt

And now that I've actually read the article, I have to laugh.

Thats typical Biden - speaking outta both sides of his mouth and then when caught.... "Oh I was joking"
FAIL

[Undertoad]

Audio-only YT of the remarks:



Are they going to support him through his correct decision to do something? Or are they going to support him through his correct decision to do nothing?

[Clodfobble]

The YouTube audio stops before he tells the people in the room they're going to need to support him.

That said, I believe Biden's right, but I think it's going to happen regardless of who's elected. Things are very unstable right now in a lot of ways, and the new guy's going to get tested.

[classicman]

McCain has already been tested - repeatedly. Not that it makes him more fit to be President, but then again maybe it does. That's a personal decision.

[Griff]

McCain hasn't been tested as the guy driving the most powerful military machine on the planet. We know he handled himself when it was just him. We don't know if he possesses restraint. I'm going to try to support whoever it is to make the right decision. We know that maybe 1/3 of the country will not support anyone outside their party. They are the folks who are partisans not patriots. McCain or Obama needs the patriotic center plus the anti-patriots in their own party when crunch time comes. Let's hope they both know they own their partisans and serve the country not the base.

[Undertoad]

McCain is pointing out that, during the Cuban missile crisis, he was a pilot waiting on the tarmac with a target in Cuba.

That's some pretty powerful mojo, right there, I don't care who you are.

Meanwhile, want to get spooky?, people are pointing out that this line was in the first moments of Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama:

Originally Posted by Powell

The problems will always be there, and there's going to be a crisis come along in the 21st or 22nd of January that we don't even know about right now.

Forget six months, this is one day into the Presidency! What do they know that we don't? Or is it just coincidence.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

McCain is pointing out that, during the Cuban missile crisis, he was a pilot waiting on the tarmac with a target in Cuba.

That's some pretty powerful mojo, right there, I don't care who you are.

That means zero. Mojo was found in people making the decisions. Reminds me of John Henry who had the big muscles - therefore was a star among the naive. Bull. Mojo was the little guy, without a name, who made impossible possible - created a power drill.

McCain was just another dumb front line soldier doing his job. The real mojo is found in people who do the hard stuff - ie the negotiators who averted an end of the world by (among other things) subverting big dics, such as Gen Curtis LeMay who all but wanted to end the world. McCain in his little A-4 airplane had a tiny mission with an extremely high probability of survival. McNamara, Kennedy, et al with the least experience demonstrated real mojo.

What did they bring to the table? A larger grasp of basic concepts such as negotiate with everyone - especially your greatest enemy - and without preconditions. What is not popular even among the most experienced diplomats - that takes mojo. We now know we exist and are alive because those with the least experience, significant decision making abilities, and most responsibility made the only correct decision.

[classicman]

No Griff, he hasn't, neither of them have. But McCain has the experience and Obama has virtually none. I'm not saying it is all that matters, but it is a definite plus for McCain. Of that there can be no argument. How important it is to you as an individual voter is another issue entirely. There were many things that Biden said during the primary season where he called into question Obama's readiness. Only since getting the nod as the VP has his opinion changed.

[xoxoxoBruce]

McCain has what experience, being a prisoner of war? His options there were severely limited. "Waiting on the tarmac with a target in Cuba"? There again, his options were follow orders, or not.

Hopefully, the President will have several options, to any situation, and the wisdom and level-headedness to explore them all... and choose wisely.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by classicman

I'm not saying it is all that matters, but it is a definite plus for McCain.

I guess I put more weight on temperment. McCain will follow orders, as on the tarmac, but will he exercise good judgement? The hothead tag gives me pause.

[tw]

Originally Posted by classicman

No Griff, he hasn't, neither of them have. But McCain has the experience and Obama has virtually none. I'm not saying it is all that matters, but it is a definite plus for McCain.

I personally watched Fiorina make a similar silly claim. She knew that economies of scale would make HP more profitable. However once something is already big, then making it bigger does nothing. Fiorina was lying.

Once one has significant experience, then more experience provides little to none.

If experience was so important, then why are we still alive? Kennedy, the man with least experience, was so smart as to stop both generals and diplomats, all with generations of experience, from ending the world. When the Cuban Missile crisis started, a large majority wanted to 'blast them into the stone age'. We now know those with the most experience would have created a nuclear war – ended the world.

It's not about experience. For if experience was so important, then Regan was a disaster. His advisers so feared, during a private meeting with Gorbechev, that Regan would give away the store. Regan proved that the ability to think logically was clearly greater then experience in international diplomacy. And, what Regan did also made it possible for Gorbechev to help end the Cold War.

Experience is nice. But once one has significant experience, then more experience provides nothing but baggage.

Both McCain and Obama bring good things to the table. McCain is a maverick will to be adverarial even of his own party to work for smarter and more moderate programs. Obama has a long history of doing something that few leaders can do - bring together a concensus and cooperation.

Both men would make a good president if that alone was criteria for a decision. But McCain has a very serious problem. His administration will be dominated by the same people that George Sr so detested, that manipulated George Jr, and that make decisions based upon their political objectives rather than the interests of America. Any doubt that these people are in McCain's campaign were eliminated when McCain's VP choices were rejected to put Sarah Palin on the ticket.

[DanaC]

To me, experience doesn't count for much if you have displayed poor judgement through it. I'm sure Senator McCain was an excellent soldier, and has some stellar qualities, but the policies that have been most damaging to your country are policies he has supported overall. I know he's been a maverick and stood up to his party, but in the main he has supported Bush's neo-con agenda, and that includes the war in Iraq and the continued deregulation of financial markets.

More importantly, perhaps, his response when faced with an actual, bona fide crisis in the shape of last month's market meltdown, he showed little leadership, floundered for answers which, when they came, were disjointed, incoherent and unconvincing. The attitude he has displayed in discussions of his foreign policy have been dangerously bellicose and he has shown himself more than willing to play on Americans' darkest fears and most costly sacrifices in a deeply cynical campaign, at a time when Americans need something better.

I used to quite like McCain. This campaign has shown him to be empty of ideas. He is Bush with a few tweaks.

And as for Biden, I don't care how many sides of his mouth he talks out of, I would rather have him sitting a heart attack away from the Oval Office, than Sarah Palin, who frankly scares the shit out of me.