Pardon the hackneyed slogan, but there’s nothing more decisive and succinct to say in regards to who should occupy the White House for the next four years. Now, Joe Biden has been mired in controversy–unduly and wrongfully–after some comments of his regarding Barak Obama’s race were sadly taken out of context, not surprisingly, by political correctness. Consequently, one of the sharpest and most presidential candidates is being forced to squander all-important media time on making pathetic apologies in leu of doing what he does best, like offering real and imaginative solutions to one of the most pressing issues of our time: who or what killed Anna Nicole Smith?
Joe Biden certainly isn’t the first viable and respectable candidate to be judged unfairly. Can anyone say “The Scream??” In a moment of regrettable exuberance, Howard Dean celebrated his fourth place victory in the 2004 Iowa caucus with an ear-piercing “yee-haw,” subsequently, reducing the sincerest (only) opponent of the Iraqi War to a late-night casualty. Okay, I’m not saying that as a comedian I wasn’t ripping into Howard Dean like it was going out of fashion; but as a citizen I wasn’t too jocular. How can someone ahead by twenty points in the polls suddenly fizzle out? Perhaps it was a pre-emptive move by the giant media enterprises to strike Howard before he could strike them. “We’re going to break up the giant enterprises,” said Howard Dean in an interview with Chris Matthews.
Then, during the week leading up to the New Hampshire primary, the media obsessed about Dean’s “bizarre” rally incident, adding “un-presidential” and “emotionally unstable” to its descriptions of the governor. That Howard yelped in an explosive manner (as if there’s any other way to yelp) had little to do with the public’s perception of him as presidential, I think. Howard Dean fell because he advocated media divestment, a policy that would hold media responsible not to shareholders, but to the public where it belongs.
By mentioning Howard Dean I’m not suggesting that his maverick attitude toward corporate power in any way relates to Joe Biden’s recent brainfart (which is exactly what it was); however, I am merely pointing out how invidious the media can be toward presidential candidates. I don’t think Biden’s “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” remark is equivalent to saying, “We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either,” which were Trent Lott’s segregationist remarks at Strom Thurmond’s 300th birthday celebration. To those of you who say that I’m favoring implicit racism or ‘soft bigotry’ over explicit racism, go and masticate the excessively hot fascia of an excessively hot gallus domesticus:) But seriously, as a misanthrope I hate mankind on a whole. As far as the articulate, bright and clean gaffe, I sincerely don’t think he was discounting the verbal prowess of some of the past black candidates (i.e., Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton), but rather making a clear-cut distinction between lofty and genuine speech that’s designed to inform, from merely incendiary demagoguery that’s designed to inflame.
Here’s what the media should but isn’t covering about Joe Biden (courtesy of his webpage):
A Five Point Plan for Iraq
1. Establish One Iraq, with Three Regions
Federalize Iraq in accordance with its constitution by establishing three largely autonomous regions - Shiite, Sunni and Kurd — with a strong but limited central government in Baghdad
Put the central government in charge of truly common interests: border defense, foreign policy, oil production and revenues
Form regional governments — Kurd, Sunni and Shiite — responsible for administering their own regions
2. Share Oil Revenues
Gain agreement for the federal solution from the Sunni Arabs by guaranteeing them 20 percent of all present and future oil revenues — an amount roughly proportional to their size — which would make their region economically viable
Empower the central government to set national oil policy and distribute the revenues, which would attract needed foreign investment and reinforce each community’s interest in keeping Iraq intact and protecting the oil infrastructure
3. Convene International Conference, Enforce Regional Non-Aggression Pact
Convene with the U.N. a regional security conference where Iraq’s neighbors, including Iran, pledge to support Iraq’s power sharing agreement and respect Iraq’s borders
Engage Iraq’s neighbors directly to overcome their suspicions and focus their efforts on stabilizing Iraq, not undermining it
Create a standing Contact Group, to include the major powers, that would engage Iraq’s neighbors and enforce their commitments
4. Responsibly Drawdown US Troops
Direct U.S. military commanders to develop a plan to withdraw and re-deploy almost all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2007
Maintain in or near Iraq a small residual force — perhaps 20,000 troops — to strike any concentration of terrorists, help keep Iraq’s neighbors honest and train its security forces
5. Increase Reconstruction Assistance and Create a Jobs Program
Provide more reconstruction assistance, conditioned on the protection of minority and women’s rights and the establishment of a jobs program to give Iraqi youth an alternative to the militia and criminal gangs
Insist that other countries take the lead in funding reconstruction by making good on old commitments and providing new ones — especially the oil-rich Arab Gulf countries
Afghanistan and Darfur
If we should be surging forces anywhere, it is to Afghanistan. That country is not lost, but it is on the brink of a major comeback by the Taliban, Al Qaeada, warlords and drug traffickers. Our necessary investment in blood and treasure risks being squandered — we need an infusion of military and economic assistance and a plan to wean that country away from drugs.
This administration rightly called what’s going on in Darfur geneocide, but it has failed to match its words with deeds. Joe Biden has been calling for NATO to declare and police a “No Fly Zone” over Darfur; for an international peacekeeping mission we should impose if Khartoum says no; and serious sanctions against the regime which is aiding and abetting the slaughter of innocents.
Energy
Joe Biden believes that domestic energy policy is at the center of our foreign policy and economic policy. Most of the world’s oil is concentrated in nations that are either hostile to American interests or vulnerable to political upheaval and terrorism. Our oil dependence undercuts the advance of freedom and limits our options and influence around the world because oil rich countries pursuing policies we oppose can stand up to us and undermine the resolve of our allies. Profits from the sale of oil help fuel the fundamentalism we are fighting. High energy prices hurt business’ bottom line.
Joe Biden’s first priority is energy security. He believes we can strengthen security by reducing our oil consumption by increasing fuel efficiency, transitioning to farm-grown fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, and expanding the use of renewable energy. But we cannot stop there. Joe Biden would make a substantial national commitment by dramatically increasing investment in energy and climate change research and technology so that that United States becomes the world leader in developing and exporting alternative energy.
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