Biden: Difference This Time It’s ‘Okay to Lose’

The crowd of 100 people gathered at the Waverly Civic Center Tuesday night was hushed and thoughtful as Delaware Sen. Joe Biden answered an audience member’s question regarding the difference between this run for the White House and his previous bid.

Biden, a long-time member of the United States Senate, made a previous bid for the White House in the late 1980s, only to drop when he neglected to provide attribution for a portion of a speech by Neil Kinnock, then leader of the British Labour Party, during an Iowa campaign stop. Although Biden, who was considered the 1988 frontrunner, had previously used text from the speech with attribution on many occasions, the one where he did not was caught on video by aides to rival Michael Dukakis, and the incident brought about the end to Biden’s campaign. Dukakis would later fire John Sasso, campaign manager and long-time chief of staff, over the incident.

“You mentioned on Tim Russert a couple of weeks ago that maybe the last time you ran — and I am paraphrasing — that you were maybe a little to arrogant, maybe a little too confident,” said the man who also confessed that he had voted Republican since the mid-1970s. “How has that changed now?”

The man also suggested that Biden consider Arizona Sen. John McCain as his running mate, but Biden quickly dismissed that notion by saying that although McCain is one of his closest friends, and has been for 35 years, the two possess a fundamental divide when it comes to foreign policy.

“What’s different between now and then?” Biden asked as he summarized the question for those who couldn’t hear. “Look, I want to make it clear to you. I don’t think that I’m the guy Diogenes found — the only honest man. That’s not the case I’m making. I’m not making the case that, you know, I’ll never tell a lie. What I’m saying is that I promise you I’ll tell you what I think. I promise you. I promise you I will tell you what I think is needed — and I’ll make the case for it. This is because some things are worth losing an election over.”

Biden went on to discuss the May vote to fund the troops in Iraq. Despite campaign advisers cautioning him that his vote would be construed as being in favor of the war, Biden was the only Democratic presidential contender to give approval to the measure and has stated, on many occasions, that he made the right choice.

“This is the key difference between 22 years ago and today,” he said. “Today, I know exactly why I want to be president. I’m not saying I know I’m right about everything, but I know why I want to be president. I know what I will try to do. The difference between then and now is an easy call. That vote was worth losing an election over.

“I respect the fact that you thought that vote was in support of the war and that I shouldn’t have done it. But as long as there is one single, solitary soldier in harms way that I know I can protect — that I know I can materially increase their chance of surviving — I will do it.”

The difference this time around for him, Biden said, “is that it’s okay to lose.”

“I really mean that,” he added. “I want to be your president. But if the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘I guarantee you, Joe, that Barack or Hillary or John or Chris will do a better job than you as president’ — I give you my word that I’d say “thank you, God, I can go home.’”

Biden said he is running because — “honest to God” — he feels he is the most qualified. Linda Engel, a former Republican who switched her party affiliation three months ago to caucus for a Democrat, said she agrees.

“I used to listen to [Biden] during the [Robert] Bork confirmation hearings,” said Engel. “I like what he says. A lot of it just makes sense and I do think he is the most qualified. The Republican side of me hates to admit it, but I do think he is the most qualified. He has the experience.”

Engel, a resident of Waverly, says she has been to campaign events for many candidates on both sides of the political aisle.

“I like a lot of the things the Republicans have to say individually, but the lump of any one candidate doesn’t appeal to me,” she said. “I decided that I hated the idea of Hillary Clinton being the nominee enough — I believe ‘ABC,’ Anybody But Clinton — that I had to go over to the Democratic side just so I could try and stop that.

“And the reason I don’t like Hillary’s candidacy is that she professes to be this liberated woman and this epitome of women’s liberation and, really, she got where she is by following the 50′s motto of picking a guy who had potential, grooming him and making him into what she wanted to be — so that she could end up in the White House. That’s not women’s liberation… I have no respect for her as a liberator of women.”

During the event, Engel asked Biden for his views on immigration. In particular, she wanted to know if he was in favor of building a wall between the United States and Mexico. Biden told her and the audience that he did not favor or wall — or a moat — since neither would solve the problem. He proposed talks with the Mexican government to persuade them to take better care of their own citizenry.

“I think we really need to look at the immigration policy with Mexico,” Engel said. “I really am opposed to the wall. And I really think the people we need to create a policy about are not the educated, engineering-type people, but the people who do the stuff that we don’t want to do. I mean, I can’t think of anyone who wants to go out and pick tomatoes or strawberries. We need those people who are willing to come and do that. So, there needs to be some sort of mechanism to make it work. I’m not pretending to say how that needs to be. By that same token, I’m not saying that they need to be entitled to our health care and our education unless they become citizens.”