Reply #19: hello, IndianaGreen

[iverglas]

I don't think we've ever been properly introduced, although we've occasionally crossed paths hereabouts. I'm Canadian, social democrat in the present circumstances (and very much not a fan of the Liberal Party of Canada, just for clarification), and at present favouring Biden for Democratic nominee/president of the US. (Not saying it matters whom I favour, just saying!)

I've seen a couple of favourable comments about Biden by you, and I'm wondering whether you've made up your mind/declared yet.

While Biden is obviously not where I'm at on the political compass -- draw a line from Biden through Kucinich and Gravel and nearly as far again down toward the bottom left corner:



and you'll hit me -- I think he's at about the best place the Democratic Party (and the US) can realistically be expected to be at present. Some reasons:

- on things where it is good to be "liberal" -- civil liberties, human rights -- he is liberal

- he is hugely more knowledgeable about the world than just about anyone on the national scene in the US

- he is enormously intelligent -- his mental processing speed and organization of ideas are a joy to watch -- and you really just can't have too much of that in a head of state/government

- he is able to communicate, with both groups and individuals, in a way that puts him in common with them, both in terms of what they are talking about and how they talk about it

- he is very actively non-divisive
-- his collegial approach (I prefer that description to "bipartisan"), both formally and informally, to the "other side" in government is needed in order to get things done, whether by persuading or by compromising, as the case calls for
-- his collegial approach to his fellow candidates for the nomination (he scored his own points when he responded to Giuliani's claim that Clinton and Obama weren't qualified on foreign policy
http://www.joebiden.com/contribution/2?id=0015
but showed solidarity with his opponents at the same time) is good for his party and would serve it well during an election and in office

- he is clearly dedicated to public service, but also more specifically to the interests of the vulnerable and disadvantaged, for instance in his record on violence against women

- he is realistic about what he can expect to accomplish, and has plans for getting there that go in the right direction for what should one day be accomplished (I'm thinking of his health care proposal)

- his integrity is not really subject to attack


I know that there are things that can be raised to question every one of those positives -- except maybe his brains. ;) And I certainly have qualms about some of his positions, although mainly they apply to all the candidates. (I do accept Kucinich's "flip flop" on women's reproductive rights as an entirely sincere seeing of the light.) But I'm not seeing anyone better overall, or even close to as good.

I'd rather see Kucinich's program implemented in the US, obviously. I simply can't see the Democratic Party withstanding the assault that would be mounted by every wealthy interest group in the country against his candidacy for president -- starting with the health insurance industry. Biden would just be infinitely harder to defeat than Kucinich. "Electability", if you will, but not so much in the sense that he's more "presidential", rather that he and his platform could not be defeated as easily as Kucinich.

I'd also rather see a woman or an African-American leading the Democratic Party and the US. Preferably an African-American woman! But I do not think that Obama is remotely qualified for the office, and I do not think that Clinton has ever given any reason to think that she would genuinely lead on any of the issues that need leadership, or lead in the right direction. I can imagine what a Biden presidency would be like; I have no clue what either an Obama or a Clinton presidency would be; neither seems able to just take a sound position and advocate for it.


So I'm just curious -- if you are leaning to Biden, why? and if not, why not? Hope you don't mind me asking -- because, seriously, I am curious about why anybody is favouring any candidate, but particularly why left-identified people favour Biden.