Joe Biden: Making Hope and History Rhyme

[Byronic]

You know, I really didn't know if I would find a candidate that would TRULY inspire me this time round. Don't get me wrong. They are all good people. Good Democrats. All of them would be better than anybody the Republicans have shoved in front of the poor long-suffering American electorate. Sometimes elections happen, and you don't get inspired. You vote for a good candidate. You hope said candidate wins, but, you aren't quite as emotionally involved as you would like to be.

I was a John Kerry man in 2004. This time round you could put me in the camp (A sizable one on DU it seems) that was hoping for Al Gore or Wes Clark. Neither man seems awfully likely to jump into the race, alas.

To my great surprise, and after a considerable amount of research into all the candidates, a few months ago I found a candidate that appealed greatly to both my heart and my head. Joe Biden grows on you, and the more you listen to him, the more sense he seems to make. Then the more you read into his life story, the more you grow (reluctantly but inexorably, in many cases) to admire him.

He makes mistakes. He is human. Aren't we all? But the big lug would be a great president in my eyes. I now have that emotional attachment that I didn't think I would find this time round. This campaign is exciting again for me. The odds are very much against him winning the nomination, but the ride should be fun, and I certainly wouldn't write him off.

I love politicians that try to lift us. That try to appeal to our better natures. Although words can be used to distort and cover up, to beguile and deceive, they can also be used to inspire. I love poetry with my politics. Sorry for this slightly gushing post, but I'll leave with the words that Joe Biden ends his stump speech with:

Quoting the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, from 'The Cure of Troy':

History says, Don't hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme



"Please join me in making hope and history rhyme. Because we can." - Senator Joe Biden

[saltpoint]

1. Seamus Heany and Joe Biden. Wow. Thats a potent combo right there.

I'd buy these gentleman a beer any time.

And also the OP for putting this great post in front of us.

Nice one.

[saltpoint]

2. This is a point secondary to your main point, but I hope you'll indulge it.

Picture for a moment George W. Bush quoting Seamus Heany and you have the tripswitch for why Bush has been such a miserable failure (to steal Dick Gephard's phrase).

Bush is thick-spirited and unchallenged. Ain't got no education, ain't got no curiosity to go git one neither.

Biden is from a tradition in which ideas matter.

[Byronic]

4. Totally agree Old Crusoe

It is the lack of curiosity that first depressed me about then Governor George W Bush back in 1999. His soul doesn't sing, it mutters inaudibly. His spirit doesn't soar, it doesn't bother getting out of bed in the morning.

Biden on the other hand has the desire to understand this complicated old world, and to try to make it better. You get the feeling that if he wasn't a senator at all he would still be voraciously devouring any snippet on foreign and domestic policy he could get his hands on. There is depth to Biden. He knows his stuff, and is quite happy to discuss policy in detail. No smoke. No mirrors. No cue-cards.

[saltpoint]

7. That is a beautiful summation. You've got the man's essence, IMO,

and you stated it better than many candidates for many decades ever state their own case.

Very nicely done, and thank you for providing a thread which establishes affirmation for our candidates, this time Joe Biden of Delaware.

I'm not a betting man but I believe now that Joe Biden will finsih in the top three in Iowa and first or second in New Hampshire. I think the media and most everyone else has underestimated his time and his voice on foreign relations generally and Iraq particularly.

Your image of Biden there at the end of your post is a keeper.

[Inuca]

22. Not to mention his image of the a**hole in chief

a soul that does not sing, very nice!

[Inuca]

21. Very beautifully put! n/t

[demommom]

3. Where have you been?

:toast: A great way to return, thanks for this great post. I couldn't agree more about The Senator. Big lug with a sensitive side,adds to his appeal.

[Byronic]

5. Hi demommom!

I've actually been in Italy for a while, at Lake Garda, and then Venice (I didn't try swimming the Grand Canal like Lord Byron did, but enjoyed myself nonetheless).

Have returned delighted to find that Biden is on the air in Iowa. Also heartened by the amount of money raised on his website to show the ad all over Iowa.

I see you've been fighting the good fight for Joe! :toast:

[demommom]

6. Have you read his book? If not you must.

It's like sitting down and having a conversation with him. After reading the book,it is perfectly clear how he became the man he is.
Great family, the Bidens!

[Byronic]

8. Haven't read it yet

but fully intend to. I saw a video of Joe Biden reading excerpts from it to, was it, the Press Club? It sounded very frank and honest.

Should be an interesting read. Not your usual candidate's book churned out in an election year.

[jillan]

9. Byronic!!! How are you???

I was just thinking about you the other day, wondering how things are going in your part of the world?

Thanks for this great post

[demommom]

10. kick

:kick:

[Byronic]

19. I'm very well thanks pirhana

Although I'm slightly disappointed with the apparent IAFF Dodd endorsement. Don't get me wrong, I like Chris Dodd, and I'm happy for him, I just held out hope that they would endorse Joe. That would have been such a boost. Ah well.

[cleveramerican]

11. I like Joe

and I always did.

[PatSeg]

12. Great post!

Hopefully others will see what we see in Joe Biden. He is the right man at the right time.

[saltpoint]

13. Agree with you, tsegat01. I have a DU Keepers file, and this post went

in it without a second thought immediately.

The reports from Iowa are beginning to trickle in, and it sounds to me as if Joe Biden is getting attentive listeners out that way. I predict Biden's voice will have still more resonance after David Petreaus' visit to Washington in a couple of weeks.

[PatSeg]

14. I think you're right

I am hopeful that people have become more perceptive after the past six and half years, and that they can "hear" common sense and reason for a change. Times have changed and the old political slogans just aren't cutting it anymore. People want real answers, not empty rhetoric.

[jillan]

15. I hope you are right

If you look at the two frontrunners, one is full of political slogans and the other is full of empty rhetoric.

I am still hopeful that people will wake up.

[PatSeg]

17. You'd think that after a while they'd

say, "wait I've heard this crap before!"

[snowbear]

16. Ah ratz, I tried to give this the 5th recommendation, but the thread is older than 24 hours..

So here's 5 recommendations anyway! ~~~ .. .. .. ..

[murbley40]

18. kick

:kick:

[saltpoint]

20. I don the boots of the great poets and give this worthy thread a kick.

It's Tuesday morning, after all, and we're now post-Gonzales.

As John Kennedy said, Poetry cleanses.

Good for Joe Biden to take seriously the things that survive.