After 35 years as a U.S. Senator from Delaware, Joe Biden has more experience in federal government than any of his Democratic opponents. He claims to have spent more time in Iraq than all the other Democratic presidential candidates combined and, unlike our current president, he has also visited Israel. A 30-year member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, he is on a first name basis with leaders in the Middle East and around the world. He once famously called Slobodan Milosevic “a damn war criminal” to his face during a meeting in the former Yugoslavian dictator’s home country.

“I’ve been the agent of change in the Democratic Party, more than anybody in the party,” Biden said during a recent forum at the Seacoast Media Building in Portsmouth. “This (election) is not about change, nor is it about experience. It’s about action.”
On his Web site, www.joebiden.com, Biden posted video clips of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Christopher Dodd all repeatedly saying “Joe is right” during recent televised debates. Apparently, the other Democratic candidates think it’s safe to praise Biden, because he is so low in the polls that no matter how “right” he is, he’ll never win the nomination.

Several candidates and other party members have indicated that Biden would make a good vice president or secretary of state. But, during the forum on Thursday, Nov. 29, Biden made it clear that he is after the presidency. The 65-year-old is more valuable in his current position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee than he would be in either of those subservient roles, he said.

Biden was the fifth candidate to participate in a public forum at Seacoast Media, following Obama, Clinton, Edwards and Bill Richardson. The topic of Biden’s event was the Iraq War, which he called a “big boulder sitting in the middle of the road.” He outlined his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq while leaving stability in the region.

Making Iraq a stable country will entail decentralizing power, giving Iraqis local control of police and security forces while engaging the international community to offer support, Biden said. He believes rivaling factions of Shia, Sunnis and Kurds can find common ground if they are presented with proposals that mutually benefit them all. Doing so would mean getting leading international oil companies to say they will not do business in Iraq unless there is a major oil settlement.

But President Bush, Biden continued, is “wedded to a failed strategy.” He questioned the real success of Bush’s troop surge in Iraq and accused the president of going forward without a clear plan for success.

“His plan is merely to hand the war off to the next president,” Biden said. “There is no end in sight.”

Until the war is over, however, Biden vowed to continue voting to fund the troops—a practice that has invited criticism from some of his Democratic opponents. Biden accused his Democratic rivals of voting against troop funding because they are afraid of seeming pro-war. Noting that his own son has joined the military and is on his way to Iraq, Biden said he will vote to support troop funding even if it costs him the election.

“Some things are worth losing presidential elections over, and one, for me, is protecting our troops,” he said. “It may be Bush’s war, but it’s our future and my son … As long as there’s a single troop in Iraq, I’m gonna fund what they need.”
Some audience members feared the Bush administration would wage war against Iran before the next president takes office.
“The president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran,” Biden said, adding that if he does so, Biden would immediately move to impeach. The declaration prompted fervent applause from the Portsmouth audience.

When an audience member suggested that Biden should move to impeach Bush now, Biden indicated that would not be a good idea. There is not enough evidence to prove that any of Bush’s actions so far legally merit impeachment, although a strong case could be made that they do, he said. The best deterrent, he said, is making it clear to Bush—and to Dick Cheney—that they will be impeached if they attack Iran. 

Biden noted that the Iraq War is connected to a myriad of other issues. With the money spent annually on the war, he said, he could make sure that children from families making $50,000 per year or less get an opportunity to go to college, all children get health care and the nation invests more in alternative energy sources. Also, creating stability in the Middle East would lower gasoline and home heating oil prices in the United States, he said.

Biden also criticized the Bush administration for hiring U.S. contractors to do work in Iraq that could be conducted by Iraqis, which would boost the nation’s languishing economy.

As Biden spoke to audience members, he walked around the room, bending over to look people in the eye and placing his hand on listeners’ shoulders. Staying true to his reputation for never giving a short answer, Biden offered longwinded responses to most questions, and the volume of his voice rose to a heated pitch as he addressed certain topics.

Asked what kind of legacy he would leave if elected president, Biden said he would like to restore a sense of trust in the American president, both from U.S. citizens and leaders abroad. He also said he would get the country back on course with the Constitution, eliminating torture and eavesdropping by the government. He would shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba and demolish the Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq. Biden said the Bush administration has produced more terrorists that it has eradicated, leaving the U.S. in grave danger.

But, the senator has a long way to go before getting the Democratic nomination. Acknowledging that Republicans will inevitably accuse Democrats of being soft on terror in the general election, Biden indicated that he is the best candidate to tackle such criticism.

“Who do you want in the ring going toe to toe with Rudi Giuliani?” he asked.

Although he is lagging in the polls and receives little attention from national media outlets, Biden remains confident that if he gets his message out to enough voters in New Hampshire and Iowa, he can win the party nomination.

“I believe the next president can transform America,” Biden said. “I believe if I’m the best Biden I can be, you’ll vote for me.”
His message resonated with at least one audience member.

“I just want to say, I came here an undecided voter, and you are the man,” one guest said.