Obama's Pick

Taking The Measure Of Joe Biden, The Longtime Senator And Democrats' Choice For VP

(CBS)  As the Democrats' part of Campaign '08 comes into focus, CBS News correspondents Dean Reynolds and Kimberly Dozier take the measure of Senator Joseph Biden.

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Meet the change agent and his new friend, the personification of the status quo.

But, Barack Obama said, with a difference:

"Joe Biden is that rare mix," he told a crowd of thousands in Springfield, Ill., yesterday: "For decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn't changed him."

It may not be the easiest ticket for some to digest, Reynolds said. But Joseph Biden brings something to the table that is invaluable to the man who will lead the Democrats into the fall.

Biden brings experience.

"All my years in the Senate, I have never in my life seen Washington so broken," he said, following Obama's introduction of him as the Democratic vice presidential pick.

A 35-year veteran of the Senate, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden fills out the ticket's resume in ways Obama cannot.

"These times call for a total change in Washington's worldview," Biden said. "These times require more than a good soldier; they require a wise leader."

A pro-choice Catholic, he can appeal to ethnics, and at 65 could help Obama with the older voters who've proven resistant to his charms.

But Biden comes with baggage, too.

He's been in Washington since Obama was 11 years old, and has a long record of votes opponents will be scanning for potentially exploitable problems.

This year, in his second presidential run, he finished fifth in the Iowa caucuses.

And he is definitely not Hillary Clinton. How her supporters will react to such a conventional choice is an issue, though Clinton herself said Biden is an exceptionally strong choice.

John McCain's campaign reacted critically, releasing a statement raising doubts about the pick more than an hour before it was even made official, and following up with an advertisement touting Biden's previous criticism of Obama.

McCain himself kept the pressure on in an interview yesterday afternoon with Katie Couric.

"Well, I've always respected Joe Biden, but I disagreed with him from the time he voted against the first Gulf War to his position where he said you had to break Iraq up into three different counties. I never agreed with that."

But if criticism of the presidential nominee is a disqualification, that would make it tough for McCain to make Mitt Romney his sidekick (as he is rumored to be considering). Whatever they may say about each other now, Romney and McCain could barely conceal their mutual contempt during the primaries.

As for Biden, the best thing about him is that his qualifications are really beyond dispute. In fact he's so qualified some may wonder why he's number two and Obama's number one, instead of the other way around.

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Joe Biden has been elected to the Senate six times, the first time at just twenty-nine years old.

Whatever criticisms they lob at his nearly two-decades-younger presidential running mate Barack Obama, you cannot call this Senator from Delaware inexperienced, notes Dozier.

But his life has been tempered by tragedy. Shortly after that election in 1972, Biden lost his first wife and a daughter in a car accident. His two sons were gravely injured.

In a 1987 CBS interview, Biden said he had to be convinced to take up his Senate seat. He was sworn in at his sons' bedside.

"I didn't feel whole. I felt like a piece of me died."

The man his father called "Champ," fought his way back, rising to the highest ranks of the Senate.

Biden voted to authorize the war in Iraq, which may provide a counterpoint to Barack Obama's opposition to the war. In fact, his son will soon head for a National Guard tour of duty there.

But this oft-described master of American foreign policy is also known as a gaffe-master, including on matters of race.

"You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent," he once remarked.

And of course, that infamous, off-hand comment during the primaries, aimed at his now-running mate: "You've got an African American, articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Biden's 1988 presidential run was also derailed not by his own words but by words he admitted were borrowed, from British politician Neil Kinnock.

Yet, just as Joe Biden overcame his childhood stutter, some believe his willingness to speak his mind could now prove his greatest asset against the Republicans.

"The role of the attack dog is something he is quite comfortable with," said Julian W. Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

… Leaving Barack Obama to be the gentleman in the race.

[sharncedar]

Ofreak the liar has done real damage to an entire generation; think of all the young people who had begun to believe in him only to find out he is a complete phony, a really small-time con-man who doesn''t even try to pretend to be honest.

I think Obummer deserves a particularly negative position in American history - the liar who stole the nomination at a time when America really needed change. The man who made "hope" and "change" into dirty words. He deserves absolute contempt, a creature beneath anything we have suffered before.

The Biden pick is exactly what we could expect from this con man, who else to pick when you have claimed to be anti-war but the Senate''s biggest warmonger? Just like Obumma''s lies about NAFTA, this dude is a creep.

I think its important that the freak liar suffers a terrible defeat, followed by a prison cell right next to Bush, so at least next time politiciansd have some respect for the voters.

[sharncedar]

"One of the most important differences between Obama and the soon to be Republican nominee McCain is that Obama had the wisdom and courage to oppose the US invasion of Iraq."

Actually, if you consider Obummer''s district in Chicago, being nominally against the war (though he never voted on it, not even "present" ) was the most conventional and cynically manipulative position he could take. His district was against the war.

I doubt Oblathering idiot was ever really against the war, if he was he would absolutely HATE Joe "kill the ***********" Biden, the leading CAUSE of the war in Iraq. Without Joe "killer" Biden''s support, there could not have been a war in Iraq. OScumma certainly doesn''t have any anti-war feelings or he would never accept and coddle the butcher Biden.

By the way, I believe the feelings and desires for change of the Oblather supporters are genuine, there is nothing funny about this massive betrayal by this disgusting little Chicago politician. He has betrayed America in a very dark manner, wasting the real enthusiasm and hope of so many.

[earl011]

BACK FROM IRAq,HOW TO U THINK ANYONE WOULD BE SO AFRAID TO BE OBAMA''S VP,AND DEMS ALONG WITH REPUBLICANS WOULD BE RUNNING TO MCCAIN..

U OBVIOUSLY DID NOT COME BACK FROM IRAq..
AS A MATTER OF FACT,I BET U DIDN''T EVEN GO,LOL...
IF U WERE A SOLDIER,U WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE WHEN OBAMA WAS IN THE GYM SPEAKING TO OTHER SOLDIERS ON HIS VISIT THERE..

MCCAIN WOULD NOT,AND COULD NOT GET THE SUPPORT THAT OBAMA RECIEVED THERE OR IN EUROPE..

BY THE WAY,THE CONSERVATIVES WERE SO JEALOUS AND MAD THAT OBAMA COMMANDS SO MUCH FROM PEOPLE,AND MCCAIN CAN''T DO IT....

POOR GRANDPA

[blkpresident]

You make an excellent point, t_barr. Is the Obama campaign message of Change being hijacked?

[blkpresident]

Joe Biden? A Washington INSIDER for many, many years that I thought Change & Hope was looking to move past, politics as usual. Joe Biden? C''mon!!!

[skeezix06]

Wikipedia is your friend.

African Americans in U.S. Congress

Modern era Senators

Brooke - 12 years
Moseley Braun - 6 years

Modern era Representatives

Mitchell - 27 years
Conyers - 41 years
Diggs - 25 years
Nix - 21 years
Rangel - 37 years

to name just the first few. Obviously you need to brush up on black history.

[backfromiraq]

gronamox1,
Your post on 02:17 PM is truly out of context. When McCain said that Obama is not one of us, he meant in Obama%u2019s admitted socialist agenda. However, I and a lot of Americans will go so far as to say that Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his racist rants and William Ayres and his admitted terrorist acts against us, and Obama''s willingness to embrace these "gentlemen" is not what we want in our government. When I was in Iraq, Obama and a list of other fifth columnists wasted no time discrediting our efforts and successes against al-Qaida; and now he want to claim credit? Hardly sir. Obama is finished, and now he''ll take Biden down with him.

[blkpresident]

Joe Biden? Joe Biden?! Has someone hijacked Mr. Obama''s campaign message of change?

[blazercoach1]

Gronamox,

First, you misspelled Barack. Second, after mindlessly berating McCain as a racist you praise Biden who said, "You''ve got the first real African American leader who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Thirdly, Frederick Douglas was a Republican. Colin Powell has experience.

As for your argument about civil rights fighting to grant anyone equal rights as human beings....does that argument apply to unborn children, or only those who you can pander to for their votes?

[rushlimpdrug]

obama = loser.

I hope the fool doesn''t say anything about
being a "black" candidate, or being poor.

Although would be nice if he did talk
about his drug experience and being white
with a white mama and grandma in America.