Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Biden and Kerry: hail to the chief

John Kerry and Joe Biden packed quite a one-two punch tonight. Both of them did a superb job hammering the Hillary Clinton-originated nonsense that McCain is more qualified than Obama to be Commander-in-Chief. Both got specific contrasting Obama's foreign policy judgment with McCain's. Kerry's refrain was, who can we trust to keep America safe? Biden's: John McCain was wrong, Barack Obama was right. Both emphasized that on multiple fronts even the Bush Administration and McCain himself are coming round to adopt Obama's policies: agree to a timeline in Iraq, shift troops to Afghanistan, talk to Iran. Both recited the same catalog of Obama's good judgment vs. McCain's bad judgment: Iraq would be a cakewalk/invading Iraq would fan the flames of the Middle East; we should stay in Iraq for decades/we should shift responsibility to the Iraqis; Afghanistan is taken care of (McCain three years ago)/we should shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Obama's major foreign policy speeches have shown wide-ranging strategic acumen. But he hasn't gotten much credit for it. Biden and Kerry placed his record of good judgment in sharp relief tonight.

That support also of course buttressed Bill Clinton's more general but monumental affirmation: he is ready to be President. Clinton stated the proposition; Kerry and Biden provided supporting evidence in spades.

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