Look Out, McCain: Biden Issues a Challenge on National Security

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Senator Joe Biden is talking national security, and though no longer a candidate for the presidency, he just challenged Republican candidate John McCain on behalf of the Democrats on what some presume is McCain's main strength with voters.

"I think we as Democrats should not shy away from a direct confrontation with the Republicans on national security. The Democratic Party and the Democratic candidates are stronger on National security than George Bush or John McCain. ...

"The Democratic Party is not at all reluctant to debate national security with John McCain or George Bush. We are stronger on it, we will make America more secure and make it safer," he declared in an interview on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

In a speech delivered Tuesday at Georgetown University, Biden critiqued the GOP and laid out a Democratic foreign policy vision that contrasts sharply with Bush's and McCain's. He called fear "the main driver of our foreign policy" and said, "Even if you look at the world through this administration’s distorted lens, you see a failed policy. This failure flows from a dangerous combination of ideology and incompetence and a profound confusion about whom we’re fighting."

Biden also said in his speech that McCain's remark about staying "100 years in Iraq" fuels conspiracy theories about America's motives in the region. As he later told Olbermann, "When we say to the Arab world that we would stay in Iraq even in peaceful circumstances, it feeds the assumption that we're there to control their oil and to have a permanent base ..."

As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden said that in two weeks of hearings prior to General Petraeus' much touted testimony, he heard from many in the defense and foreign policy establishments who have come to "the exact opposite conclusion" about the wisdom of a troop drawdown than had General Petraeus, Ambassador Crocker and George Bush.

Biden indicated that he will keep speaking out on foreign policy issues over the next few months. "When people say 'this is the most important election in my lifetime,' they’re right. ... The next President will have an awesome responsibility -- but also the greatest opportunity since FDR -- to change the direction of our country … and the world."

Olbermann asked Biden about speculation that he might serve as vice president or secretary of state in a Democratic administration. "I don't want either of those two jobs," Biden responded. Olbermann did not follow up to ask about any other position.

Biden has not endorsed either Clinton or Obama in the primary.

MSNBC Video

Georgetown Speech Transcript: “2008 and the Stakes for America’s Security”

Biden's Vision (benbuck.net)

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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