Talkin' Joe strikes again
Here is what Senator Biden reportedly said about Barack Obama in an interview with Jason Horowitz of the New York Observer:
I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.
Biden may be right about the "storybook" part, but I'm not sure what he means by "mainstream African-American." If one considers that Obama is half-white with an African father, one can debate how "mainstream" he is. I guess Biden meant that Obama is not a radical or an activist in the tradition of past black presidential candidates Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (we'll leave Shirley Chisholm out of this discussion). However, it would be interesting to learn excatly what substantive disagreements Obama has with Jackson.
Jackson and Sharpton are the subjects of Biden's comparison -- he certainly wasn't referring to all African-Americans. The two of them might disagree with Biden's claim that they are not mainstream African-Americans who are articulate, bright, and nice-looking. But keep in mind that Biden also said "clean."
JOHN adds: Hmmm. Not an auspicious start to Biden's campaign. I haven't been able to read the interview and get the full context--I think the Drudge Report link is currently overwhelming the Observer's site--but it's hard to see any explanation Biden can give that will prevent this from being anything but a severe embarrassment.
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