David Online

With the 2008 presidential election coming to an end, I thought it might be a good time to remind voters the difference between Republicans and Democrats as defined by the eloquent and eminent P.J. O’Rourke.

“I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this. God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.

God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well-being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God’s heavenly country club.

Santa Claus is another matter. He’s cute. He’s non-threatening. He’s always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without thought of a quid pro quo. He works hard for the charities, and he’s famously generous to the poor.

Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus.”

If Joe Biden is not a paid operative of the McCain presidential campaign, he should be.
 
At a Seattle fundraiser Sunday night, the scrappy kid from Scranton warned Americans we are going to have an international crisis within six months if Barack Obama is elected president. Forget the lofty, ambiguous rhetoric of Obama, Joe Biden spoke clearly and precisely in alerting the crowd of supporters:

 ”Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.

Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna’ have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna’ need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna’ need is, he’s gonna’ need you–not financially to help him–we’re gonna’ need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna’ be apparent initially, it’s not gonna’ be apparent that we’re right.”

Joe Biden says electing Obama is going to cause an international crisis within six months. Implicit in that statement is that the election of John McCain would not precipitate an international crisis.  Biden says Obama is gonna’ need help. Even more troubling, Biden says Americans are going to have to support Obama even though it looks like Obama and he made the wrong decision. 

Two months ago on August 19th, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Joe Biden if he still stood by his campaign statement that Barack Obama was not ready to be Commander in Chief. Stephanopoulos said to Biden, “You were asked is he [Obama] ready. You said, ‘I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” Biden’s reply? “I think I stand behind that statement.”  

Rudi Giuliani said, “…Joe Biden continues to harbor serious doubts whether Barack Obama is prepared to be Commander in Chief.“

What a difference 60 days makes! Two months ago Barack Obama was wet behind the ears and unqualified to be Commander in Chief. Today Obama is a “brilliant 47-year old” whose “mettle” is going to be tested by a “generated” international crisis.

Everyone knows Joe Biden is legendary for verbosity run rampant with a mouth running about 5 minutes ahead of serious thought. But not in this case. Just the day before at a San Francisco fundraiser (does the Obama-Biden campaign really need more money?), Biden made a similar warning.

“We’re going to face a major international challenge. Because they’re going to want to test him, just like they did young John Kennedy. They’re going to want to test him. And they’re going to find out this guy’s got steel in his spine.”

For someone who claims to be an expert in presidential history, Biden should not have brought up the comparison with President John Kennedy. When the young and inexperienced Jack Kennedy sat down with Khrushchev in the 1961 Vienna summit, Khrushchev looked into Kennedy’s eyes and saw naivety and inexperience. Eighteen months later Khrushchev was installing nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba. Kennedy later admitted his disastrous performance in Vienna encouraged the Soviet leader to believe he could successfully pull off the missile installation in Cuba.  

Biden’s comments are contrary to the prevailing liberal paradigm that the election of Barack Obama will usher in a new world order that will restore America’s credibility and moral authority. If Joe Biden is right, it won’t be international respect we reap with the election of Barack Obama – but an international crisis.