Bidenblogging II: White Hunter, Black Heart

David Weigel | January 31, 2007

Joe Biden (seen right collapsing after being shot in the chest by liberals), only hours after making the front page of Hit and Run, is getting hammered for this interview with the New York Observer's Jason Horowitz.

Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

But—and the “but” was clearly inevitable—he doubts whether American voters are going to elect “a one-term, a guy who has served for four years in the Senate,” and added: “I don’t recall hearing a word from Barack about a plan or a tactic.”

I guess I have Stephen Colbert's disease and can't see colors, because that statement didn't jump out at me. Biden is saying that Sen. Obama is the first black candidate with no baggage and a legit shot at the presidency. (As the audio makes pretty damn clear, the "articulate and bright and clean" stuff is a compliment about Obama.) Even under the least charitable interpretation of what Biden said, this is true. There have been five other black candidates for the presidency:

- Jesse Jackson, a controversial civil rights activist with no elective experience.
- Al Sharpton, a super-controversial civil rights activist with even less elective experience.
- Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, who had some elective experience but an extremely shady past that killed her Senate career.
- Rep. Shirley Chisholm, who had very little elective experience, but who ran a good fringe campaign. (See here.)
- Alan Keyes.

As lots of people have pointed out, Obama distinguishes himself from this field by 1)being more than the "black candidate" and 2)having the kind of political operation that could actually win the prize. (Although Jackson came closer than people remember, winning even the... Delaware caucus.) And the rest of Biden's remark makes sense in the context he just explained to Obama. (He meant "clean" in the sense of "spotless, not corrupt," as opposed to whatever Althouse thought he meant.)

Very strange. Liberals are giddy about the prospect of Obama kicking the last generation of black leadership to the curb. But they get very angry at people who say this.