Mr. Biden's Neighborhood

As democrats gathered together in the mile-high city of Denver, Americans all over the nation tuned in to watch the kick off to one of America’s historic elections. At the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama supporters anxiously awaited the man of the hour, Joe Biden, to address the stadium and the nation as he accepted the nomination to run as the Democratic vice presidential candidate. After Biden’s introduction by his son, Beau Biden, the audience greeted his stage entrance with thunderous applause, refusing to die down, even after Biden had assumed the podium and offered several “Thank You’s” and his winning smile.

As his first impression on the American people, the 2008 Democratic ticket critically relied Biden’s acceptance speech. A strong, inspiring speech would rally the democratic party as well as independents, Obamacans, and undecideds together into an unstoppable force, as well as reassure those who doubted Obama’s choice for a worthy vice presidential nominee.

However, failure to make a good impression and inspire confidence at the DNC would mean Democrats struggling to overcome criticism from over the aisle as well as from the voters. Winning a presidential election is hard enough.

Luckily, Biden came out in full force. Biden’s acceptance speech dazzled no less than the accompanying fireworks at the convention. Going beyond the issues and focusing on character, he proved himself a strong, equal half to the Obama ticket, inspiring not only the crowd of dedicated Obama supporters, but also, proving a guiding light for those still unsure about their political loyalties in this historical election.

Surprisingly, Biden spent less than half of speech talking about his party’s opposing candidate, John McCain, an unheard of tactic in these days of slanderous politics.

Biden reminded the People of the America the Republican Party has left us. He quickly but effectively summed up the nation’s many crises: healthcare, energy costs, high interest rates, climate issues, to name a few. You could feel the American Dream “slowly slipping away.”

Banking on America’s discontent with the past eight years of Republican rule in the White House, Biden wisely compared McCain to George W. Bush. By assuring that his audience associated the two in their minds, Biden ensured that anyone who had a quibble with W’s two terms as president would likely jump on the Obama train. Those persuaded to vote for McCain when likened to Bush were a lost cause. After lumping McCain with Bush, Biden delineated McCain from Obama, promising that Obama would be everything McCain and Bush were not.

Biden even flexed some of his foreign policy experience, and detailed a view for America’s new foreign policy that could return America to it’s glory days, when we were looked up to as a nation, not mocked and scoffed at. Biden has a very impressive foreign policy record, qualming those who doubted Obama’s own experiences.

Biden may have talked about the issues facing America, he may have talked foreign policy, but his speech had a grander purpose. Sure, America faces many issues today. We’ll be facing issues tomorrow. We can’t rely on choosing a candidate based on the issues of today. Everyone has their own opinion about each issue. If we just vote for the candidate who matches up with us on today’s issues, how do we know what they will do with tomorrow’s issues?

We need to vote for a candidate, not based on propositions, not on ways they voted in the senate, but on trust. We need a candidate we can trust to make the right decision, because the future President isn’t going to call us on the phone when deciding on next year’s fiscal policy half way through his first term, or how he should deal with the newest crisis. We need a candidate who can turn America around, and provide a face for a new America.

Based off of Biden’s convention speech, I challenge anyone not to trust him.

Biden didn’t start the speech accepting the nomination, he didn’t start with the issues, he started with his family. Biden had one overarching theme to his speech: he’s a family man.

And who doesn’t like a family man? Biden’s whole family came out to the DNC: his wife, Jill, his son Beau, even his mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden. Biden values family more than his job, but no one should use that as fuel for an attack. He even took us back to his childhood, recounting stories about his mother and her life lessons (like bloodying your bully’s nose so you can walk down the street the next day). Ironically, while Biden is known for talking too long, he even acknowledged having a stutter as a child (because, as his mother put it, he was so bright, he “couldn’t get the thoughts out quickly enough”).

Biden spent a whole six minutes, just talking about his family. Analyzing aside, after watching the speech over twenty times, I sincerely trust him. Yes, the closest we’ve come to contact is me watching him on YouTube, but in his speech, the neighborly Biden came into our living room, sat down with us and shared his story. He stayed casual. It made him a person, not a politician.

Aided by the family aspect, Biden presented himself as very relatable. He rode the train home from Washington every day. He grew up in middle-class America, partially in Scranton Pennsylvania and also Wilmington, Delaware.

As a first time voter, this will probably be one of the most important elections I participate in, not only for myself, but also, in our nation's history. America is in the dumpster, and we need more than someone who can handle the issues. We need a team of candidates we can trust, who can turn America around, and set us in the right direction. Joe Biden’s just a regular guy you can trust, a good neighbor who happens to have a knack for foreign policy. He’s also half of the 2008 Democratic ticket, and most likely, the next Vice President of the United States of America.

Joe Biden's Vegetarian Speech

Tens of thousands of supporters formed a red sea of tall signs supporting the Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee, Joe Biden, as his son, Beau Biden, introduced his father. The crowd didn’t even try to hold back their overwhelming excitement, with the 2008 Democratic National Convention well under way. The crowd finally erupted when Beau invited his father to the stage and they shared a heart-felt embrace.

Even after Biden had ushered his son over to the side of the stage to receive congratulations and a hand shake from the likes of John Kerry, the crowd refused to stop their cheering, thrusting their signs into the air, chanting “Joe, Joe, Joe!” It took fifteen “Thank you’s” from the Obama ticket’s other half, but the crowd finally got the hint.

Echoing his running mate’s signature platform, Biden presented supporters with a speech of his own about the need for “change.” He certainly made a great first impression on the democratic supporters as the right choice, but Joe Biden’s introductory speech as the vice presidential nominee fell flat in rhetorical effectiveness.

Biden had no trouble gaining the support of the attending Democratic supporters. Both Clinton’s had already spoken at the convention, leading up to Biden, and incited them with the kind of revolutionary energy reserved for political conventions and American Idol: On Tour concerts; Biden just had to direct their enthusiasm.

Biden’s most successful trick used repetition to encourage audience participation. To exploit John McCain’s greatest obstacle, Biden emphasized McCain’s similarities in policies to George “Dubya” Bush by following each tax break for big business and vote against raising the minimum wage with the phrase “That’s not change; that’s more of the same.” Biden delivered the line flawlessly, emphasizing its natural, catchy rhythm; by the second or third count, the crowd had recognized their new rallying call, and joined in. Engaging the crowd and including them in his speech united the crowd, creating a greater sense of community, of common purpose: taking back America.

Biden had several other chants for waking the gods of Change, including “John McCain was wrong; Barack Obama was right,” and “That’s the change we need.”

All three choruses showed that Biden’s speech writers had worked hard, constructing chants that could not only encapsulate the Democratic Party’s ambitions in three sentences or less, but also maintain a catchy rhythm at the same time. They all feature alternating stressed and unstressed syllables (for the “more of the same chant, it requires hearing it rather than reading it), which give the phrases a momentum, an inherent force behind the words that just begs you to say the phrase again. It’s near addictive.

You might say it’s like brainwashing, but it’s effective.

Biden’s speech focused on creating the image of a likeable, dignified, middleclass American, the idyllic Family Man. Biden played up the idea of family through out his speech, from his son’s introduction, to his mother’s words of wisdom when he was a child.

Biden started his speech by congratulating his children, and sharing how proud he was of his son, as well as sharing his thanks for his wife, Jill. He reminisced about his own father, the everyman, “who fell on hard economic times” yet still raised exceptional children. Biden’s father also contributed to a book end Biden used in his speech, when he ended his speech by encouraging America to get back up when you get knocked down, just like his father taught him.

Biden’s images of family gave him an air of stability, of genuineness. It inspired confidence to know he’s the American family man.

His anecdotes turned his speech into less of an address, and more of a conversation, as if you were sitting down with him in the Biden living room. He told us about his stutter as a young kid, how his mother encouraged him to go “bloody the nose” of the bullies who beat him up so he could “walk down the street” the next day. Joe Biden charmed the audience, even garnering a chuckle from some of the crowd when he quoted John McCain as saying “We’ve made great economic progress,” while adding an uncanny tinge of McCain rasp. Intentional or not, it worked.

It’s hard to walk away from Joe Biden’s speech not liking the guy. His neighborly smile had snuck into the hearts of the convention audience and across quite a few television screens, as many people got their first introduction to Obama’s runningmate. But after the chants and charms had worn off, little substance remained of Joe Biden’s speech.

When Joe Biden wasn’t talking about his family or criticizing his “friend” John McCain, he was mostly making broad promises of what Obama would accomplish. In repetitive fashion, he assured the convention that “Barack Obama will” transform our economy, “Barack Obama will” bring down health care costs, and “Barack Obama will” acheive equal pay for women. That’s all very nice, Biden failed to elaborate on how this was going to be achieved. Every high schooler running for student body president promises more soda machines, no school on Fridays, and the abolishment of mystery meat, all of which sound great.

Very few people, Democrat or Republican would reject to cutting taxes for 95% of Americans. In fact, you’d probably find that only 5% would object. Wouldn’t that 5% have to pay an inordinate amount more each year in taxes to make up for the difference?

Five million new jobs, alternative energy, and more affordable college tuition all sound like great changes. It’s hard to argue with such sugar coated promises. But for every give, there is a take.

Biden isn’t as persuasive as he is inspiring. By the next day, the magic has worn off, and you’re left wondering how exactly he and Barack plan to pull some of these promises off, magical as two may be.

But to be fair, persuading is not what the conventions are for. Issues will come in the debates. For now, Biden has lit a strong fire. Let’s hope he and Obama have the timber to keep it going.

-------

I know this is supposed to be an audio clip, but I used this YouTube video. Just close your eyes.