Race for 2008: Democrats start bitching already

Senator Joe Biden announced he was running for the Democrat nomination yesterday.

And then promptly put his foot firmly in it. On his rival, Barack Obama, he said:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

This went down like a lead balloon, and highlights how carefully people will have to tiptoe around the ‘race issue’ over the next two years. Because Joe Biden clearly didn’t mean he was clean-rather-than-unwashed. One of Obama’s most obvious characteristics is that he’s clean, rather than dirtied by the American political system. He’s new to it. He’s been a Senator for under three years. He’s fresh.

But that’s not how Biden’s remarks go down. And it’ll probably be his only notable contribution to the campaign, even though it was completely innocuous.

: 01 Feb 2007 09:33 |  Tags: Elections Race For 2008 United States |  Comments (1) |  Report a problem