ASU2003

This probably should have been brought up in October, but it seemed like everyone was talking about was; what if Sarah Palin became President? So, if something happened that Obama couldn't continue as President, how would things be under a Biden administration? Would things be that different? I haven't heard too many negative things about him, but do you think he would be an effective leader?

Vice President Joe Biden
Political positions of Joe Biden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Willravel

I don't think he's as smart as Obama, and I think he's been immersed in DC politics too long to effectively roll back the Bush legacy. I would expect his presidency would fall somewhere between Clinton's first term and Jimmy Carter.

djtestudo

Democrats' dream scenario: Harry Truman

Democrats' nightmare scenario: Lyndon Johnson

Comedy's sake scenario: John Tyler

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Seaver

Well... we'd have another president who fudges up speeches with amazing consistencies.

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dc_dux

Who knows?

But I think its fair to say that his experience (particularly regarding foreign relations) and his relations with Congress would provide enough assurance to me that the government would be in safe and competent hands, regardless of whether I would agree with specific policy decisions.....something I would not be prepared to say about Palin.

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Willravel

Of course he's not the simpleminded, vacuous, asinine shell of a human being Palin was and is, but experience isn't really an kind of guarantee of even mediocre success. Imagine a McCain presidency for evidence of this.

dc_dux

After a national tragedy as was posed here, the first thing I would look for is competence and stability.

In the short term, I would be comfortable with Biden whether he chose to carry on the Obama agenda or carve his own track.

Whether I would vote for him for a full term at the next election if that were to be the scenario is a different issue.

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Daniel_

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you President Ford II

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Tully Mars

Biden's a gaff machine the press would have a field day with him.

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djtestudo

Crap, I forgot about Ford.

Put him in the "nightmare" spot on my earlier list...

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guyy

You just lived through 8 years of willful incompetence and you're worried about Biden?

ASU2003

I'm not worried about him, he seems like a normal rust-belt type of guy who just happened to become a lawyer and politician. But it is kind of weird that the media or the Republican party didn't go after him that much. Is there nothing on him? That would be cool if there wasn't, but I didn't think that was possible.

Locobot

I think the Republican party would have loved to go after him, but you know they were running someone for VP who didn't know Africa contained more than one country, didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was, thought that dinosaurs were around 6000 years ago, and who was reportedly throwing regular temper tantrums so it was hard to draw attention away from that. Biden has a tendency to make gaffs when he speaks, none of which seem particularly horrible to me, but there is a possibility there for media fixation. My parents actually had a personal sit-down Q&A with him when he was making a presidential bid in the late 1980s (that sort of thing happens when you live in Iowa). They report that he is actually wickedly smart and well-informed. He has some bonafide international experience (his proposed plan for Iraq is still the best I've seen), and is now an old hand in the Senate, all around a pretty solid choice for VP.

Halx

Don't you want a president that speaks in the third person?

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Seaver

Because Biden is actually a good man. I don't agree with him politically, but I respect him. I saw an interview with him a few years back, sorry can't find it, where he said he felt the Code Pink protesters trashing recruitment centers damaged the liberal and anti-war movement as a whole. I've never seen an anti-war politician come out and say that, I was as proud of him as when McCain denounced Jerry Falwell.

Though, his speech screwups are comical.

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Plan9

+1

The Most Powerful Nation on Earth (TM) was run by Jojo the Talking Chimp (okay, his puppeteers, but he was the stuttering showpiece) for most of the last decade and people are snubbing Joe Biden?

He'd be a decent stuffed shirt. He doesn't have the Oooh-bama Factor but he'd do fine.

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djtestudo

Only when Rickey Henderson runs in 2012.

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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

Sun Tzu

Like Bush, it would be great for comedians.

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