Did Joe Biden Toughen Up Barack Obama's Campaign?

[Bonn1997]

Just 3 months ago many Democrats, including me, were disappointed in Sen Obama for being too soft. We were begging him to start fighting back. During the past few months I've been very happy with how hard Obama and his team are fighting. They're being very tough on McCain while still focusing on the issues. The timing might be just a coincidence, or starting off soft and getting tougher might have been part of the plan all along but I can't help noticing that it coincides with Joe Biden joining the ticket.

[wyldwolf]

1. perhaps, but I'd give Hillary a great deal of credit for that

She made him a better General Election candidate.

[LiberalFighter]

20. YES she did. He got scrutinized early on and when the Republicans started

bringing up stuff the public was saying "And?"

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. No, you were just dumb, and Obama is much smarter than you

Obama knew it couldn't be a slugfest then. He simply understands politics better than the silly Democratic worry brigade who were "begging him to fight," a group who understands politics very little, if at all.

Nobody "toughened him up." He attacked at the opportune moment, as he always seems to do. If he would have attacked when the stupid little Worry brigade begged him to, it would have driven away independents. He knows what he's doing. You don't.

[demwing]

15. What A Pleasant Reply!

You radiate a warmth and compassion that would surely make our candidate proud.

[Bonn1997]

17. :-) I knew there'd a be few of these posts but I wanted to see what the majority thought

[Bonn1997]

18. I'll just add that alcibiades_mystery is actually agreeing with me

without realizing it, since I already posed the possibility that starting out soft and getting tougher later may have been part of Obama's plan all along.

[LiberalFighter]

22. He got tougher without being nasty about it too. Calmly. Rationally.

[Bonn1997]

33. Agreed

[alcibiades_mystery]

28. We can't all be so nice...

:hi:

[ej510]

3. No Hillary did that.

[Bonn1997]

19. It's possible but the timing coincides more with Joe Biden than

with anything involving Hillary

[IsItJustMe]

21. You don't know Obama's political past. Obama can be cut throat when he has to be. When he was

running for Illinois State Senate, he got 3 or 4 of his opponents kicked off the ballot because they did not have the proper signatures. One of those opponents was his friend. I think you may be a little naive when it comes to Obama.

Oh yeah, believe me, Obama can go there if he has to.

[LiberalFighter]

25. I would think that if one expects to run a legal election that

demanding your opponents to follow the law is not being cut throat.

[IsItJustMe]

27. Not so much a legal arguement, but a legal tactic to get others thrown off. It was a petty thing,

like you not being able to vote because you placed the date on the wrong line. It was not some high legal principle that was being upheld here.

Obama will have to go there sometimes. That is politics 101. All I am saying is that he is capable of it, when needed, and that is a political necessity.

[speedoo]

4. Hillary toughened him up more than anyone else, IMO.

That was a tough, bruising primary battle.

It's been great to see her supporting him so much.

Well done Hillary.

[Motown_Johnny]

5. That's just silly. No !! Sen. Obama is smart enough to be a counter puncher.

[MoJoWorkin]

6. He was always tough---he is just letting go a bit more. Timing is EVERYTHING

He was softer on Hillary, because he knew he needed to keep relative peace in our family of Democrats. He also needed to take the high road and let his opponent throw the first punch. Biden's role has been supportive of that plan, but not the initiator of it. IMHO

[funflower]

7. I think he's pulled a lot of punches wrt McCain as well as Hillary.

He doesn't want to govern a scorched earth, and he's learned that Bush's policy of 50% + 1 vote does not a consensus make.

[Guava Jelly]

8. Hillary toughened him up

At the time I was of the mind that she was hurting our chances at winning the whitehouse.]
I was completely wrong.
Sen Clinton was Obamas Apollo Creed from Rocky 3. She trained him,her sparring helped prepare him for the fight ahead.
For that I thank her.
She is a class act.
Joe has always been tough imho..

[Claire Beth]

11. I agree and I posted my

comment before reading yours. You are exactly right. I am so glad she hung in there for as long as she did.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Being born as a black in the U.S. is enough to toughen anyone up.

[Claire Beth]

13. Yep - I'm sure that is so true....

and looking back in history it sometimes causes me to feel ashamed to be white. We live in TN and there are plenty enough racists around here. We also run a small hardware store and everyone knows we are big democrats and supporters of Obama. When some of the racist rednecks start talking about being uneasy about a black man being President my hubby turns to them and says "what are you afraid of? Are you afraid he'll act like the white people did?" That shuts them up...They don't know what to say.

:dem:

[Bonn1997]

16. Fair enough. I changed the question to...

Did Joe Biden toughen up Barack Obama's campaign? (with the word campaign added)

[LiberalFighter]

23. That is an important element.

Because campaigns can be the downfall for a good candidate.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. Why do people forget that he has run for office before?

:shrug:

For example, when he first ran against Bobby Rush, a household name in an essentially locked-in Congressional seat in an almost all-black district (where we are often harder on our own). You don't think THAT "toughened him up?" . Remember that Obama's strategists and managers have had experience getting black candidates elected, whether local (e.g., Harold Washington) or statewide (e.g., Deval Patrick for Governor).

Biden hasn't had to do much to get re-elected over and over in Delaware for the past 35 years and with his 2 failed Presidential runs, he never did the type of traveling until now that Obama had done for almost 2 years straight. Biden is a scrappy politician and has his own cultural roots and foibles, which are NOT the same as Obama's. Folks need to understand that given Obama's background, he is quite worldly, having grown up in Hawai'i and lived in Indonesia. The vast majority of Americans have never traveled outside of the country and a large chunk have never traveled outside of their own state. And don't ever forget that Michelle is there always.

Edit to also add that his demeanor has always been to walk that tight-rope.

[IsItJustMe]

24. I hear that. But some like S&M? I think the whole Hillary toughened him up arguement is BS.

[Claire Beth]

10. Hillary toughened him up and....

when most people were calling for her to drop out of the race, her staying in and fighting made Obama a better, stronger candidate. I've heard Obama say the same thing himself.


:dem:

[WallStreetNobody]

12. He's always been way stronger than the media portrays, a good editorial by Frank Rich in the

New York Times today (yesterday?) spoke about how Obama deciding to forgo his earlier decision to take public financing when it became clear he could raise far more on his own was a great signal about how tough he was. He knew they'd use it against him, but it didn't matter because he knew lack of money was a big reason Democrats have lost before. It showed his strength, even though they would try to use it as a sign of him going back on his word (which technically wasn't the case anyway). They try to paint him as a wide-eyed idealist but at every turn he also proves to be the smartest guy in the room.

[Larkspur]

14. I think it was Bill O'Lilelly abusing him on his show a few weeks ago

I wrote Obama a 5 page letter in April this year after he went on with Chris Wallace and used Faux News talking points to insult Democrats. I was offended that Obama used the Faux News frames about Democrats and ripped him for it. I'm sure I was not the only Democrat who spanked Obama for caving into Faux News frames about Democrats.

Maybe it was a combination of Faux News lies and distortions about him, Bill O'Lielly roughing him up on his show, and people like me in and outside of his campaign that got Obama to toughen up his language against the Republicans and their minions.

I'm glad Obama finally did toughen up his language against the Right Wing and like you I've been happier when his campaign went on the offensive against McCain and the Right Wing.

[ClarkUSA]

26. No, it coincided with the general election. Obama could've filleted Hillary, but chose not to.

That's because Obama had the big picture in mind during the primaries: Democratic unity after the primaries.
It seems rather amusing that you think Joe Biden has had anything to do with Team O winning chess-move strategy
considering it's obvious that the Obama camp knew exactly what to do from Day One when no one but their biggest
supporters trusted their approach.

[Jennicut]

29. No but his toughness as a VP candidate helped him. Edwards and Lieberman never

fought Cheney hard enough. Biden attacked McLame from day one and then attacked Palin later on so as no to come off as to "hard on the woman". Obama has always secretly been tougher then most pundits and even supporters gave him credit for. By picking Biden, a man with lots of experience who could help him govern, Obama ended up making the best choice he could have. Once McLame picked Phalin then the contrast was set. She looked terrible in her interviews and then people thought she did not have enough experience. Obama chose his VP wisely.

[Clio the Leo]

30. Biden was just one example of how tough he is....

.... he had to prove he could win without Hillary. Pure and simple.

If you had asked me in the middle of August, Hillary would have been my dream VP pick. But I can say now without question that I am now head over heels in love with Joe Biden and have not questioned him as the pick even once. I cannot express how happy I am with him and believe he will be one of the greatest VPs we have ever had.

He's intelligent, tough, charming and you just FEEL better after listening to one of his speeches. The man is a walking pep rally. How lucky is Barack going to be to have him down the hall. Experienced advice when he needs it, and a strong reassurance if he's ever feeling low.

And, complete trust when the time comes to share a pretzel.

[cali]

31. LOL. Anyone who thought that Obama was too soft 3 months ago

couldn't have been paying attention. It was clear as a bell to me a year ago that Barack Obama is tough as nails. Duh. How the fuck do you think he beat Hillary? It's hard to believe that people are so oblivious to the reality of Obama.

[Bonn1997]

35. Primaries are different. You don't need to go on a fierce attack in them.

You're actually viewed quite negatively if you attack your fellow party members too hard like Hillary was doing.

Note that I quickly edited my original post, though, because I never meant to imply that Barack himself was not tough but rather that many dems (some of whom won't admit it now) thought his campaign was being too soft a few months ago. I still think they were too soft back they're doing fine in the polls and I'd still give the campaign an A.

[bread_and_roses]

32. Crediting either Biden or Clinton with "toughening up" Obama is delusional and borderline demeaning

For one thing, it begs the question of exactly who "toughened up" Obama to defeat both in the Primaries? The evidence suggests that he has been exactly as "tough" as he needed to be, when he needed to be, and had no need at all for either to "school" him in how to run a campaign.

I've never made any secret here of exactly how I view both Biden and Clinton, but that aside, I am at a loss to see how either can be considered to have been major players since the convention. Does anyone seriously think that Clinton's few high-profile campaign events have made anymore than a negligible difference in how many votes Obama will get in Blue states? Or have had any impact at all in Red states?

And whatever Biden's role might have originally been visioned, I have to wonder if the financial melt-down might not have altered it, given his close ties to the now less-than-popular banking and credit card industries?

I may have quarrels with a good few of Obama's stated policy positions to date, but I have infinite admiration for his organizing and campaigning skills, and can't see that he needed any instruction from two defeated opponents.