Joe Biden Knows Just What He Is Doing—I’d Not Bet Much On Paul Ryan Getting The Better Of Him

Above is a picture of Vice President Joe Biden campaigning in Ohio over the past weekend.

(A great resource to learn about the men who have served as Vice President can be found on the U.S. Senate Vice Presidential website.)

While this picture has attracted some national comment, it does not surprise me at all.

There is a popular conception that Vice President is a bumbler of a kind or prone to gaffes that hurt President Obama.

It is so that Mr. Biden sometimes says things that make news in a way that President Obama might regret. At least that may be the case if Mr. Biden’s comment about gay marriage earlier this year was a gaffe at all.

However, it also the case that Mr. Biden is a man who was elected to the U.S. Senate at age of 29 in 1972, and who was selected among all possible contenders to be on the ticket by Barack Obama in 2008.

Mr. Biden overcame the loss of his first wife and his daughter in a 1972 car accident.

I saw Vice President Biden speak at the Hamilton County, Ohio AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in 2011. Beyond the fact he gave a rousing hard-hitting speech, Mr. Biden also worked the crowd with skill.

He connected with folks and spoke to people as equals. I watched Mr. Biden talk to folks for maybe 20 minutes because he had people skills that were off the charts.

Here is a link to a New York Times story that says supporters of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan are looking forward to Mr. Ryan getting the better of Mr. Biden when they debate on October 11.

(The Green Vice Presidential nominee is Cheri Honkala.)

Regardless of how you may feel about Mr. Biden or Mr. Ryan, I’d not bet much on the idea that Mr. Ryan will make Mr. Biden look silly or outclass him in some way.

Below are two pictures I took in Cincinnati last year of Mr. Biden talking to people at the Labor Day picnic.

A First Look At The 2012 Green Party Presidential Ticket Of Stein & Honkala—What You Do In Texas Might Not Be What You Would Do In Ohio

Here is a first look at the Green Party ticket for the 2012 Presidential campaign.

On the left is Presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein of Massachusetts. On the right is Vice Presidential nominee Cheri Honkala of Pennsylvania.

Here is a recent article on Dr. Stein from The New York Times.

From the Times article—

“The Green Party of the United States expects to be on the ballot in at least 45 states and to spend about $1 million on its campaign. At the moment, it has secured ballot access, an organizational test in itself, in 21 states, including the battlegrounds of Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Ohio… Ms. Stein, a physician on leave from her practice… a native of the Chicago area who lives northwest of Boston with her husband, a surgeon (they have two adult sons)..Ms. Stein says she emphasizes issues like ecological sustainability, racial and gender equality, and economic justice. The centerpiece of her platform is a Green New Deal, a twist on the Roosevelt-era programs intended to stimulate job growth and the depressed economy. It could be paid for by ending the presence of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the campaign says, and by eliminating waste in the health care system. Beyond that, Ms. Stein favors a progressive income tax that would raise rates on the wealthy.”

My own view about the Green Party in 2012 is that this election is sufficiently important to support the corporate-owned Mr. Obama in states where the outcome might be doubt, but that if you live in state where you have been disenfranchised by the Electoral College you should consider your options.

Ms. Stein is on the ballot in Texas and has my vote. If I were still in my longtime home state of Ohio I would vote for President Obama.

There are very meaningful differences between Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney

At the same time, President Obama has done substantial damage to the progressive and liberal cause by never at any point in his term truly offering any real measure of hope and change to a power structure in our nation that increasingly offers opportunity only to an elite few.

The President has not spoken frankly about the stark realities of our changing economy, or about the evermore apparent fact of climate change.

There is rarely a clear answer to the conflict between short-term realities and long-term hopes that is part of any political activity.

This is why I offer the split decision of hoping for Mr. Obama’s reelection and supporting Dr. Stein here in Texas.

I’ll have more to say about all this in the weeks and months ahead. For now, I ask that folks please give a first look to the 2012 Green ticket.

Here is the website of the Stein campaign.

Here is the Facebook page of the Stein/Honkala campaign.