The US vice president, Joe Biden, acts as candidate for the White House. Speaking as a candidate. You know what it is to stand: for he was twice (and failed). But is not a candidate. Furthermore. Soon have to decide whether to contest the Democratic nomination. Doubts about the Democratic favorite, State Hillary Clinton's former secretary, leave room for Biden, 72, try to succeed Barack Obama in the presidential elections of November 2016.
It is one of the hobbies political and media favorite in Washington: Biden will come out candidate? You will not leave? The American politics abhors a vacuum. And the race for the Democratic nomination, with Clinton as clear favorite and only a prominent challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders, threatens to campaign this party one of the most boring in decades. This compares to the GOP: 15 candidates and a favorite surprise, tycoon Donald Trump.
Speculation about Biden, fed by Biden himself, respond to uncertainty among Democrats with his favorite candidate. And if Clinton fail? The revelations about the misuse of a private email account when I was Secretary of State -instead of the public e-mail address, as required by the rule-revived doubts about its integrity. The rise of Sanders, who defines himself as a socialist, has eroded the domain Clinton in the polls. Biden would act as insurance against the unexpected. The fear of emptiness.
The loss of his son
"My impression is that it is more likely to bid candidate than the other way around," says Jules Witcover, experienced American journalist. Witcover was one of the "bus boys", the title of the famous book about the journalists who covered the presidential campaign of 1972. And is the author of a biography of Biden called Joe Biden: A Proof of Life and Redemption.
Witcover biography published in 2010, before the last "proof" in Biden's life: the death of his son Beau, in May, for a brain tumor. Beau was 46 years old. The loss of his son created a chain of solidarity to this politician who, unlike Clinton, is empathetic, exudes authenticity. "Everyone likes Joe Biden," said the showman Stephen Colbert to interview him on CBS. Before he died, Beau asked his father who disputed presidential election.
The death of Beau is not the first tragedy in Biden clan. In 1972, after being first elected senator from Delaware, Joe Biden's wife, Neilia, and daughter of a year, Naomi, died in a car accident. His two sons, Beau and Hunter younger, survived. Every day, to finish the day in the Senate, Biden took the train to Wilmington, the capital of Delaware -one hour and a half trajeto- to raise children. That thus remained grounded during his 36 years in the Senate.
Failed attempts
Biden tried to be president twice. The first, in the elections of 1988. The revelation of several plagiarism -in campaign speeches and a job while studying law at university-forced him to abandon the campaign even before the caucuses and primaries. He tried again in 2008, but ran into high-caliber rivals: Obama and Clinton. Biden abandoned the race after getting less than 1% of the vote in Iowa, the state that opens the definition of the applications process. But there is no reason for the failures discourage a new attempt. Biden belongs to a particular political category: men and women driven by an inordinate ambition that leads them to believe when you look in the mirror, which could lead the most powerful country on the planet.
Although veteran, Biden drag the reputation, perhaps unfairly, of being a cafe au lait, a superficial political, likely to put his foot in it without enough weight to hold the position of commander in chief. When in 2012 the institute Pew Research Center asked in a survey on words associated with Biden, the most cited was "good", but the second was "stupid" and others were "clown" or "incompetent" (another poll showed that the word more associated with Clinton was "lying"). To announce his candidacy today possibly be late. Networks of activists and Clinton donors are mounted. And the ideological differences between Biden and Clinton are scarce.
The advantage of Biden is experience. Its capacity can be overlooked, but more than three decades in the Senate and seven years in the vice presidency is a difficult curriculum to match. "It was the political life, he wanted to be president and failed, and now has the best opportunity we ever had. I would be surprised if he did not take advantage, "says Witcover. Biden could present as Obama legacy of the depositary. "I think Joe would be a magnificent president," Obama said once.
Springboard to the White House
"The most insignificant office that human invention already plotted and your imagination has conceived." So the job of vice president was defined by its first occupant, John Adams.
But Adams, like many successors it ended up being president. Lyndon B. Johnson to George HW Bush, past vice presidents who ended up in the White House is over. Some for the death of the holder; others for elections.
In modern times, the vice presidency had become collateral for the indication in party primaries. But does not guarantee winning the presidential election. The latest case is that of Al Gore, vice Bill Clinton, who in 2000 lost to George W. Bush.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário