Send Biden Out To Shadow Trump
After watching Joe Biden's speech last night, one thing seems patently obvious. He should be launched into the highest rank of Hillary Clinton surrogates out on the campaign trail -- and as soon as possible. Furthermore, scheduling his appearances would be a piece of cake, because all Team Clinton would have to do would be to book Biden into every city and town where Donald Trump appears, a day or two afterwards.
Multiple people at the Democratic National Convention last night (after Biden spoke) told me one version or another of the following: "If Joe Biden were the Democratic nominee, he'd be beating Trump right now by 10 or 15 points." These weren't die-hard Biden fans, mind you, but instead journalists and delegates and other random people I spoke with. Biden's speech was that impressive.
While I can't swear that Biden would be beating Trump by that wide a margin right now (hypotheticals are always impossible to prove in the real world, after all), he certainly could be doing the next best thing to running -- being the most robust and effective Clinton booster possible.
The biggest part of Biden's appeal, much like Trump's, is his plain-spoken style. A Barack Obama speech could be likened to a symphony -- every note carefully planned, with complex melody and counterpoint, and a mathematical relationship between various themes which build to a carefully-planned crescendo. A Joe Biden speech, on the other hand, is more like a catchy pop tune you can't get out of your head. The tune sticks with you because it resonates naturally and is so memorable and easy to relate to.
Hillary needs both. She is closer to Obama in how carefully she wordsmiths her speeches, which means she lacks the catchy nature of a Biden address. She already does have several effective surrogates who can provide this feature, but none as effective as Biden (at least, if last night was any measure). Biden doesn't mince words -- when he thinks Trump is "full of malarkey," then that is exactly what he says. He is closer to Horton the Elephant in this respect. He says what he means, and he means what he says -- you can just tell by listening to him.
But the most important aspect of Biden's oratory is the audience he can reach. Biden can communicate not only with the middle class, but also with blue-collar workers and those who have been hurt the most by the decline of manufacturing in America. This is precisely the audience that Donald Trump is now appealing to. Biden has the same gut-level appeal as Trump -- but although the style is similar, the content of Biden's message is (obviously) very different. His riff last night on how Trump "has no clue" absolutely electrified the audience in a way only one other speaker has managed over the past three nights. In fact, it's a tossup as to whose speech was better; Michelle Obama's or Joe Biden's. Both reached the audience on an emotional level that many other speakers tried for, but mostly failed to achieve.
Hillary Clinton is many things, but for millions of voters she is not exactly someone they could picture sitting down and having a beer with. Joe Biden, on the other hand, definitely is. Heck, most people could picture having two or three beers with Joe, and enjoying the heck out of it to boot. Joe Biden would be at ease in many small-town settings (a bowling alley, the corner bar, a hardware store, the P.T.A., and, of course, a train station). You can easily picture shooting the breeze with Joe in just about any setting, in fact. That is a very valuable thing in politics, and the Clinton campaign should realize this golden opportunity to allow Joe to make Hillary's case in as many of these settings as they can.
Donald Trump just made it very easy for them to do so, in fact. Trump appeared this week in Biden's original home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. That's like tossing a gauntlet down. So send Biden to Scranton as soon as humanly possible! Let him not only make the case for Hillary, but also allow him to forcefully rebut the case Trump just made there. Biden could give pretty much the same speech he just did at the convention, and it would do Clinton a world of good. Even just the part about how Trump enjoyed firing people so much on his television show -- and what a reprehensible thing it is for anyone to actually enjoy firing people. That is a message Scranton could relate to, I would bet.
Scranton's not the only place this would be true, either. The biggest threat Trump poses to Clinton (pretty much everyone agrees) is in the Rust Belt -- in particular, the key states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Many voters in these states have seen their fair share of people getting fired, over the past decades. Biden explaining how Trump not only enjoys firing people but also has stiffed many small businesses throughout his life would resonate in many places throughout this region.
Joe Biden is precisely the person to deliver both a pro-Clinton and an anti-Trump message not just to the Rust Belt, but to a lot of similar regions of the country. He can reach people who regularly tune Hillary out, in fact. People comparing Trump's message to Biden's message would help Clinton among many demographics she has so far not had a lot of success in reaching.
Biden is just the person to help her reach these people. And the most effective way of reaching them would be to immediately counter a Trump rally with a Biden rally. If Trump speaks on Tuesday night, by Friday Joe should give a speech in exactly the same town. Matching Trump's footsteps would give people a clear contrast. Sure, Trump's amusing and all of that, but Joe makes so much sense he might just convince people to take a second look at Hillary.
Joe's a down-to-earth guy. He can communicate with millions of other down-to-earth folks all across America. The smartest thing Team Hillary could do right now would be to unleash Biden to do exactly that. Book Joe in every small town Trump hits. Get under Trump's skin. Traditionally, this is the role of the vice-presidential candidate, not the sitting vice president himself. But this isn't set in stone or anything.
This election is the first in a very long time where the sitting president will be campaigning for his replacement. Al Gore thought Bill Clinton on the campaign trail would be a distraction (this may have been the biggest political mistake of Gore's life, in fact). Every Republican candidate since George W. Bush left office has been embarrassed to be seen with him (since he failed so badly). In fact, you have to go back to the 1992 election, when Ronald Reagan campaigned (successfully) for his own vice president, George H. W. Bush. Since it's been so long since it happened, who's to say the rules can't now be rewritten? Many other political "rules of thumb" have already crumbled in this election cycle, after all.
Barack Obama will be a good campaigner for Hillary Clinton, but he's a busy guy and can only do so many appearances. Biden's got a lot more time to devote to the Clinton campaign. So why not send him out to follow Donald Trump around his campaign trail? The smartest thing Clinton could do for the next few months would be to convince Joe Biden to become Donald Trump's shadow, always following right behind him and explaining why his particular brand of malarkey is not worth buying into.
-- Chris Weigant
Cross-posted at The Huffington Post
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
I'd be willing to bet more than a few Quatloos that LizM is going to like this article. Any takers?
Heh.
:-)
-CW
As a newbie do I get an initial stake of Quatloos?
I think you get Quatloos just for knowing what a Quatloo is.
Osborne Ink -
That is the perfect answer! Hint: "Triskelion"....
Heh.
Big Guy -
It's after 3:00 in the morning... I will offer you a proper welcome to the site tomorrow, I promise!
:-)
Gotta go... need sleep...
-CW
You should change the title of this article to "Liz's Song!" Heck, if you told me that she wrote it, i would have believed you! And she is right when it comes to Biden: he truly is an amazing "man of the people" and a good man. Before the convention, I worried that Clinton's camp might dismiss the thought that they need outsiders' help to battle Trump, but they have definitely showed their willingness to accept Bernie's help at the DNC! Biden would be a great way to counter Trump's appeal. Toss in Elizabeth Warren's ability to get under Trump's skin, and Clinton's best hope for winning might lie with two people not actually running!
I guess no one is taking that bet, Chris. Wise decisions! :)
"If Joe Biden were the Democratic nominee, he'd be beating Trump right now by 10 or 15 points." These weren't die-hard Biden fans, mind you, but instead journalists and delegates and other random people I spoke with. Biden's speech was that impressive.
Too bad that the American people have never considered that Biden would be a good bet for Democratic nominee. And, it is especially galling to hear that journalists were lamenting that fact as they are largely responsible for that never happening.
he certainly could be doing the next best thing to running -- being the most robust and effective Clinton booster possible.
I am sure that Vice President Biden will do everything in his power and all that is humanly possible to stop Donald Trump. Because that's who he is and, if I may be so bold, always was.
The biggest part of Biden's appeal, much like Trump's, is his plain-spoken style.
Okay, can we please stop the favourable comparisons that put Trump and Biden in the same sentence? Thanking y'all in advance. :)
A Barack Obama speech could be likened to a symphony -- every note carefully planned, with complex melody and counterpoint, and a mathematical relationship between various themes which build to a carefully-planned crescendo. A Joe Biden speech, on the other hand, is more like a catchy pop tune you can't get out of your head. The tune sticks with you because it resonates naturally and is so memorable and easy to relate to.
Is that the same as saying that Biden's speech was one of "disjointed intensity", complete with a few stumbles and verbal crashes, here and there? Oh, I kid Paula. :)
I'm just going to let the elephant comparison slide, if that's okay.
But the most important aspect of Biden's oratory is the audience he can reach.
This is so true.
And, the audience he can reach is many and varied, not limited to the middle class and blue-collar workers. This is the appeal of Joe Biden. And, it doesn't compare to Trump's.
Even just the part about how Trump enjoyed firing people so much on his television show -- and what a reprehensible thing it is for anyone to actually enjoy firing people. That is a message Scranton could relate to, I would bet.
This, of course, was classic Joe Biden.
If someone isn't, right now, working on a television and/or radio ad around this and Biden's past comments equating not having a job with a loss of human dignity , then Hillary needs to get a better PR team on board, and fast.
He can reach people who regularly tune Hillary out, in fact.
This is absolutely key.
Which is why shadowing Trump makes a lot of sense. Biden should not only travel to the same places but try to speak to the same audiences.
Just had a thought ... what about an informal debate in one of these small towns between Biden and the Republican nominee.
I know, I know ... only in my wildest imaginings. Trump ain't that strong or secure in his own skin to even contemplate such a scenario.
I completely agree about letting Biden shadow Trump.
Biden takes on Trump and the timid mainstream press will report it....with delight because it will sell papers and get ratings, without leaving them open to charges of "media bias." I have no doubt that Biden can play this game very well....so well Trump will probably go into evasion mode, which will only feed public interest more.
Phineas J. Weigant, You are a Genius!
I've read some different articles noting this is the first election in a long time where the outgoing President is a full-throated supporter of the nominee -- Obama/Clinton. Thus HRC gets the benefit of so many great surrogates and they can, indeed, target different demographics. Joe will be an enormous help!
[12] Elizabeth: I'm sure Hillary's team is busy putting together a ton of videos and commercials -- so much good material came out of this Convention. And I think they've been putting out good stuff all along -- now they have a whole new mine of great stuff to work with.
A veritable treasure trove ... :)
Paula,
How do you thing Hillary should handle the blatant cyberespionage of the Russian government and subsequent DNC document dump to WikiLeaks?
We should all know by now that nothing is safe!
In my view, she should discount the political advice she may be getting and meet this critical challenge head on, with strength and passion.
Yes, the relationship between Washington and Moscow is a dynamic one with many moving parts and she has her own cyber issues but, I don't think she or President Obama can afford to let it prevent a very robust US reaction.
It is like we have two uncles coming to dinner in November, Happy Uncle Joe and Crazy Uncle Donald.
Happy Uncle Joe asks about you and everybody else, listens, and tells funny stories.
Crazy Uncle Donald tells how rich he is and how everything is much worse than when he was a kid when "everybody knew their place" and how something has to be done about it, then ends up shouting at everybody and storming out.
[19] Elizabeth: agreed!
If a Labrador retriever were the Democratic nominee for president, it would be up by at least ten points. Unfortunately, our nominee is despised as intensely, and almost as widely, as theirs is. Either ticket could secure a landslide victory by the simple expedient of dying before the votes are cast.
The real problem with the orange "billionaire" is not that he wants to be the Queen of Con or that he is too racist or that he's a narcissist with bizarre language quirks. The big issue is that he's a compulsive troll with small finger syndrome. Scoring cheap points on the internet is the highest form of "winning" and he says he's going to make us sick of "winning", but it wouldn't take much before it escalated to nuclear war. Having Biden and Warren and Sanders troll the troll is the best strategy to melt him down, but Al Franken would be my choice.
. . . or maybe Little Mike Bloomberg. He seems to have really gotten under The Donald's skin.
Great article, Chris! I hope Joe Biden is beseeched to do exactly as you suggest. But I beg to differ with part of your analogy re Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
While a Barack Obama speech could indeed be likened to a symphony, a Biden speech isn't like some catchy pop tune (that, to me, vastly undervalues a Joe speech which is, above all, from the heart). His speeches are the captivating tunes from those same symphonies -- the Song of Joy melody from Beethoven's Ninth, the world's most beautiful Lullaby by Brahms and the rousing joy of the Hallelujah chorus by Handel. These melodies are memorable music with heart and soul.
Also, rather than saying Joe Biden is plain-speaking, I'd say the biggest part of Biden's appeal is that he speaks from the heart.
You see you could just as well say that Trump is "plain-speaking" -- plain to the point of being simplistic -- in speeches delivered in repetitive, unstructured, fourth grade language that exist only to self-aggrandize.
When Joe Biden is on stage, it is never for himself, but to give of himself. That has been at the core of his life-long public service.
What she said, Chris! :)
The Orange Queen is already playing the Chicken Card. He's trying to ooze his way out of debating a woman. Sad!