Vice President Joe Biden, speaking to a decidedly anti-war audience in Iowa on Sunday, played down the Obama administration’s pledge to use military force to rid Syria of chemical weapons.
Biden, weighing a run for president in 2016, instead touted the U.S.-Russian diplomatic proposal for Syria to relinquish its chemical arsenal under international supervision.
“We’re going to the United Nations with a resolution this week that will in fact call on the United Nations of the world to put pressure on Syria to have the confiscation and destruction of all those weapons,” Biden told hundreds of Iowa’s most devout Democrats at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak picnic and fall fundraiser.
Biden touched only lightly on the administration’s continued insistence that “there are consequences should the Assad regime not comply.” National public opinion polls show a military strike on Syria is unpopular, especially with Democrats.
There was no applause for his Syria comments from the audience, supporters of Harkin, a veteran Democrat popular with his party’s anti-war activists.
But listeners rose to their feet and cheered loudly when Biden ticked through the economic gains the country has made since Obama took office, improvements the vice president could benefit from, should they continue, if he runs for president in 2016.
Biden praised Harkin as the “conscience of the Senate,” and the senator also raised hope the U.S.-Russian proposal would resolve the Syria issue.
Biden is considering running for the top job in the White House in 2016, and the crowd he mingled with Sunday, including many familiar with the two-time presidential candidate, would have the opening say during the state’s caucuses.
He linked himself with the administration’s efforts to lift the slow-recovering economy, and with Obama in particular. And though Biden is well known in Iowa from his presidential races, Obama’s approval nationally, less than 50 percent, would be a challenge for him.
“We have a clear vision for America that rests on a growing and prosperous middle class, where the playing field is level,” Biden said, “and where we lead the world again in the power of our example.”
With Hillary Clinton and Biden as the most prominent Democrats being discussed for their party’s 2016 nomination, Obama said in a broadcast interview that he suspects both politicians would say it was “way too premature” to focus on the race.
Asked about Biden’s visit, the president told ABC’s “This Week” that “Iowa’s a big state and (Biden is) an old friend of Tom Harkin’s.” The two were Senate colleagues.
“We consider Joe Biden one of our own,” said Jon Mixdorf, who serves on the executive committee for the Black Hawk County Democrats. “If Joe Biden can carry that tradition Obama has started, we would be behind him. But, honestly, it would be close.”
About the Author
