Vice President Joe Biden chose the pulpit of one of Atlanta’s most prestigious synagogues to publicly describe, for the first time, his status as a 2016 candidate for the White House.
The weary but loquacious man, still grieving over a lost son, had already been in the pulpit for more than hour. But boiled down, Biden’s remarks could be reduced to this: “In case of emergency, break glass.”
Biden likely will not make a third Democratic try for president, but is ready to step in should Hillary Clinton – dogged by a never-ending email saga — begin to implode. That was the most common interpretation given by the politically plugged-in as they exited Ahavath Achim late Thursday.
“The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I will have the emotional energy to run,” Biden told more than 2,000 gathered in pews, his voice catching. Hillary Clinton wasn’t a factor. Money and organization weren’t, either. The shadow over his decision remains a 46-year-old son, Beau, dead of brain cancer only three months now.
“The factor is, can I do it? Can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment that they would be proud to undertake in ordinary circumstances?” Biden asked himself. “The honest-to-God answer is I just don’t know.”
The vice president’s official purpose in Atlanta, only a day after President Barack Obama obtained the final Senate vote he needed to preserve his Iran nuclear deal, was to talk angry members of the Jewish community off the ledge. And we will get to that.
But the issue of his candidacy was made unavoidable by Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. ambassador and Jimmy Carter cabinet member. The Eizenstat family sponsors the lecture series that brought Biden to Atlanta.
Both Eizenstat and Biden are 72, just months apart in age. They have known each other for decades. Each one has mourned with the other at family funerals. Which likely made the conversation easier when Eizenstat introduced his friend as “the 47th president of the United States.”
It was a deft move, not an accounting error. In 2016, we will elect our 45th president. The deliberate miscount allowed Eizenstat to put the issue on the table, without any suggestion that he was soliciting opposition to Hillary Clinton – another close friend.
Biden spoke for 50 minutes before Eizenstat pressed him again – with a question from the audience. People who had left their seats, headed for the exits, stopped and turned back to listen to the vice president’s anguish.
“I have to be honest with you,” Biden said. “I can’t look you straight in the eye and say now that I know I can do it. That’s as honest as I can get.”
It was a deflating answer from an understandably deflated man, made more striking by the speech that preceded it – which could easily have passed for a campaign stumper.
The tone made it clear: Should Biden be pushed into this race, he would run as a Democratic foreign policy hawk in the style of men who retired to the sidelines long ago – Scoop Jackson and Georgia’s Sam Nunn, for instance.
With the local consul general from Israel in the crowd, a yarmulke-topped Biden repeatedly assured his audience that the United States was willing to act alone and with great force – but with a sense of perspective.
“Even if we face fewer existential threats than previous generations – I understand the world doesn’t always feel like it’s safer,” Biden said. “We turn on our TV or our phone screens, and they’re filled with images of brutality and disorder. But it’s important to understand that not every problem in the world is about us.”
Obama had just won a veto-proof contingent of Democrats to preserve his Iran deal, but Biden wasn’t in Atlanta to celebrate. Rather, he attempted to smooth over concerns.
The vice president told his audience that he understood objections to cutting a deal with a nation that is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. “That’s a rational position,” Biden said.
But he also reminded his listeners that, back in the day of thermonuclear possibilities, the Soviet Union had promised to end the capitalists of the United States. And we cut deal after deal with our communist enemies. Biden had a hand in those treaties.
The vice president said he brought his skepticism with him during the early days of the Iran deal. “I was the skunk at the family picnic. I was skeptical about this administration’s ability to negotiate this agreement,” he said. “Though I admit it. This deal is not about trust. This deal is only about one thing – the ability to verify without anyone interfering with our ability to verify.”
Biden also challenged doubters to ask themselves if they would be satisfied with an Iran deal under any circumstances – and outlined the consequences of removing that country’s nuclear capabilities by force.
“There’s nothing sanitary about this. It would require hundreds of sorties, requiring us to take out their air defense systems. With collateral damage being consequential, located in areas – we are prepared to do it if they move forward,” the vice president said. “Make no mistake about it. But this is an undertaking that is the equivalent of war. It’s not like taking out a reactor in open site, away from populations. So, as the Catholics say, examine your conscience.”
It was a blunt conversation, but one that didn’t seem to deprive Biden of any of the audience’s respect. Nor was the vice president, after a 14-hour day that still hadn’t ended, in any hurry to leave.
As a presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton has been criticized for her inability to connect with her audiences. She doesn’t pass the beer-buddy test.
On Thursday, Joe Biden showed us the candidate that might have taken advantage of that weakness – and still could, though time is quickly running out.
After a 40-minute, feather-ruffling speech on foreign affairs, after a heart-wrenching discussion of his political future, Biden wasn’t done. He leaned over the pulpit that he still occupied, and entertained the crowd for another five minutes with the story of the wedding of his Catholic daughter to a Jewish surgeon.
The crowd hung with him every step of the way, and a tense evening ended on an affable note. That’s how it’s done.
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