Election time is right around the corner, and all of the usual suspects are piling into the clown car that has become the Republican primaries. Hillary Clinton is faced with the insurmountable task of appearing trustworthy and Bernie is well … Bernie. This why a Biden presidency needs to materialize. There is no candidate better suited to replace Obama than his right hand man.
Biden certainly has his drawbacks. He is a gaffe machine. Just last year, he referred to Africa as a country and all of humanity had a joke at his expense. The irony is, Biden has a pretty good track record when it comes to the continent. Biden was alone when he called for American military intervention in Darfur. For those that do not remember, the conflict in Darfur was an ethnic cleansing (or genocide by some accounts) of the indigenous African ethnic groups of the south by northern, Muslim tribes.
It was a similar stance as the one he took 20 years earlier when he demanded harsh sanctions be placed on the Apartheid in South Africa. Unfortunately, racist Ronald Reagan was president at the time and he would have none of that; but, the effort was still made. In a time where there are so many countries where people face discrimination and threats of ethnic cleansing, we need a president whose actions show that they understand the conflicts; but, more importantly, whose record shows he/she has the capacity to care.
At home, Biden has been one of the strongest advocates for gay rights. He didn’t require “evolving” on the issue as Obama claims he did. He has been completely in step with Obama on foreign policy and healthcare, which has led to the bettering of America’s perception by foreign countries and the coverage of over sixteen million Americans.
This last point leads to the most important reason to support a Biden presidency: he is Obama’s third term. Obama wasn’t the change the country wanted. He wasn’t even the change I wanted. He was, however, the change this country needed. Biden is the only one that can continue, and possibly finish, that change.
