Joe Biden's doomsday scenario
Was it wise for the vice president to say Obama's agenda is finished if Republicans make big gains in 2010?
"They must be popping open the champagne" at Republican Party headquarters, said Joe Gandelman in The Moderate Voice, after Vice President Joe Biden said that President Obama's agenda is doomed if Democrats lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts. Biden has just handed Republicans "the perfect quote to stick in fundraising letters and in ads for Campaign 2010."
There's nothing surprising about Biden's remarks, said Steve Benen in the Washington Monthly. "Of course Democratic leaders are concerned about Republicans reclaiming power." Biden has every reason to want to fire up rank-and-file Democrats ahead of the midterms—"the White House and its allies have a lot of work to do, cleaning up messes left from GOP rule during the Bush era, and a shift in congressional leadership would make progress impossible."
Moderates and conservatives should thank Joe Biden for the reminder, said Michael van der Galien in PoliGazette. "Obama and Biden won’t moderate themselves"; they have to be forced. And the only way to do that "is to take back Congress so they have to talk to Republicans" and take their concerns seriously.
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