Blue Crab Boulevard

Really, What Is Joe Smoking?

I’ve seen this statement from Joe Biden referenced at a couple sites today, and the more I think about it the more bizarre it becomes:

It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking…Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate… And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right. [ed. emphasis added]

What in the hell is he talking about?

Really, there are two possibilities that make sense of the following statements, and neither of them are particularly appealing.

1) Biden really believes in the conspiracy theory model of world history, where there is a shadowy cabal of wealthy industrialists, or Jews, or both, who are really “calling the shots” in the world. It might sound like I’m being facetious here but I’m not. After all, it wasn’t all that long ago that Great Britain based its foreign policy during World War One upon the sincere belief that “international Jewry” was a real force that could be swayed and used against Imperial Germany. I’m not ready to believe such stupidity is forever beyond the human spieces. If this is the sort of thing Biden has in mind, he should make it clear to all of us what color the sky is in his world.

Or, 2) the Democrats have in mind what the nuttier fruits on the Right and Left (9/11 “Truthers”, or Howard Dean) have claimed about George Bush, i.e. the deliberate introduction of some spectacular upheaval to be used in order to fundamentally change our Constitutional order bypassing the regular democratic process. Biden’s comments are so cryptic it is hard to be sure what he has in mind, but something like this would make sense of his remarks.

So those are the options; either Joe believes in an imaginary conspiracy, or he longs to be a part of an actual conspiracy.

I’m open to other “solutions” to these remarks, such as proof that Joe has gone off his meds or something.

Politics | Rich Horton October 20, 2008

By syn, October 20, 2008 @ 5:51 pm

“What in the hell is he talking about?”

He’s talking about Obama having absolutely no experience in handling an international crisis, generated or otherwise.
By Hermit, October 20, 2008 @ 6:13 pm

Maybe Obama, Joe and friends are cooking up a false flag scenario with a predetermined outcome only they are aware of. I wouldn’t put it past them.

Sorry… I should stay away from those darned conspiracy theories.
By Rich Horton, October 20, 2008 @ 6:31 pm

I know what you mean Hermit…but Biden’s comments nearly beg for such a reaction. The loonies are gonna have a field day with his comments…I just want to know if Biden is himself one of the loonies.
By Bleepless, October 20, 2008 @ 7:26 pm

To put it in one little three-letter word, Biden is n-u-t-s.
By feeblemind, October 21, 2008 @ 7:38 am

How can this be?? I thought Obama was going to bring in a 1000 year era of peace and harmony by the sheer force of his charm, charisma and eloquent tongue. Why would anyone feel the need to test such a man? How could He possibly make a wrong decision?
By sam, October 21, 2008 @ 9:41 am

I think that Biden is just acknowledging what a lot of other people think; that if Obama is elected then other world leaders with an antagonism toward the US will test him to see how he will react. I could name several: Putin, Chavez, Iran, N. Korea – you know, all the usual suspects. I don’t think you need to think up some conspiracy theory – Biden is just agreeing with one of the McCain talking points about Obama’s inexperience and temperament in foreign policy.
By Rich Horton, October 21, 2008 @ 10:24 am

Sam, I’m still not sure it makes sense reading it the way you do. I mean, I can see regimes testing any new president, but whyh will we “seem in the wrong”? It begs to be seen as “appearances will be different from reality” especially when he doesn’t say exactly what he has in mind.
By Mwalimu Daudi, October 21, 2008 @ 11:34 am

Actually Rich, Biden was just engaging in a little pre-emptive CYA. A loose translation of what the Deputy Messiah said is: “Ask not what you can do for your country, but instead ask how you can help to make sure that anything that goes wrong during our regime gets blamed on George Bush. Or conservative talk radio. Or Christians. Or sub-prime mortgage rates. Or FOX News. Or Wall Street greed. Or (this is the default position) the racists that can be found under every bed in this under-taxed country.”
By Rich Horton, October 21, 2008 @ 12:35 pm

Still doesn’t quite make sense of the term “generated crisis,” but I agree with your larger point. I expect anything bad that happens between now and, say, 2016 will be Bush’s fault.
By Mwalimu Daudi, October 21, 2008 @ 3:39 pm

Why up to only 2016? The MSM and their Democrat pets still blame (pick one or more of the following) Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, and/or Ronald Reagan for any problem from recession to terrorist attacks to crummy Hollywood movies (Sharon Stone once claimed that the repressive atmosphere created by the Bush Administration kept her from an on-screen lesbian kiss with Halle Berry in the celluloid stinker Catwoman). If McCain manages to make the sun rise in the west and win in two weeks he will become the Ultimate Source of All Evil in the world (worse still: Michelle will not be proud of America). For Republican Presidents it is practically a rite of passage to be demonized and dehumanized by the MSM/DNC axis.

Waiting for yuri or some other “smart person” to gurgle to the surface in 10 seconds … 9 … 8… 7 …
By Dean, October 21, 2008 @ 8:18 pm

I believe he was introducing the concept of “pre-emptive capitulation”. If Iran lobs nukes at Israel or China makes a move against Taiwan, we won’t do squat. He’s just warning everybody ahead of time.

Linked.
By ThomasD, October 21, 2008 @ 9:13 pm

Actually I think Biden was trying to set up a situation where – when the new POTUS gets tested by some foreign power and Obama doesn’t want to come off like the total pansy he truly is, thereby causing even more and greater shenanigans from the usual suspects, Obama will actually act tough, thereby sounding frighteningly like some sort of AmeriKKKan cowboy, scaring the left into wetting their pants at the thought of AmeriKKKa actually projecting its power. So Biden is just tellling the lefty surrendercrats to take it all in stride and don’t do or say anything that might serve to undermine Barack’s (oops, he meant to say America’s) stature in the world. Because it’s good for Barack, and that’s what’s good for America.