Opinion: A conversation with Joe Biden: Running, losing, religion, nearly dying

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Last October, Chicago Tribune correspondent James Oliphant interviewed the now-presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden, at length while the Pennsylvania native and Delaware senator was still competing for his party’s presidential nomination.

Here, for a leisurely Sunday morning, are some revealing excerpts from that interview:

On what feels different as a national candidate than 20 years ago:

I was a 42-year-old guy who never really when I started off intended to really run. A group of people I really respect tried to get me to look at running not only in ’88 but in ‘84, and I didn’t want any part of it. I didn’t think I was ready.

In ‘88, I thought I could go out and run in the primaries, do well and not embarrass myself. And put myself in the position that in four, eight, 12 years later, I would be in a position to actually run for president. And it got ahead of me. It got ahead of me.

Back then, I thought quite frankly more about how to win than how to govern. I focused more on -- I thought I was more qualified than the other guys running, but I didn’t really think in terms about -- I wasn’t nearly as sure about what I wanted to do once I governed.

Today, it’s almost the opposite, unfortunately.

This time, rightly or wrongly, I am given a fair amount of credit for being ready to be president, but there is great doubt whether I can get the nomination to run for president. So it’s kind of a flip.

It’s a little frustrating, but it’s totally understandable.

It’s not surprising. Look, this is really an exciting moment for....

...the Democratic Party. I got involved in politics because of civil rights, because of the women’s movement, the environmental movement, the war in Vietnam. If I had gone into a coma in 1968 and woke up and was told the two leading contenders are a woman and an African American, I would have said, ‘Great. That’s what the party is all about.’

On nearly dying from an aneurysm after the ’88 campaign:

What I realized about me, there is a hell of a lot more equanimity. People say to me, you know, what did the life-threatening experiences do to you? Do you appreciate family more? No, I always appreciated family. It didn’t do that.

You would think it would make you more intense. Gotta get everything done, get it in. [But] it’s time. Nothing is that important if it’s not life-threatening. Just take your time. It’s sort of been liberating.

I don’t feel constrained in this campaign, I don’t parse my words. I don’t look at the polls. I’m gonna win or lose on my own terms. The last time taught me the worst way to lose is on someone else’s terms.

[Last time] I didn’t want to be pushed into being the ‘Passionate Joe Biden,’ the new Robert Kennedy, the Irish Catholic. I never was comfortable with that. I went ahead and let myself, and I played into that.

On national security versus domestic issues:

There are two tests a candidate has to pass in November. The first is that they really have to to be able to have unimpeachable credentials on national security and terror.

I really believe that to focus on domestic issues before you pass the threshold test is useless. The one test Democrats have trouble passing is sort of the commander-in-chief test. We should be pushing back on the national-security front.

[Some Democratic strategists] think that we can’t play on [the Republicans’] field and compete. But you don’t get to our field ‘til you get through their field.

The second test: faith:

The Democratic candidate has to be able to negotiate the faith issue. How was it that in ’92 and in ’96 Bill Clinton could get a majority of the Catholic vote, and 40-some percent of the Christian vote and 78% of the Jewish vote, and how was it that that Al Gore and John Kerry couldn’t do that?

Because, I think Democrats have it wrong. They think in order to get that vote, you have to demonstrate you’re born again, or you have to quote the Bible or you’re a religious person. I don’t believe that.

I think the reason why Bill Clinton won that vote even though they knew he wasn’t a paragon of virtue -- and Al Gore was -- was because when Bill Clinton sat in that fundamentalist pew, that Catholic cathedral, that Jewish synagogue, the guy sitting next to him believed Bill Clinton respected him and respected his views.

The Democratic Party has become elitist. At fundraisers with wealthy guys, they are uncomfortable when I say that. I say [to them], let me ask you a rhetorical question: Do you think it’s possible for someone to go to a fundamentalist church tomorrow, make an altar call, profess he’s born again and have a high IQ? They all smile. The truth is we have communicated -- the elite in our party have communicated -- that we really don’t respect that.

Now there’s a reason for that. They are so angry about the polarization of religion by the Christian right that they’ve said any talk of religion is bad. Well, I think it’s about respect, and I don’t think that we should shy away from counterpunching. Saying hey, wait a minute, you want to talk about values? I’m your guy. Let’s talk about values.

I really believe with every fiber of my being the vast majority of Americans agree with us -- about how to treat children, about the elderly, about the whole issue about dealing with the environment. We act like these people in the red states oppose us? They don’t!

How was it that in 1996 Bill Clinton could win Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky etc. Come on, West Virginia, we’re losing West -- by God -- Virginia? We’ve lost the last two times? Come on!

On education and civil rights:

I think we have to challenge more. It’s not helping an African American kid to put him in a first or second grade and not overload him with homework. What makes you think his brain size ain’t as big as the other kid’s? My wife has taught remedial English for 13 years to juniors and sophomores in high school. We have massive busing in our state. Every public high school class has a significant African American population.

My wife demanded the same and treated everybody the same. And, in fact, would spend the time to convince them -- black and white who were behind the curve -- that you can do this.

It’s not like: Here’s a standardized test, and you gotta pass it. That ain’t it.

It is: You can do this. Now, I’m not going to slack off on you. You have homework; you didn’t do it? There’s no excuse. You didn’t do it, come and tell me you didn’t understand it, and I will help you through it. But don’t come and tell me you can do it.

On the challenge to Democrats:

I really believe Katrina ended the Republican era. I think there have probably been six periods in American history when the American people have closed the chapter on a political philosophy.

For the remainder of Oliphant’s compelling conversation with Biden on the changing political eras, go here and read it in the Swamp.

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--Andrew Malcolm

Photo credits: Associated Press