Vice President Joe Biden's NAACP Speech

If Mitt Romney’s speech before the NAACP convention yesterday was an act of courage, Vice President Joe Biden’s speech today was a plate of cold mashed potatoes.
Biden appealed to members of the nation’s oldest civil rights group to rally behind President Obama and reject a Republican vision for the country that Biden said would roll back progress for minorities.
Speaking at the NAACP conference in Houston a day after GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Biden attacked Romney’s contention that his policies would be better for black families than Obama’s have been (right! with unemployment among Black Americans at 14.4 %).
Biden said the Republican Party is hostile toward the middle and working classes on voting rights, health care, taxes and education and argued that a Romney administration would be detrimental to blacks.
The Vice President played the crowd for all it was worth, shouting to friends in the Delaware delegation and recalling his work on voting rights when he was on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Did you think we’d be fighting these battles again?” he said. “I didn’t think we’d be back. I remember working with Republicans — and by the way, this ain’t your father’s Republican Party — on ”Motor Voter” [legislation], expanding the [voting] franchise. Some of these were Republican ideas. This is not the Republican Party’s view today, nor Romney’s. They see a different future in which voting is harder [rather] than easier.”
Biden added, “There’s a lot more to say, but this is preaching to the choir.”
Yes. Polls indicate that black voters massively support Obama, even if they are frustrated by the economy and the unemployment rate, which is much higher among Black Americans than the general population.
Whereas Romney drew three outbursts of boos, Biden received a friendly welcome and applause. When he said he would wrap up his speech, some in the audience shouted, “No!”
Apparently heeding the criticism of Black leaders about his absence at the NAACP convention, Obama addressed the audience via video before Biden spoke, repeating his campaign stump speech by telling the crowd that his administration is committed to a country where “no matter who you are or what you look like or where you come from, America is a place where you can make it if you try.”
Yesterday, Romney told the NAACP that Obama has failed to restore prosperity and security.
Biden argued that the President has succeeded despite Republican obstructionism.
“They were seas of obstruction,” he said. “Their discipline was amazing. They never let up. But neither has my guy, neither has Barack Obama. He hasn’t given up.”
Biden tied Romney directly to Capitol Hill Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), saying that under a Romney administration, they would collude to undo critical reforms.
“Close your eyes and imagine — imagine what the Romney Justice Department would look like,” Biden said, drawing shouts of “No!” from the crowd. “Imagine who he’d recommend to be the attorney general or head of the civil rights division. Imagine what the Supreme Court will look like after four years of a Romney presidency.
“This election, in my view, is a fight for the heart and soul of America,” he continued, adding of Republicans: “These guys aren’t bad guys, they just have a fundamentally different view.”
Dear readers, as I said several days ago, do not take Joe Biden for granted. He is a pro at stump politics, especially with blue collar audiences. Today, he showed his no-holds-barred approach to divide-and-conquer with Black Americans. He will go on until election day.
Now that Mitt Romney has seen Biden at work on Romney’s agenda, he and his staff need to get a plan fleshed out to counter-attack. It is possible, but not by being politely in control of one’s emotions.
Romney needs an attack dog, even if the attack is more polished and factual than Joe Biden’s. Factual? Biden would be hard-pressed to define the term.
That is what makes the naming of the GOP VP candidate important. And we need him now. Someone who can attack the low life demagoguery of Biden, Obama and the rest for the Democratic pros are fighting for their political lives. And, I have to add that it requires a man -- sadly but truthfully, a woman cannot do the job that needs to be done and remain electable.
Washington Democrats know that if Obama loses, they lose, too -- no more private jets, no more congressional perks, no more inflated salaries or expense accounts, no more cushy health insurance or pension funding. No more Washington and its unique brand of political bling-bling.
This is what makes Obama and all of them dangerous. It is not their ideas, which can be countered rather easily. It is their heels dug in to save their political skins - facts be damned.
Nothing is more dangerous than a cornered politician.