Biden says he and Obama ‘share a common story’
Barack Obama and Joe Biden were officially named the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees at the Democratic Convention last night.
By Francesca Chambers (Contact)
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Denver, Colo. — At first Joe Biden’s demeanor was calm and controlled as he made his first speech as the official Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Wednesday night.
It seemed political commentators were wrong when they predicted he would play the role of attack dog in the Obama campaign. But slowly, Biden’s voice got louder and angrier, plateauing when he told the audience, “John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was right,” about the war in Iraq.
“In the Senate, John sided with President Bush 95 percent of the time. Give me a break,” Biden said.
Republicans and analysts wondered if Biden would make a detrimental slip of tongue, but the only mistake Biden made was what he called a Freudian one: He referred to John McCain as George Bush.
Biden even embraced his previous, questionable behavior saying, “Failure at some point in everyone’s life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.”
Biden also emphasized his compatibility with the Obama campaign, citing he and Obama’s common, humble backgrounds, anti-Iraq war policies and belief in change.
“Barack Obama and I took very different journeys to this destination, but we share a common story,” Biden said.
After his speech Biden was joined on the stage first by Barack Obama, who made a surprise appearance, and then by his family. The convention’s band played “We are family.”
Biden was officially nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate Wednesday evening when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi suspended the convention rules and nominated Biden by acclimation instead of taking a vote.
Obama was also formally nominated yesterday, when Hillary Clinton put a stop to the state delegations’ roll call votes.
Clinton stopped the roll call after New Mexico. At that time she had received 341.5 votes and Obama had received 1,549.5 of the 2,210 needed.
Clinton received six of Kansas’ 37 votes.
- Edited by Becka Cremer
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