Mostafa Zein
By choosing Joseph Biden as his running mate, Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama will have acknowledged his own weaknesses and sought the help of the renowned Senator in his confrontation with John McCain. These weaknesses became evident during the electoral campaign: the skin color, Islamic African roots, and lack of experience in foreign policy.
Throughout the campaign, Obama and his aides noticed that white Democratic voters favored his rival Hillary Clinton. They voted for her in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Despite their accepting a black candidate, racism still governs their electoral choices. With Clinton pulling out of the race, they are even willing to elect the right-wing McCain even though his aspirations counter their convictions and interests. After all, racism still runs high in the American society, especially amidst the working class and the poor.
In addition to this weakness, Obama was and still remains accused of inexperience in foreign policy. He tried to avoid this area during the campaign by focusing on domestic issues. McCain, however, kept taking him back to it, blaming him for voting against the war in Iraq, implicitly linking this position to his rival's Islamic origin and manipulating racism as far as the law permits.
To compensate for this "weakness," Obama chose the well-known Senator who comes from a Catholic, working-class background. He can be the "Yankee" who guarantees that, if voted in, Obama will not deviate in directions undesired by the American political class, both Democratic and Republican, a factor of great significance in influencing the choices of white voters.
Biden has been one of the most prominent congressmen over the past 35 years. He heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and many of his bills became laws, including a resolution endorsed by Congress which divided Iraq into three states or cantons on sectarian and ethnic bases. He was also known for fully supporting the Syria Accountability Act and UNSC Resolution 1559. He also supported Israel in its war against Lebanon. He visited Tel Aviv with Obama and the two men expressed their support for the Jewish State to ensure its supremacy in the Middle East. They both supported its efforts to make Jerusalem its unified capital. The man makes no secret of his orientations as a Zionist. For "one does not have to be a Jew to be a Zionist," as he once argued.
With Biden chosen for the vice-presidential ticket, McCain will no longer be able to criticize Obama's lack of experience in foreign policy; he won't be even able to focus on this point. Biden's positions do not differ much from the Republicans', especially over the Middle East. He is known for being close to them and for occasionally mediating between the two sides. In addition to guaranteeing that Obama will not deviate to the left, Biden will secure the positions of American decision makers and the interests of establishments and corporations both domestically and internationally.
Bestowing white color on Obama or getting more gray hair (color, age and experience), as the Washington Post put it, will not only support Obama in his electoral battle, but will also return Dick Cheney's legacy and influence to the White House. The vulnerability of the Democratic candidate on foreign policy is not limited to the confrontation with McCain but also persists in front of the partner he has chosen to save him from this weakness.
* Published in the London-based DAR AL-HAYAT on August 26, 2008. |
