Subject: WashPost: The Insiders: Has Joe Biden’s moment arrived?
From: "Alexander S. Mackler" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "ted kaufman" <[email-masked]>, "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>, "Joshua Alcorn" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 08:30:54 -0400

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/06/30/the-insiders-has-joe-bidens-moment-arrived/?hpid=z3

*The Insiders: Has Joe Biden’s moment arrived?*

By Ed Rogers June 30 at 5:13 PM

There seems to be a lot more talk in Washington and in political operative
circles around the country about the prospect of Vice President Joe Biden
running for president in 2016. Interesting. Is a Biden candidacy more
likely as a result of his recent family tragedy? It would be perfectly
plausible for anyone who has suffered the kind of loss he has to want to
rededicate themselves to their life’s work as well as stay as busy as
possible. There is probably no better way on earth to stay busy than to run
for president, to say nothing of how busy your life becomes if you
ultimately get elected. The death of Biden’s son and the way he handled it
with such dignity and grace struck a chord with not just Americans but also
with people all over the world. Perhaps it made people see him in a new
light and maybe even revealed a somewhat hidden dimension of his character.

All of this has happened at the same time the Hillary Clinton campaign is
limping along as a synthetic, tired, manufactured exercise that appears to
be — at best — winning by default.  I actually feel sorry for the Clinton
surrogates I see on TV. They gamely tough it out as they recite the talking
points, deny the obvious, defend the indefensible and pretend there is some
energy within the campaign.

In a lot of ways, Biden would be the true anti-Hillary. He is completely
uninhibited, he is impossible to script — which makes him seem authentic —
and he has a human appeal that everyone can relate to. Clinton, on the
other hand, is running a surreal campaign that avoids crowds, media and
spontaneity of any kind. She is protecting her lead in the most standard,
unimaginative way possible. Compared with Clinton’s robotic, stiff
approach, could having a reputation for occasionally saying the wrong thing
and hugging too much work to Biden’s advantage in an era where voters want
the real thing?

The Democrats appear to be yearning for an emotional connection with their
candidate, which could explain the flurry of excitement surrounding the
Bernie Sanders campaign. Sen. Sanders seems to have an outsize appeal,
which could be a product of how his outside-the-box approach contrasts with
the stale Clinton march. But whatever Bernie can do, can’t Biden do it
better? Maybe Sanders’s candidacy has exposed the opening that exists for
Biden in the Democratic primary. Maybe this is Biden’s moment.

-- 

Alexander Snyder Mackler
(302) 598-867