Dublin Opinion

I came across this clip earlier on today. It’s from 14 April 2007, and it’s Biden talking after a campaign rally in Laconia, New Hampshire. Ever the campaigner, he makes sure to make eye contact with both of the persons he’s talking to, as well as effortlessly shaking a person’s hand as they’re leaving the hall.

What I love about this is seeing a (then) presidential candidate talk in such a Machiavellian way about how to achieve universal health cover.

It also brings home the complete and utter difference between American federal politics and what we experience here. Simply no comparison. And while we all know that, I think sometimes we forget that there’s a world of difference between American politics and our politics. Certainly, Fine Gael have no idea of the difference with their “presidential-style” campaigns for a country with a population slightly smaller than that of South Carolina, while sharing roughly the same area. And last week, with the Labour party screeching about putting a cap on bank CEOs’ bonuses, when you know the only reason why they called for that is because the House of Representatives called for it in their plan. (The Labour party, in voting against the government’s plan, managed to do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons! Oh well… It’s a start.)

So, it’s interesting to hear Biden talking about getting states on board and the internal dynamics involved in trying to get something done at a federal level - he’s talks about how once you get 30 to 35 states on board with a plan, you’ve got a national consensus, and once you have that, then you can modify the national plan for each particular state if need be, just making sure that the key elements remain in place.

He’s in full campaign mode here (for his own presidential candidacy), I know; but still, I think it gives us a slightly deeper sense of the man.