The 2008 presidential election may seem like ancient history, but it was less than a year ago that Tina Fey famously spoofed Sarah Palin, chirping the now-infamous, “I can see Russia from my house!” Before Trig was a household name, before the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman became as widely read as the Times or the Post, the formal complaints against Palin were rather staid: the governor simply doesn’t have enough foreign policy experience for her position.
We’ve just finished eight years under a former state governor who could see Mexico from his backyard – and look how that turned out.Partly due to this, the office that would have been Palin’s is now inhabited by former Senator Joe Biden, that experienced don of foreign policy. The difference is night and day, and as Andrew Sullivan has insinuated, between life and death. By electing the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee over the wonder from Wasila, America ensured herself a new hope in foreign policy – a new approach to the world that one would be tempted to call humble.
Or so one might think. Instead, Vice President Biden went off the reservation, excoriating Russia in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday. While citing the need to avoid “embarrass[ing] an individual or a country when they’re dealing with significant loss of face,” the vice president proceeded to do exactly that, describing the Russian Empire as “clinging” to an unsustainable past in the wake of declining birth rates and a “withering economy.” As if the comments themselves weren’t enough, Biden had to make them while chumming it up with Georgian President Mikhail Saakhashvili, who may or may not have instigated a war with Russia last summer.
Biden’s record as a gaffe machine is long lasting – in fact, it is the second time that his mouth has triumphed over his brain. Just three months ago, Biden urged American’s to avoid using public transportation during the outbreak of the almost entirely nonfatal H1N1 virus.
The issue comes not from the statements themselves – although attacking Russia for holding onto past glory is rather rich, coming from the man from Scranton. Rather it is the fact that he is making such assertions as vice president of the United States. In making these statements in his official capacity as the second-highest ranking executive in the nation, in effect he speaks on behalf of the entire country. Yet Biden seems entirely unaware that he cannot ramble as if he were a Delaware state representative, that holding such a high-ranking position requires a modicum of restraint. He pronounces off-the-cuff theories with all the self-restraint of a drunk collegian studying abroad, describing in slurred pidgin exactly why the world is the way it is. Yet rather than being forgotten in the haze of Sunday’s hangover, the ramblings of the VP become a matter of public record, a primary source for observers of American foreign relations.
Sarah Palin visits Alaskan troops stationed in Germany
Sarah Palin Visiting Alaskan Troops in GermanyPopulists are, however, obsessed with straight talk; to use already dated vernacular, they value ‘keeping it real’ over realism. As the featured comment on the Journal‘s page put it, “Who gave Joe Biden the truth serum? The only person I’m beginning to respect in the Obama administration is Biden, go figure.” But as Dave Chapelle illustrated on his popular sketch comedy show, keeping it real can often go horribly wrong. There are few places in which it can be worse than in foreign relations, in which even the misplacement of an article can lead to bloodshed.
This brings us back to Palin, who still dominates the headlines even as she flees from them as though they were style handbooks. Even as bad as Biden might be, the punditry cautions, Palin would have been far worse. Perhaps so – but then again, perhaps not. After all,McCain’s iciness towards Palin – both during and after the campaign – have illustrated that the love-fest was little more than a shotgun wedding of political expediency. Is it so unreasonable to suggest that McCain’s attitude toward the vice-presidency would be far more controlling that the current loose leash? If McCain and his staff didn’t trust Palin on the campaign trail, why would they trust her with foreign affairs, a field in which Sen. McCain revels? In all likelihood, a Vice-President Palin would wait idly, biding the time and preparing for the 2012 race (although an exception might be made for a visit to Berlusconi’s Italy).
Each vice presidential candidate had their Russia gaffe. Palin’s, had it been issued from the Vice President’s desk, would certainly make the country look stupid. But Biden’s comment, which was actually issued, makes America look downright bullying. While Sarah Palin might have been unqualified, Joe Biden has proven himself incompetent. The former should lead to skepticism, but the latter should lead to denunciation.Thus far, however, Vice President Biden has only been described as an “asset” by the White House spokesman. Perhaps Gibbs misheard the question as an economic one.
Given these options, America would be wise to return to the old tradition of the do-nothing vice presidency. It is a long and storied tradition of being that “most insignificant office,” and later compared unfavorably to a “bucketful of warm spit.” In recent years, however, the vice-presidency has risen to far more powerful heights, thanks in large part to the ceaseless scheming by Dick Cheney. Gene Healy has chronicled the cult of the presidency, but concurrently there has risen a cult of the vice-presidency. A vice-president that did nothing but wait for the president to die is simply unacceptable in the eyes of an impatient “don’t stand there, do something!” citizenry. At the very least, though, we might hope for a muzzle.
A version of this piece was published in The D.C. Writeup.
