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Letter: Listen to Biden: You’ll want to vote for him
Op-Ed · November 07, 2007
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of meeting Democratic presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden at an event in Tipton. After listening to Senator Biden talk about his plans for 2008, I am convinced that it is impossible to hear him and not want him to be in the White House. Joe Biden does not just offer his positions. He really clarifies the issues, and you know that what he says now is what he will do as president. He is clearly the most trustworthy, knowledgeable, and dependable Democrat seeking the nomination this year.
Joe Biden is the only candidate who has been honest with the American people from the very start about our situation in Iraq. Biden has not claimed, as others have, that we can get all our troops out right away. If we want to avoid the civil war that is erupting in Iraq, we will need to do what the Iraqi Constitution calls for and give each ethnic group power over their own land. Biden has been pushing for this for over a year, and finally in September the Senate voted 75-23 in favor of the Biden plan for Iraq. Twenty-six of the senators who voted for Biden’s plan were Republicans. That kind of ringing endorsement not only shows how our country’s leaders trust Biden on matters of foreign policy, but it also shows that Biden can bring members of both parties together to get important things accomplished.
Even after we resolve the conflict in Iraq, there are still very difficult situations in the Middle East and North Korea that pose threats to our national security. Of all the Democratic candidates, only Senator Biden has been involved in diplomacy enough to have earned the respect of other world leaders and know when and how to negotiate. Not only do the front-running candidates lack that kind of experience, but some of their recent decisions have made me question their judgment. Senator Clinton voted for a bill that condemns most of Iran’s military as a terrorist organization. That gives President Bush the go-ahead to use military force against Iran, if and when he wants to! And Senator Obama did not even bother returning to Washington to do his job and vote on the bill. Senator Biden has said that war with Iran would be far more costly and deadly than the war in Iraq, and for that reason, he voted against the bill. I can only trust a candidate who takes the situation with Iran as seriously as Joe Biden does.
I think it is time that we start looking beyond the front-running candidates. If you have the opportunity to hear Senator Joe Biden speak, I encourage you to do so. It is an enlightening experience and one that gives me hope for a safer world in 2008.
Norma Beecher
West Branch
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