Biden Alert! Joe wants to be your next president

Who wants to talk 2016 politics?  Rob Tornoe will if you’ll permit him to say a few things about Joe Biden’s possible run.  His commentary and cartoon are here.

 Here is Rob Tornoe’s commentary.

This week, the health of Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden has overshadowed probably the worst-kept secret in the world of politics – Joe Biden really, really wants to be our next president. Now that Beau has had successful surgery and is back home recovering, we can start the sickening speculation of the 2016 presidential race. The idea of a Joe Biden presidential campaign may seem laughable at first, considering he’d be four years older than Ronald Reagan was when he took office, but a quick look at the facts may bring the idea into the realm of possibility. First of all, Joe can paint himself as a strong and influential vice president. While his push for new gun legislation might not have garnered the results he hoped, Biden can take credit for single-handedly starting the administration’s strong push for marriage equality, a once unthinkable position that has quickly become one of the administration’s defining issues. It was Biden’s “gaffe” on “Meet the Press” coming out in support of marriage equality that forced a conflicted President Obama to reevaluate his position, leading to his own “evolution” in support of same-sex marriage. If Biden hadn’t opened his mouth, it’s doubtful the administration’s policy of supporting civil unions, but not gay marriage, would have changed. Biden has also been courting folks in strategically-placed states. He’s already made an appearance at the Iowa State Society’s inaugural ball and invited New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan to attend his second swearing in as vice president (a private affair at the vice president’s residence). He’s also planning on returning to Iowa next month for Senator Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry fundraiser. Sorry Iowa, but no one visits your state unless they’re interested in becoming president. Democrats may chuckle off possible signs of a Biden presidential campaign, but Republicans are taking it seriously. On Friday, the RNC launched a new video slamming Biden’s Scranton visit as the “Biden 2016 kickoff tour,” complete with a clip of Obama infamously introducing Biden in 2008 as “the next president.” This begs the question – is the RNC afraid of a Biden presidential run? Considering his reputation as a gaffe-machine, I’d assume they’d be overjoyed at the possibility of pitting whatever knuckle-dragging candidate survives their 16th century primary against him. Unfortunately for Biden, all signs point to Hillary entering (and dominating) the democratic primary. Not only does she perform better than Biden in nearly every possible demographic (other than male Onion readers), the idea of following up the nation’s first black president with its first female president seems like the natural evolution for a Democratic party that has been successful at sicking Republicans with the “war on women” label. As Biden told GQ, “I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn’t mean I won’t run…  we’ll see where the hell I am.” My brush and quills are ready Joe. Let’s make 2016 a “big f—ing deal.” Rob Tornoe is a political cartoonist and a WHYY contributor to First. See more of his work at RobTornoe.com, and follow him on twitter @RobTornoe.