House Editorial: For Biden, silence is golden
It is hard to campaign with one’s foot wedged firmly in one’s mouth
Posted on February 5, 2007

Is it so hard to be a senator?

Three-day workweeks, optional attendance, free health care. It’s a life of public appearances and schmoozing. And in the age of the 24-hour news networks, a congressional existence has become more about style than substance.

Between television appearances, fund raisers and just generally being seen, senators are given ample opportunities to practice public speaking — and seeing as it’s become their primary use, you’d think they’d be better at it.

Last week, Joe Biden — a Democratic presidential hopeful and senator from Delaware — failed miserably at this, the most important of senatorial jobs.

Wednesday, Biden said this about Barack Obama, a fellow Democratic presidential hopeful who happens to black: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean that’s storybook, man.”

Given a senator’s reliance on public image, it’s almost certain Biden didn’t intend to demean Obama’s race, but it all comes back to public speaking and perception.

For politicians, it’s their lifeblood. Few voters read position papers, or pay attention to how a particular senator votes on bills and resolutions, so the barometer for public judgment is in the pictures on the TV.

The moral of the story is “watch what you say.”

If the realm of public opinion can be described by one word, it would be delicate. So much is off-limits to talk about, with race and religion topping the list of unmentionables — especially for white males over 60 (Biden is 64). It’s never been so easy to outrage the masses, and it seems the public is almost willing to be offended.

That being said, is it so hard to keep one’s foot out of one’s mouth? Today it’s more important than ever to not say dumb things, as they will be replayed over and over on news networks and picked apart by pundits. It can ruin a career. See Howard Dean.

Political types have a small army of speech writers and advisers counseling them on public sentiment, what to say and what not to say. In the case of Biden, perhaps he tried a bit too hard to be hip — and as a white male over 60, he doesn’t exactly meet popular criteria.

Biden isn’t a racist. He just isn’t very eloquent, but since when has eloquence been a prerequisite for election?

The Democrats have already retaken Congress. In 2008, they’re setting their sights on the White House, and in order to do so, they’ll need every ounce of good PR they can get.

It won’t happen, but here’s an idea: If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.