COLUMNISTS : Story of Joe
Posted on Sunday, August 31, 2008
Joe Biden ? Seriously ? Joe Biden ? That Joe Biden ?
The plagiarism guy ? The say-anything senator
who has a way with the unintentional insult that makes you wonder about the un- part ? Joe Biden. For vice president. Really ? Huh. When text-messaged word arrived before last week’s car ad of a Democratic convention—lots of smooth, sleek lines, little traction—that, yes, Barack Obama had chosen Joe Biden as his running mate, really, seriously, two things came to mind: (1 ) plagiarism, natch, and (2 ) Mike Huckabee. Here’s the Huckabee connection: The ex-governor’s presidential campaign manager in Iowa was an old pro and longtime Republican named Eric Woolson. Back in 1988, the year that Biden notoriously took Neil Kinnock’s life story as his own in a speech, Woolson was Biden’s Iowa press secretary.
I got to know Woolson when I covered the Huckabee campaign leading up to the Iowa straw poll. I spent a lot of time with Woolson, watched how he operates.
He’s a straight-shootin’, seen-it-all, unashamedly professional politico who started as a newspaperman and retains the heart of one. As the saying goes, he seemed trustworthy enough to play craps with over the phone.
When Biden got the nod, I thought about Woolson and his professional connection to the new VP candidate. Which, first blush, made about as much sense as a senator who dates to the Nixon administration landing a spot on a presidential ticket devoted to Change. Biden and Change would seem to go together like albums and iPods.
So I called up Woolson to see what I’m missing when it comes to Joe Biden. Because I sure don’t get it. (To judge by the post-selection polls, neither do the voters. Call him No-Bounce Biden. )
First off, Woolson says, he was a Republican before he worked for Biden, a Republican after he worked for Biden, and a Republican still. In fact, I reached him at his Des Moines office in-between trips to St. Paul for work at this week’s Republican National Convention.
He took the Biden gig way back when because he needed a job, he liked the candidate personally (“ everybody finds him likeable” ) and Biden convinced him they weren’t so very far apart ideologically.
“The first day I go to the campaign office, and of course there are all these diehard Democrats,” Woolson says. “And they look at me like, ‘What are you doing here ?’ One guy just looks at me all day long. At the end of the day, he confronted me and asked why I’d taken the job. I said, ‘Senator Biden has assured me that he’s a lot more conservative than people think he is.’ And the guy said, “[Biden ] told me he’s a lot more liberal than people think he is. ’”
Woolson became great friends with the house liberal, who now works for Mayor Richard M. Daley in Chicago.
The friendship lasted a lot longer than the ’ 88 Biden campaign, which imploded within six weeks.
Despite that, despite the political differences, Woolson still liked the man. Still does. And maybe his reasons reveal why Barack Obama chose Joe Biden. After all, Obama could have found Foreign Policy Experience Guy / Attack Dog in any number of VP candidates.
“He was always true to his word with me, and he’s a very loyal guy,” Woolson says, launching into Example A: Biden had promised Woolson work if presidential plans, um, gang aft agley. When agley they went, Biden clapped Woolson on the back and said, “You’re now my Senate press secretary. I’ll see you in Washington on Monday.”
Woolson didn’t stay long. He quickly realized he really was a Republican working in an office full of Democrats, and he really was in Washington. The Iowa boy headed back to the cornfields.
Seven years later, researching a book, Woolson rang Biden’s office to schedule an interview. The staffers wouldn’t hear of it. Why, their busy boss The Senator had no time for book interviews, certainly not with a man who’d outed himself as a Republican. Ewww ! Woolson flew to Washington anyway. He had other interviews to conduct. “I’m walking past the Capitol one day and I hear somebody calling my name from across the street,” Woolson says. “It’s Senator Biden. I tell him why I’m in town. He grabs me by the arm and takes me back to his office [for the book interview ].” The personal touch does go a long way. You can imagine the scene: Barack Obama sitting down with Joe Biden and feeling a connection, something special, beyond issues, or maybe, shades of W. cuddling up to V. Putin, he looks the man in his eyes and is able to get a sense of his soul. (Or is that Lord Kinnock’s soul ?) Well, I suppose there are less virtuous angles to take. It’s better than a choice based solely on electoral math, even if it is... Joe Biden ? Really ? Woolson, fully again the Republican, thinks it’s more like a case of an inexperienced candidate desperate for gray-haired wisdom. Or the looks of it anyway. “The irony for me,” Woolson says, “is that eight years ago, the Democrats were complaining about this young, relatively inexperienced guy who went with an older guy [on the ticket ] who had foreign policy experience. What have they just done ? It’s a mirror of 2000.” Woolson doesn’t sound surprised. He’s been in politics too long to be surprised.
—––––– • –––––—Kane Webb is a Perspective feature writer and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at kwebb@arkansasonline. com.
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