Joe Biden on the Issues

It's important to vote for a candidate based on the issues, experience, and judgment as opposed to the production values of their television commercials. The candidates do their best to hide their positions on important issues. Here is my effort to try and present where they stand on the issues. For now, I'm only going to include the Democratic candidates. Mike Gravel won't be included because, c'mon. I appreciate his voice of dissent in the race, but he doesn't have much to offer in the way of real ideas. I won't include Chris Dodd either. His stances are very similar to Hillary Clinton except on Iran and the Cuban Embargo.

Iraq
Joe Biden advocates separating Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions and leaving 50,000 troops on the border to quell Iranian influence and to protect the green zone in Baghdad. The Kurds in the north have enjoyed autonomy since the latter portion of Saddam Hussein’s reign. There is no significant area that is 100% Sunni, which would make his plan a logistical nightmare. The result would be reminiscent of the partition of India and Pakistan in which a million people died. India and Pakistan have been enemies since the split. In Iraq, these enemy factions would be part of the same country.

Funding the war
Joe Biden is the only Democratic candidate who has consistently voted to fund the war in Iraq. He even added the MRap amendment, which would add more funding for the war than Bush wanted. The additional funding is designated for vehicles that are more likely to hold up against IEDs.

Health Care
Joe Biden favors mandatory coverage for all children and catastrophic care for all. He would look to states for ideas on universal coverage.

Immigration
As with all Democratic candidates, Joe Biden wants to create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He is in favor of providing them an ID card. He would punish employers for hiring undocumented workers. He wants a barrier on the border with Mexico, which is a huge waste of resources.

Iran and Pakistan
He voted against the non-binding resolution that would deem an Iranian military unit a terrorist organization. Voting for the resolution has helped legitimize George Bush's drumbeat to war with Iran. Joe Biden has correctly analyzed that Iran is not a major threat the United States. It's a third world country, which has not had even a program to develop nuclear weapons since 2003. He wants to shift the focus away from Iran and towards Pakistan. That is a good idea because Pakistan is home to many al Qaeda operatives and has the bomb. I don't believe Biden would attack Pakistan, but he would turn up the diplomatic pressure to make sure they are fighting extremism. I'm not confident that he would recognize that the leadership of Pakistan much maintain a delicate balance between fighting extremism and losing legitimacy with their constituency for being to pro-American in a nation currently skeptical of the U.S.

Darfur
Biden is the only Democratic candidate in favor of putting U.S. troops in Darfur. I appreciate the commitment to Darfur, but it may create a situation awfully similar to Iraq.

Free Trade
While Joe Biden voted against CAFTA and the recent free trade-style Peru agreement, it is my understanding that he is an ideological advocate for free trade. See: "Biden defends free trade, touts school plan" by Dan Gearino, October 4, 2007 Quad City Times.

Environment
Biden wants to raise the mpg standard to 40 by 2017. He is for capping emissions at 80 percent below the 1990 level by 2050. He is against liquefied or "clean" coal for the United States, but sees an opportunity to export coal to China. he does see a role for nuclear power if it is safe. He believes the use of corn-based ethanol is a good start, but wants to move to cellulosic ethanol by funding research and incentivizing.

Other issues
crime: The 1996 Biden Crime Bill added 60 more offenses to be death penalty-eligible, including non-violent crimes such as drug offenses.
death penalty: Did you read the his stance on crime? Man is he for it.
gay marriage: Takes the not cop-out stance of being against gay marriage but for civil unions. Not cop-out at all.

Other stuff
Joe Biden has experience. He has been a senator from Delaware since 1973. He co-chairs four different senate committees. However, during the campaign he has made some offensive, hurtful, or unclear statements, depending on your take. His comments were about Indian-Americans and blacks. The other candidates have stated that Biden's heart is in the right place, but it does beg the question of does he have the right temperament or judgment to run the country. He lost his first wife and a daughter in a car crash in 1972. He has since remarried.