The White House is defending Vice President Biden over allegations of mediocrity:
In a book set for release next week by the publishing house Knopf, Gates writes that Biden is "a man of integrity," but also a political figure who has been "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." ...
The National Security Council issued a statement late Tuesday asserting that Obama relies on Biden's "good counsel" every day and considers him "one of the leading statesmen of his time." Not only that, the White House issued a highly unusual invitation for news organization representatives to photograph Obama and Biden sitting together Wednesday at their weekly private luncheon. It was another sign that the president was not putting any distance between himself and Biden.
Rather than re-litigate every position the vice president has taken, and rather than try to tear down the credibility of Gates, why not give Biden the mission of helping Iraq rebuild the anti-al Qaeda consensus and move forward on rule of law and reconciliation between Sunni Arabs, Shias, and Kurds?
And make it dramatic. Make it a diplomatic surge in the face of adversity.
I wrote this before the Gates allegations in an amazing bit of good timing (thank you Rove Implant!). It was good advice then and is even better now:
We should send Vice President Biden to our embassy in Iraq and keep him there until we can work out a deal between Iraq's parties to govern themselves and re-defeat al Qaeda.
Making Iraq one of this administration's greatest achievements would be the best rebuttal to Gates' charge.
And it would make Hillary Clinton seethe to find out that Biden can make a difference, at this point.
Come on Vice President Biden, announce that you will go to Iraq. This is win-win territory. Good for us, good for Iraq, bad for al Qaeda, good for you, and bad for Hillary.
Okay, make that win-win-lose-win-lose territory. Now that's a good war.
