Biden steady, wise as he makes case for Obama's reelection

Sept. 6, 2012: Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama wave to the delegates after President Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. (AP)

My first thought watching Vice President Joe Biden's speech to the Democratic convention in Charlotte Thursday night was that the speech was too long and too low key. It was not Bill Clinton up there.

Then a Republican friend of mine told me he thought Bill Clinton had sounded angry on Wednesday night. In reflecting on Vice President Biden's speech he came off as the kind of guy who is down to earth and not threatening.

Thursday night's address by Biden was too long for a speech that was not aimed at stirring up a crowd like Clinton's on Wednesday night or the speech President Obama delivered later in the evening.

Despite the lack of stirring oratory, Vice President Biden had some real bumper sticker moments, and those expressions will stay with the citizens at home for a long time. He said " Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profit. But it's not the way to lead your country from the highest office."

He did not shy away from what he felt was one of the president's greatest foreign policy moments, "Usama Bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive."

But the vice president's best moment was his verbal finger pointing at Governor Romney: "When he was asked about Bin Laden in 2007, he said...  'it’s not worth moving heaven and earth, and spending billions of dollars, just trying to catch one person.' He was wrong... And you, too, would have moved heaven and earth--to hunt down Bin Laden, and bring him to justice."

My favorite though was the Vice President's remarks on outsourcing. "I found it fascinating last week--when Governor Romney said, that as president, he’d take a jobs tour. Well with all his support for outsourcing, it’s going to have to be a foreign trip. " My other favorite was "it is never a good bet to bet against the American people."

Vice President Biden may a been a bit long winded but his dry sense of humor came through and so did the insights of the wise adviser he is known to be.

The speech was not particularly stirring but steady and wise. I predict we will hear more speeches like this from him in the next four years.