2008: Biden exceeds expectations

Those applauding Sen. Joseph Biden's decision to enter the race for president because of a Biden campaign's proven comedic potential (see Impractical Proposals, 2008: Maybe we should adopt the WSJ's trick of picking stocks by throwing darts) have reason to feel pleased.

It would not have been unreasonable to expect the senator to make it through at least the first day of his campaign without controversy, but, as the front page headline in the New York Times summed it up, "Biden Unwraps ’08 Bid With an Oops!" (The L.A. Times headline was the more neutral, "Biden announces bid for presidency," but the subhead read, "Delaware senator is forced to explain comment that called fellow senator Obama 'clean.'")

As the NYT's Dam Nagourney had it, Joe spent the first day of his campaign "struggling to explain his description of Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat running for president, as 'the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.'"

While this has made the Delaware Democrat the early front runner in the writers' room of every comedy show, he may have raised expectations too high by opening so strong, and will likely have trouble sustaining the momentum through the long, long months to the national convention. By end of his first day as a candidate, some Democratic party leaders were openly wondering if Biden would be remembered for running the shortest presidential campaign in history.

But you could see the ploy instead as evidence of Biden's heretofore undetected political acumen. What other aspirant, even among those with sounder prospects for success, garnered nearly as much attention on his first day? As an added benefit to the candidate, no one this time is likely to claim he cribbed his remarks.

Don't listen to the naysayers, Joe. Don't quit anytime soon. The Democratic party needs you. Stewart and Letterman and Leno need you. We need you.

But, for pete's sake, pace yourself.