Is Hillary Clinton Just a Better Biden?

One of the topics of lively debate here at Breitbart News is just how formidable Hillary Clinton really is as a candidate–whether almost unstoppable, or just really strong with a few key weaknesses. On the “unstoppable” side, she has incredible political talent (see Buffalo), she has the media on her side, she is already the most popular politician in America, and she would be (again) the first female candidate with a real chance.

I fall into the “weaknesses” camp. It is impossible to name anything Clinton has actually accomplished, other than being close to power. The Benghazi scandal will (or should) raise serious doubts about her capacity to perform as commander-in-chief. And then there is the fact that while she is meticulously well-informed about policy and issues–she cleaned Obama’s clock on health care in 2007–she is also, almost always, wrong.

In that way, she is basically a better version of Joe Biden. Recall how Biden’s major selling point as a running mate for then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 was his “expertise” on foreign policy. That expertise consisted of being on the wrong side of just about every issue. He had opposed the Gulf War. He had suggested partitioning Iraq and opposed the surge. He claimed to have been far more aggressive on Bosnia than he actually was.

Biden’s ignorance about foreign policy was brutally exposed–by the supposedly stupid Sarah Palin–during the Vice Presidential Debate in the 2008 election. Though the media, of course, scored the debate as a win for Biden, he told one falsehood after another. Some were outright lies, but some were inexcusable mistakes of fact, such as the idea that Hezbollah had been cleared out of Lebanon. (The media barely bothered to check.)

During the 2008 primary, Clinton was mocked for the “Tuzla dash,” a false story she told about visiting Bosnia during the war while ducking sniper fire. Biden had his own, less well known versions, in which he claimed on various occasions to have come under hostile gunfire. Hillary suffered more for her fibs than Biden ever has for his, but tends to repeat them less often, and is far better at covering up her errors and omissions.

Hillary is basically a better Biden. Neither of them is good at much but being promoted to higher office. Neither of them has achieved much of note in policy terms, and neither of them has good or original ideas. Biden is a good back room dealmaker–at least, compared to Obama–but that talent is rarely seen in public. Where Hillary excels is in maintaining a facade of competence. It is a more valuable skill. But it can be beaten.