Was Biden's 'back in chains' comment to black voters intentional?
| Washington
Joe Biden is famous for gaffes. But when the vice president told voters in southern Virginia that Mitt Romney鈥檚 plan to 鈥渦nchain鈥� Wall Street would 鈥減ut y鈥檃ll back in chains,鈥� it鈥檚 far from clear that he misspoke. 聽
Mr. Biden was speaking Tuesday to an audience that included many African-Americans, and he seemed to be playing to the crowd. With the allusion to slavery, the comment could easily have been a political 鈥渄og whistle鈥� to black voters 鈥� a coded signal to a demographic that turned out heavily to elect Barack Obama as the first black president four years ago.
President Obama needs heavy black turnout again to win reelection.
The Romney campaign cried foul, accusing the Obama campaign of reaching a 鈥渘ew low鈥� and saying Biden鈥檚 comments are 鈥渘ot acceptable in our political discourse.鈥� 聽
Speaking on CBS 鈥淭his Morning鈥� Wednesday, Mr. Romney himself objected, saying the suggestion that he wants to deregulate Wall Street is inaccurate and that the nature of Biden鈥檚 comments sinks 鈥渢he White House just a little lower.鈥� 聽
Biden has grabbed onto the controversy as a way to reinforce his point: that Romney would 鈥渦nshackle鈥� the economy of its regulations, and harm the middle class. He didn鈥檛 apologize for saying 鈥渃hains鈥� and said he really meant to say 鈥渟hackles.鈥� And, he said, it was Republican House Speaker John Boehner who put the term 鈥渦nshackled鈥� out there, when he spoke about the budget plan of Rep. Paul Ryan, now Romney鈥檚 running mate.
End result: an extended back and forth over Wall Street regulations with racial overtones.
It wouldn鈥檛 be the first time the Obama campaign is accused of playing the race card. Back in 2010, for example, before the midterm elections, Obama told a rally that Republicans were "counting on ... black folks staying home." But it鈥檚 too soon to say who 鈥渨ins鈥� with Biden's comments.
If the controversy reaches the attention of white working-class voters in key battleground states like Ohio and Virginia, then maybe Romney wins. Obama polls poorly among that demographic, and has to be careful not to push those voters into Romney鈥檚 arms. But if it鈥檚 really a political dog whistle 鈥� audible only to certain voters 鈥� then maybe this little skirmish ends up playing to Obama鈥檚 benefit.
Regardless, there are much larger issues at play in the campaign having to do with race. Those include the effort in some states to require voters to show ID to cast a ballot and the effort to remove ineligible voters from the rolls.
Democrats argue that those moves would disproportionately affect minority voters, who tend to vote Democratic. Republicans say they鈥檙e aimed at ensuring the integrity of elections.
