"Articulate" and "clean"? A black man? Was Biden being condescending? Or sarcastic? Or just plain insensitive? Biden tried to explain: "What I was attempting to be, and not very artfully, is complimentary. The word that got me in trouble is using 'clean.' I should have said 'fresh'; he's got new ideas."
Later Biden again said he deeply regretted any offense about the "articulate" and "clean" comments and had so told Obama, who was less than gracious in response. "I didn't take Sen. Biden's comments personally," he said, "but obviously they were historically inaccurate. African American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate."
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The above quotations are from Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption by Jules Witcover. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Barack Obama. Click here for Barack Obama on all issues.
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