He started out as if he were doing stand-up, bounding on stage, shouting hello to Des Moines, Iowa and… Chicago, a reference to the rumor that Obama had supporters bussed down from Illinois. (The Obama people deny this.) Then he said that since Giuliani got Robertson’s endorsement, “there’s an ‘amen’ in every sentence he says, too.”
The end of his speech was a fascinatingly — almost disturbingly — detailed fantasy about what would have happened if Biden had been president on 9/11 rather than Bush. He has clearly stayed up nights thinking about this. He would have called a meeting in Switzerland. He would have sent an energy bill to Congress. And, he would have said to Americans: “I DEMAND OF YOU that you support me… who in America would have said no?”
Also, he let us know that “I know most of these world leaders by their first names,” but “not because I’m important.” Oh, Joe.
Then, in the space of a few minutes, he said both that professional politicians “forget what makes average people tick” and that he once had discussion with Hillary Clinton’s “great presidential husband, Bill Clinton” about “my very favorite contemporary poet,” Seamus Haney.
(On that same note, after he was done, Nancy Pelosi, the emcee, got on stage and said, “I recommend his newest translation of ‘Beowulf’ for those of you who may be interested.” Of course.)