Joe Biden on Monday compared Barack Obama to Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, and he said a less savory comparison to Karl Marx is completely off the mark. Biden, whose comments on Marx referenced an uncomfortable interview with a Florida anchorwoman last week, stressed that his Obama is a genuine force for change. As proof, Democratic vice presidential candidate pointed to the kind of attacks that have historically been directed at new leaders with new ideas.
"The defenders of the status quo have always tried to tear down those who would change our nation for the better," Biden said. "They said Thomas Jefferson wasn't ... a real Christian. That was the essence of the campaign against him. Well, does that sound familiar?" he said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, they said Abraham Lincoln ... wanted to take away individual rights. Ladies and gentlemen, they said Franklin Roosevelt would destroy the American system of life. Sound familiar? And ladies and gentlemen, they said that John F. Kennedy was, quote, 'a dangerous choice in difficult times.' ... Sound familiar?"
The Delaware senator spoke to a crowd in Greenville, N.C., as the Democratic ticket begins to make its closing argument in the presidential race.
Biden said the attacks are "built on lies which are the last resort of those who have nothing new to offer. And that's where we find ourselves."
Biden attempted to shore up his point by mentioning the interview he gave with Orlando-based WFTV on Thursday. Anchorwoman Barbara West quoted Marx and asked Biden how Obama's claim that he wants to "spread the wealth" wasn't Marxist.
Biden asked West if she was joking. Afterward, the Obama campaign cut off interviews with the station, canceling an appearance by Biden's wife, Jill.
On Monday Biden took another shot at the station.
"I was on a television station the other day doing a satellite feed to a major network in Florida, and the anchor quotes Karl Marx, and says in a sense, 'Isn't Barack Obama Karl Marx?'" Biden said. "You know, I mean, folks, this stuff you're hearing, this stuff you're hearing in this campaign, some of it's pretty ugly. And some of the innuendo is pretty ugly."
John McCain has used the charge that Obama wants to spread wealth rather than create it as a centerpiece of his campaign in its closing days.
Obama on Monday rejected those charges.
The Illinois senator, however, made a few references to his brushes with socialist activists during his early days in his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father. "
Describing his time at Occidental College, he wrote: "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists."
Writing about his time at Columbia University, he wrote that he went to the East Village for "the socialist conferences I sometimes attended at Cooper Union."
Obama said Monday his economic philosophy today centers on protecting and empowering American workers.
"John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there's nothing more American than that," Obama said.