The Big Biden Baffle [OPINION]

Who the heck is Joe Biden today? The so-called frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nomination seems to morph and transform before our eyes.

Joe Biden has been around for a long, long time in Washington. He's served in the Congress, as vice president and now wants to be president. Again. This is Biden's third attempt at the gold ring, so there is quite a paper trail on him, a lot more so than some of the younger and relative political newcomers to the game.

It's not difficult to pull up an interview with Biden from 1974 or 1988 and see how his positions on such things as race, the First Amendment and homosexuality have changed. He has had a radical change on the "three strikes" law he authored in order to appeal to African American voters.

Don't misunderstand; change is good. It shows that a candidate's thought process has evolved. But Biden's rhetoric seems to change almost by the minute.

Just recently, upon announcing his candidacy, Biden proclaimed that China was our bud, no great competitor. Now, Biden says China is a big competitor. How does that change in a matter of weeks? His overnight reversal on government-funded abortion was a head-spinner. And this is just the beginning. Biden is not only flip-flopping, he is rewriting his entire book of views just to appeal to the base.

Joe Biden is a slippery, sly cookie who will say or do anything to win—even plagiarize someone else's material. He did it in 1988 and it cost him the nomination, and he's done it again in preparing his climate change proposals.

I seriously don't think Biden will win the nomination because he is not what the base says it is looking for. The media has made him the frontrunner because it believes Biden has the best of all the longshots at beating Trump next year, but the primaries will tell the story. I am still not convinced that the eventual nominee is even in the race yet.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.