It was quite a surprise when Obama finally let the world know who his Vice President running mate would be; and kinda scary at the same time. I mean, who is Joe Biden?
While still trying to figure it out, here’s a little run-down of what we do know:
Biden is a 65-year-old Senator of Delaware (and has been since 1972).
Biden’s campaign manager when he was in the race for president was a Latino named Luis Navarro.
Biden voted for The DREAM Act, which would have given undocumented youth a chance to gain legal status.
Biden voted in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and does not support making English the official language of the United States, citing the New Mexico state constitution which requires many documents to be provided in both Spanish and English and that states should determine which languages should be used to inform their constituents.
Biden voted in favor of the U.S./Mexico border fence, but received a low rating from the U.S. Border Control, an anti-immigration lobby.
Biden voted against amendments to increase border security funding, which hopefully means he doesn’t want to militarize the border and instead may want to utilize various technologies to help control the flow of people migrating and determine how the fence will operate.
According to LatinoPoliticsBlog.com Biden made some insensitive comments about various minorities in the past. In New Hampshire he reportedly said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
Biden’s expertise is in foreign policy and national security affairs.
Biden is Catholic, which should resonate well with the large majority of Catholic Latinos and should help Obama with working-class Catholics throughout the U.S.