Pitfalls on the presidential path

Re “Biden stumbles as he announces bid for presidency,” Feb. 1

It only took Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) about five minutes into his presidential campaign to have his first John Kerry moment. It’s bad enough that he referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as “clean,” but what’s with describing him as “bright” and “articulate”? Can you imagine Biden saying that about a white competitor? I understand it must be galling for old war horses like Biden and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) to see relative newcomers like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Obama get all the early juice, but nobody in his right mind wants someone who has spent the last two decades in the Senate to be the next president.

DAVID WEBER

West Hollywood

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Could any center-right politician have uttered the comments Biden made about Obama and escaped with his political head still attached? The comments taken as a whole were incredibly condescending. Will Biden receive a get-out-of-jail-free card because our official societal critics know that, because Biden’s heart is pure, no racially offensive statement should be deemed offensive? I would be fully in favor of raising the threshold required for validation of racially offensive speech in order to avoid the mock outrage to which we are often subjected. But I would like to see the new standard applied in an evenhanded way. And I’m not sure that Biden’s remarks are on the safe side even of a relaxed standard.

WILLIAM R. SNAER

Palm Desert