Tested

So far this morning I’ve heard Maria Cardona and Stephanie Cutter trying to explain Joe Biden’s remarks from Sunday.

Both are saying that with the world as it is today, whoever is elected president will be tested, especially with the “failed policies of the last eight years”.

Joe Biden said:

Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. (emphasis mine)

Maria and Stephanie are just trying to spin us away from what Biden actually said. The fact that Biden speaks only of Obama, not McCain is one reason; The “whoever wins the Presidency will be tested” line just doesn’t cut the mustard.

The other is the emphasized phrase above: “a generated crisis”. Joe Biden is telling his audience that one of our enemies out there will generate a crisis in order to test Obama. Creating something new, not just the world as it is today. Not just Iraq and Afghanistan. Something else.

Obama is running for Jimmy Carter’s second term. The world will expect Obama to react just as Jimmy Carter did.

UPDATE: Your Radio Equalizer has talk radio reaction to Biden’s comments and the Obama camp spin.