Remark about Obama bites Biden

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware found the first day of his bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination overshadowed Wednesday by remarks describing presidential candidate Barack Obama as "the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Biden, a foreign-policy expert and Iraq war critic, made the comments in a New York Observer interview published hours before he declared his candidacy.

It is the second presidential bid for Biden, who pursued the White House in 1988.

Biden, 64, said Wednesday that he meant no insult to the Illinois senator or to other black politicians who might have been slighted by comparison as inarticulate or unclean. Among those who have run for president are Shirley Chisholm in 1972, the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988, Alan Keyes in 1996 and 2000, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and Carol Moseley-Braun in 2004.

Biden, first elected to the Senate in 1972, on Wednesday called Obama "probably the most exciting candidate the Democratic or Republican parties have produced since I've been around. He's fresh, new, smart, insightful. Lightning in a jar."

He added, "I really regret some have taken totally out of context my use of the word 'clean.' My mother has a saying, 'clean as a whistle, sharp as a tack.' That is the context. He is crisp and clear."

Biden said he called Obama to assure him he meant no insult.

"I took no offense," Obama said. "I think Joe was just making news, being Joe. Joe, I think, certainly didn't intend to offend, and I'll leave it at that."

Although he didn't take Biden's comments personally, Obama said, they were "historically inaccurate."

"African-American presidential candidates such as Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley-Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate," Obama said.

Some other prominent African Americans were less forgiving.

"It's certainly highly suggestive," Jackson told CNN.

"I know Joe Biden is a smart, decent guy," Jackson told The Associated Press. "I hope this doesn't diminish the light he brings to future debates."

But, he added, "Next time he should use the words 'fresh and new.' It's subject to less interpretation."

Donna Brazile, who ran Al Gore's campaign and advised Jackson's, said, "It came across as a very insensitive thing to say. I take him at his word that he meant no harm. But if he didn't have a 100 percent record on civil rights, it would be easy to infer something different."

Biden's statement drowned out his hope to launch his longshot campaign with a focus on his experience.

He's chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is trying to use that position to grab the spotlight away from such rivals as Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

Yet Biden's comment also served as a reminder of his tendency to get himself in trouble. He dropped his bid for the 1988 nomination after he was caught plagiarizing British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock.

In July, he defended his remark that "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." Biden also said those words had been taken out of context.

Material from the Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press is included in this report.