Biden: We're at Hinge of History

The White House's quiet American Joe Biden stepped up to the Democratic National Convention podium tonight to declare his love for his family and country—and take a solid swing at Mitt Romney. The American financial crisis hit like a "sledgehammer," acknowledged the vice president, who recalled a similar tough time years ago for his own dad, an automobile worker, who had to move to find work before he could send for his family. "The rest of my life, my dad never failed to remind me that a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about dignity. It's about respect. It's about being able to look your children in the eye, and say, 'Honey, it's going to be okay,' and believe it was going to be okay," he said. Jobs don't mean the same thing to Romney, Biden added. "I just don't think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant to America. I think he saw it the Bain way: balance sheets, write-offs. The Bain way is not the way to lead your country from its highest office."

He praised Obama's accomplishments: saving the auto industry, putting the economy back on track, and getting Osama bin Laden. "Osama bin Laden is dead, General Motors is alive," he crowed. The "two men seeking to lead this country have fundamentally different visions, and a completely different value set," Biden concluded. Romney "believes that in the global economy, it doesn't much matter where American companies put their money or where they create jobs. President Obama knows that creating jobs in America—keeping jobs and bringing jobs back—is what being president is all about." We're "at the "hinge of history," he warned. "The direction we turn is in your hands." (More Joe Biden stories.)