Biden On McCain: "We Need You"

GEORGETOWN, DE - Vice President-elect Joe Biden said that he and President-elect Barack Obama have begun to form a new administration conscious of the "precarious position" he nation and the world are in at this moment.

"I think the world is looking to us -- not Barack and me -- looking to America in the same way the public's looking to us," he said. "They sense there's a need for immediate help, immediate help for people who are drowning. ... And what I'm excited about is, there's an awful lot of talented people out there. An awful lot of talented people who are ready, who are thinking this way."

Biden, speaking with reporters as he flew to Delaware for the first time since Tuesday's election, talked about the "sense of excitement" he felt yesterday as he and Obama sat together "actually beginning to put together a government."

"We've thought a lot about it, but it was the first time -- he's as superstitious as I was -- the first time we actually started talking about names and places and organizations," he said. "We both know it's going to be a very difficult road."

Biden said that he has not yet spoken with John McCain but that he intends to reach out to his friend to say, "We need you."

"We really mean it," he said. "We've got to reach out. You can't, you can't get from here to there with just Democrats. You can't do it."

Biden is returning to Delaware briefly to participate in the centuries-old "Return Day" tradition, where winners and losers of state elections parade through this small town and, literally, bury a hatchet. He excitedly talked about the event's history and spoke at length about the circumstances that led to his election to the Senate in 1972.

"To me, it's not so much emotional today, today's just a celebratory day," he said. "This is more sort of a pride of my state kind of day. ... We really do have a kind of Delaware way."

Biden will be joined on a carriage ride through Georgetown by Christine O'Donnell, who challenged him for re-election. Asked what he would have said if Sarah Palin were with him, he simply described her rise as "remarkable."

"I think it's, you know, pretty remarkable, for the all the ups and downs, [a] pretty remarkable run for her," he said. "I mean, here's a woman who is out of ... Wasilla, as a mayor and then governor for two years."

(NBC/NJ's MIKE MEMOLI)

Transcript of the conversation with Biden available after the jump.

**** TRANSCRIPT

Q: An emotional day for you?

To me, it’s not so much emotional today. Today’s just a celebratory day. I mean, you know, it was – it was a little emotional for me at the University of Delaware. And it was a little emotional for me at the Delaware Democratic dinner. But this is – this is more, this is more sort of a pride of my state kind of day. It’s really -- and in Delaware for real. If you look around, there’s no – again, no earthly reason to do it except you covering Delaware – we really do have a kind of Delaware way. I’ve served with Bill Roth for 30 years. he’s a conservative Republican, and I am a liberal Democrat. Not one single time was there ever a harsh word. You can not find one [inaudible] word, anywhere, ever, where I’ve ever said anything negative to him or he me. We were friends. Mike Castle and I grew up together. I mean, he was four years ahead of me but he was one of the big guys. He was a pretty good athlete. We went to competing schools. His wife used to date my brother, Jimmy. They were, you know, in high school and college they were sweethearts. Janie, his wife, spent hundreds of hours in my home. I know her family well. Mike and I have been – he’s one of the great – I think he’s the most popular figure in the state, myself.

Tom Carper – I’m the guy that bludgeoned Tom Carper into running. I mean, literally. I told him when he – to run for the House. Said, you don’t run for the House – you run for the House I promise I’ll raise you money. If you don’t, I will never support you for anything else. He said, ‘that’s not fair.’ I said, you’re right. You’re going to win though. Run. And the same thing with the Senate. He’ll tell you. He wasn’t going to run for the Senate. I said, Tom, you got to run for the Senate.

So the relationships with the key – you know, the major figures. There’s never one single time, not once has there been a harsh word between Mike and me. That’s 38 years. He was a state rep, I was councilman. Tom Carper, 30 years. Bill Roth, god rest his soul, 30 – we overlapped 34 years. So there really is a thing about Delaware, and the reason is, it’s so small. You know, there was – first time I ran – and I’ll get out of your hair. First time I ran, there’s really, like every state you guys have covered, there’s an upstate downstate. And it really is upstate downstate. It’s like, you know, New York and Syracuse. The city and, you know, upstate. It’s fundamentally, there are very different views of themselves. And when you grow up in Delaware, even if you go to the university, the only time you ever go downstate is to the beach. If you’re my wife, you go to the shore – that’s New Jersey. At any rate, all kidding aside. I don’t know anybody that I grew up who’s ever in Seaford or Dagsbor or Gumber or Hartley or any of those places. So when you get to the university, they call homers and upstaters. And, you know, it was – and so there was this real division.

And it’s a division in many ways, it’s a division in accent. Listen closely to the people in the circle today. They’ll talk at you like – ask them a question. Say, how do you get out to the, you know, Route 13. ‘Mean Dule? Dule’s down’ – these are well educated. I mean it’s just southern. It’s the Delmarva Peninsula. These guys could easily be living in Snow Hill Maryland or you know, across the line further down in – you trying to tell me something?

Anyway to make a long story short, um, the – the first time I ran, everybody said to me --for the Senate – said, look, Joe. Be careful what you say down home. Everybody’s related. And, it was like, yeah right. Fast forward August, I’m down with a guy named Edgar C. Bennett and his wife, Judy. Still supporters of mine, they were our age. He was a committee man, she was a committeewoman. I’m a Catholic but they’re strong Methodists, southern Methodist, southern Baptist – two biggest denominations in Southern Delaware. And, so we’re campaigning there, we’re staying overnight at their house. You don’t campaign in Southern Delaware unless you stay in someone’s home. For real, because everybody – you can, but everybody knows you’re not – you know, It’s kind of like walking into a Greek Club in Rhode Island. You don’t have a Greek take you in, it’s like what the hell are you doing. You’re welcome, but it’s – you know, a different deal, right?

Anyway, so I get up in the morning, they say, Joe you want to come our church with us. And there’s this beautiful old church in Selbyville, like my church St. Joe’s. you know, surrounded by the graveyard, goes way back. My church 1841, this one I don’t know how long this was. But an old church. So I sure loved it. Nelia and I go to church. It’s a hot summer August day, great big, I think they’re oak trees out in front of the church. Minister is really nice and from the pulpit said, Councilman Biden would you like to meet some of the parishioners and come to the back with me? And so, there are like 60, 70 people come out. I’m shaking hands. Edgar and his wife Judy are over, under one of the trees. We get all finished I walk over to thank the minister. He said, well how’d it go, Joe. And I said well, I said, they were really nice. He said, everybody? I said, yeah, all nice but that one horse’s tail over there. And I pointed to this guy. He said, Joe, that boy’s who’s a horse’s tail is my first cousin, Jake. True story, it was his first cousin. I said, oh jeez. So I learned real quick, real quick. It really is

But it makes it – the great thing about the state is, it makes it hard. Negative campaigns generally don’t work unless they’re true. I mean, if you got somebody doing something, you say he’s a cheating no good so and so. If he actually cheated, and you got hard evidence, it works. But it really doesn’t work.

Q: What would you say to John McCain and Sarah Palin if you had to ride with them?

I’d say John, we’re still friends. I don’t know Sarah Palin. I’m not being a wise guy, you know, it’s over, I mean. I think it’s, you know, pretty remarkable, for the all the ups and downs, pretty remarkable run for her. I mean, here’s a woman who is out of, you know, uh, Wasilla, as a mayor and then Governor for two years. I think it’s pretty remarkable, pretty remarkable.

But John’s still my friend, I say, John, I need you. We need you. This is an opportunity. We really mean what we said – I mean. Barack and I met yesterday and we’ll be meeting every day for a while until we flesh out this cabinet and everybody else. And, um, but we really mean it. We’ve got to reach out man. You can’t, you can’t get from here to there with just Democrats, you can’t do it. And I, and I’m -- well anyway -- when I talk to John, that is, um, that’s my, that’s what I’m going to tell him.

Q: How are you feeling now that you’re going to be the next Vice President?

Oh I feel good. There’s for the first time, there’s a little bit of, um, a little bit of excitement about it in the sense that, not the first time, there’s a sense of excitement about it because yesterday we really did, five of us in a room, seven of us in a room, really actually beginning to put together a government. And you know, the nascent, the more than nascent stages. We’ve thought a lot about it, but it was the first time, he’s as superstitious as I was, and the first time we actually started talking about names and places and organizations and it’s -- there’s a sense of -- we both know it’s going to be a very difficult road. I mean, no matter who got elected, this is a, this is a –

Look, in addition to the, the precarious position that we find ourselves in economically and internationally, even if we didn’t, this is a precarious world. We have not re-adjusted as a world to the changed circumstances we all find ourselves in. When I was the chairman -- if I had gone back to be chairman of Foreign Relations, Dick Lugar and I – I’m going to ask Dick for his continued help on this -- Dick and I were actually putting together a recommended architecture for the next president. Like the architecture that literally, the really, really smart people, the Bolins of the world, put together after World War II. It requires a new architecture in terms of finance and the economy and foreign policy, international relations. I mean this is a, this is a different time, you know, and it’s not unusual.

As I said, we’ve been here maybe five, six times in all our history. Having nothing to with Barack and me, having nothing to do with John McCain and George Bush, we are at a place, history, that things, the world has moved beyond us and institutions always have difficulty catching up. I mean, just like, you know, you guys had trouble catching up to a thing called the Internet. Newspapers, you know. I don’t mean that -- that’s not a critic --you know what I mean? It’s the same generic point. You know, it takes a while for human institutions to catch up to these changes that sort of just actually go through a system with such pace on the ball that it’s exiting to part of it, but it’s going to be hard.

But I really do think, I really do think, um, I think the world is looking to us, not Barack and me, looking to America in the same way the public’s looking to us. They sense there’s a need for immediate help, immediate help for people who are drowning. But beyond that, everyone – liberals, conservatives, they all know something, there’s a new architecture needed here. Not a new form of our government but a new international architecture. A Bretton-Woods, a new ability -- a new National Security Act of 1948, a new, you know, whatever you call it. There’s -- we need some really good, thinking and what I’m excited about is there’s an awful lot of talented people out there. An awful lot of talented people who are ready, who are thinking this way, you know what I mean? Thinking around the curve rather than just beginning to try to catch up. So we’ll see.

Q: Sen. Kerry?

Sen. Kerry’s one of those guys, sure, yeah.