Saturday, August 23, 2008

It's Biden

By the middle of this past week, it was pretty obvious to many observers that Barack Obama was going with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE). The fact the Exempt Media finally figured it out more than two hours before Obama sent out his text message also kind of bites. In the end, I think Biden's an outstanding choice although I think Obama's hand may have prompted by circumstances in the current world situation particularly in Georgia and Pakistan.

Had it not been for those surprises, Obama might have gone with Tim Kaine (for the Catholic vote) or Kathleen Sebelius (for the women's vote). Biden, having been Judiciary Chair and now Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, gives Obama some badly needed gravitas.

Biden also knows how to speak his mind, and call it like it is. Unfortunately, that means he can shoot off his mouth at times -- like when he called Obama a "clean African-American" earlier this year, or when he said that one couldn't buy anything at a corner store in New Hampshire unless he or she was East Indian. (True.) And who can forget twenty years ago when he was caught plagarizing the UK's Neil Kinnock, who ran two unsuccessful PM bids for the Labour Party.

I think many undecided voters will look past those faults. The fact he takes public transit to work every day (he rides Amtrak from his home in Wilmington to Washington, DC) as well as that he has a negative net worth right now, will put him right at home with many Americans in similar straits. Obama needs an attack dog as well, and Biden's experience with both Judiciary and now Foreign Relations gives him just that.

Obama-Biden. Kind of has a nice ring to it.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Biden — the perfect foil for Palin!

penlan said...

"...or when he said that one couldn't buy anything at a corner store in New Hampshire unless he or she was East Indian. (True.)"

Would you please explain what that means? I haven't a clue.

I'm not surprised that Biden was picked & I think that decision was made a couple of weeks ago. Can't give you any reason why I think that other than he seemed the logical choice as he's been in the Senate forever, knows all the ins & outs, & he's completely informed on foreign affairs.

BlastFurnace said...

Penlan: this is the quote from this morning's NYT article:

"While campaigning in New Hampshire, Mr. Biden said that 'you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.'"

I can't figure it out either. It was a patently stupid remark, one of many which the GOP will no doubt pounce on.

Ted: Sarah Palin would be an outstanding choice. She's a rising star in the GOP and one of the very few popular Republicans left in Alaska after the party's nearly four decade stranglehold in the state.

But McCain won't pick her for one very simple reason. While she is pro-life and she opposes gay marriage, she does support fringe benefits for same sex couples. Even this very modest and common sense human right is opposed by the religious radicals. She also says she has gay and lesbian friends -- something which the neocons also think is wrong.

Sadly, they'll crucify McCain for even considering her, which just shows how much power they have.

Anonymous said...

I think the actual announement was originally intended for Thursday evening or Friday morning.

But the Obama campaign wisely realized they did not want their own news to overtake coverage of "He doesn't even know how many homes he owns" McCain before it could play out for a couple of days.

Wise move, though it made keeping the lid on who it would be impossible.

penlan said...

"While campaigning in New Hampshire, Mr. Biden said that 'you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.'"

That sounds like it might be a mis-quote or a typo? Maybe he said something like: ...without hearing a slight Indian accent.

He could have been talking about or answering a question on the growth of the immigrant population/multi-cultural diversity or something along those lines. I'll have to go fully read the article.

Thankyou for explaining!