As I waited for my text message to go off, around midnight last night CNN broke the news that Joe Biden would be Obama's Vice Presidential candidate. Even though I expected Biden to top the list, I was a bit surprised that Obama would go with what it seems to be a risky candidate. Why risky?
1) Biden sometimes has no self-control when it comes to public speaking. He says things that (while some of them are pretty funny), can get you in hot water. Remember him saying that Barack was the first "clean-cut" and handsome "mainstream" African-American? This happened on the first day he announced his own candidacy for President and had to spend the next week backtracking from the remarks. Obama accepted the apology. Biden's record shows him to be a strong advocate of civil rights and the comment was just a poorly constructed attempt at a joke.
2) Biden's past has one dark spot that Republicans might exploit: the accusations of plagiarism. Having lived in the world of academia for the past 7 years (and condemned to spend the rest of my life there!), the mere mention of this terrible word sends shivers down my spine (I exaggerate of course). But back in the day, Biden was accused lifting a whole speech from a British politician without acknowledging him. Now, I am sure lot of politicians do this on a daily basis, but he got caught. On the other hand, the academia notwithstanding, I think the plagiarism charge does not really resonate with the population at large. And Barack knows this very well.
3) Biden's judgment on Iraq/the use of Bosnia as an analogy. This is actually my greatest concern about Biden. First, he voted for the war in Iraq. He later retracted his vote and apologized, something I admire in a politicians. (and something that Hillary never did for her vote). However, he then proceeded to call for a massive troop withdrawal from Iraq and suggested that Iraq be split into ethnic entities just like Dayton Bosnia. Biden consistently referred to Dayton Bosnia as a success story and a model for Iraq. WRONG!!! Post-Dayton Bosnia is a crippled, paralyzed, pseudo-state where the Dayton Constitution enshrined the Apartheid-like ethnic division of the country and stripped all individuals to their bare ethnic identities.
Biden's judgment on this echoes the larger strategy in the American politics: deal with only topical countries and once they are out of the headlines, stop following the progress and move on. But still use the country in which we messed up as a success story!
Now all these caveats notwithstanding, I think Obama knows what he is doing. Despite these gaffes (and most in D.C. and the country don't see these as gaffes to begin with), Biden has amassed a serious resume when it comes to dealing with foreign leaders. The American people are too distracted and plagued by the attention-deficit-disorder to follow any of these very closely, but the narrative of Biden's foreign policy experience is sure to vow many voters and assuage some fears that Obama is inexperienced.
Secondly, Biden's matter-of-factness and his Scranton, Pen, roots bide well for Obama's chances among some of the blue collar folks in the mining region of this battleground state.
And finally, and most importantly, Biden is excellent when he is in the attack mode. He does not pull any punches, delivers them with fiery speed and brilliant articulateness. This is exactly what Obama needs. He needs to stay above the fray and be the "nice guy" candidate (the polls show that most Americans do see Obama as a relatively nice person), while Biden rips into McCain.
So to all of my friends and Barack supporters, don't be alarmed: Biden is a great pick! Probably won't help Obama take the White House on his own, but will certainly help.
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7 comments:
I still have my reservations. It seems like there were better candidates that were looked over, and I just can't excuse his previous ridiculous stance on Iraq.
But perhaps it won't be so bad, especially McCain nominates Rudolph Hess (vast international relations experience, appeals to the right wing of the party) as his running mate.
Biden is the antithesis of change. The Republicans are going to have a field day, as I point out in my blog.
Yeah but this is one of those damned if you do, and damned if you don't moments. Had Obama picked someone with no D.C. experience he would have been destroyed by Republicans. This way he will take some heat on the change thing, but I think he bolstered his Foreign policy credentials and can always claim that he (not BIden) will be crafting policy of change. Biden then emerges as a steady figure.
So did your text message arrive hours after CNN already scooped it? My phone started beeping around 2am... two or three hours after the news websites already broke it.
I'm not convinced. I'm willing to be...but sigh.
David, the annoying John King was the first one who broke the news on CNN a bit after midnight, and I went to bed knowing Biden was the pick. I woke up to find a text message sent around 2am.
Thanks CNN for spoiling the fun.
I'd hate to be the pessimist, but Obama better do something dramatic, quick, because this thing is getting away from the Dems in a hurry. McCain took his first nationwide lead in the polls. This isn't good, particularly since I think history has shown that people lie like hell to the pollsters to prove that they aren't racists (the implication here is that McCain might have as much as a five point lead on Obama).
Blaming the rednecks and the racists for a 08 defeat is like blaiming the officiating crew in a football game. It may be accurate in some cases, but the reality is that you put yourself in a situation in which you could be robbed, defeated, ect.
The Dems and Obama had all the momentum going into this year. But they are finding ways to lose it by the bucketfull.
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