It is unclear to me why this is the smart choice; from the speech Biden made today there are an obvious group of sound bytes that will undoubted feature prominently in Ads that will start rolling out...immediately. I can see it now...images of Joe Biden speaking today saying, "These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader," followed by any one of Biden's statements about Obama's inexperience and dangerous unfamiliarity with delicate matters of state. Using old opponents to cut at Obama is nothing new, but then, Obama put this guy on the ticket...so its to be expected.
It also poses a problem for the "candidate of change" to pick Biden, who has been in the Senate longer than almost everyone ("In all my time in the United States Senate, and I want you to know there's only four senators senior to me, but Barack, there's still 44 older than me"). There are few people that could be considered more of an insider than Joe Biden. This doesn't solve the problem of Obama's lack of experience (since Biden is also inexperienced as an executive)...what it does do is suggest that Obama is not really out of the shadow of the establishment after all. In fact, this pick will likely deflate his message of change and hope, as Biden attracts very few new voters, and brings mostly only old Democrat baggage with him to the ticket.
I think this is unfortunate, and I am sure those that are willing Obama to overcome his last great race must agree. A part of me wishes that Obama's rhetoric wasn't just words to get him elected (he is very like-able, after all) and if what little record he did have didn't point to a radically liberal worldview, I might almost be tempted to believe that he represented a candidate that could resolve some real problems in our government. Reality is harsh in that way. He is radically liberal...and it looks like his rhetoric is sadly empty. Rather than the politics of change, he is embracing one of the poster-boys of the same old song. I really do wonder why he didn't court Jim Webb...Webb struck me as a problem for the Republicans, but apparently he was not in keeping with the Hope and Change that Obama wants to bring to the nation--granted, his time in office is much like Obama's, but then perhaps that's a good thing when you're preaching a new kind of politics. Curiouser and curiouser do I yet grow.
What must McCain do, to bounce back from this crushing, devastating pick? Pick someone with experience; someone that is not an insider, is younger than he is (not a MUST, but preferable) and someone that can hit Biden hard while he's telling us stories about his favorite topic...himself. I am not sure Hewitt is right on the money (a scary thing to suggest, since I think he's pretty darn smart)...Romney would carry some of the same baggage as Biden does for Obama, having argued against McCain in the primaries. Pawlenty remains a strong possibility as well. Romney still has a lot of positives in his corner; it just remains to be seen if the risk of a Mormon that McCain ran against is the prefered choice for McCain. Time will tell. The point is, his options are huge, thanks to a really bad choice on Obama's part.
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