There are many advantages to picking Senator Joe Biden for the ticket. Some are obvious. The media knows and loves Biden every bit as much as they know and love John McCain. Perhaps they love Biden more than McCain because Biden hasn’t changed a bit, while McCain has morphed into a Bush-Republican.
Less obviously, Joe Biden is respected and trusted by the Realist School of foreign policy. This will blunt efforts to undermine Obama’s foreign policy experience.
Sen. Specter: Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, a Republican who serves on the Judiciary Committee with Biden and often rides Amtrak with
him to Washington, also offered praise. “No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden,” Specter said. “He’s
been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He’s been a leader on crime control.” LINKSen. Chuck Hagel: U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel issued the following statement today following Senator Barack Obama’s selection of Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic Vice Presidential nominee: “Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden’s selection is good news for Obama and America,” Hagel said. LINK
Sen. Richard Lugar: Tbilisi, Georgia – U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar made the following statement today en route to Tbilisi. “I congratulate Senator
Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the
opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy…” LINK
For progressives, it is perhaps precisely the fact that Biden is so popular with moderate Republicans that makes him suspect. I’ll confess that Biden’s foreign policy advice is what concerns me most about this pick. But, overall, I’d say that Biden is a very solid selection.
Biden’s presence on the ticket will bring all kinds of benefits. McCain can forget about competing in Pennsylvania. Biden is going to pull in votes from the white, urban and suburban Catholic vote. This is the demographic least likely to support Barack Obama. Now they have a champion to make the ticket go down easier. The Obama/Biden vote out of Philly and its Burbs is going to he ridiculous.
Biden is not a faction politician. He always remained aloof from the Clintons and he has never joined the DLC or any other organization. Yet, he is not disliked by the Clinton faction. Most of them feel like Biden will represent their interests. I can’t think of another politician that would simultaneously appease the Clintons without reempowering them.
As for actual campaigning, Biden is a fighter. He will not lose this election without drawing blood. But he’s also a little bit of a loose cannon. There is an element of risk with Biden. But his good relationship with the press means that he’s likely to get at least a couple of breaks along the way.
Ideologically, I disagree with Biden on a number of issues. But I can fully support this pick. And I actually really like Joe Biden. I always have.
Well, he’s articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy – as long as he can keep his toes away from his tonsils he’ll be an asset to Barack Obama and the nation as a whole.
Biden is very clean and articulate.
None cleaner than Clean Joe.
I want Obama to stand next to Joe and say that they both are clean and articulate!
LOL!
I want OutKast to do it! Heh. 🙂
LOL! Yeah. This is great.
Of course, they’d have to uh…refresh the lyrics. 🙂
I agree with your point about the DC media’s love affair with Biden. You could take a slam on McCain, put it in the mouth of Joe Biden and Wes Clark, and the reaction would be night and day.
The media dislikes Clark, he would be slammed. But the media likes Biden, so at worst they would smile and say “there he goes again”.
Agreed. Not a spectacular pick, not a bad pick. He’s a solid B/B+ pick, in my opinion.
I think it’s simple: Tell Biden not to say anything too stupid, tell him his mission is to just savage the Republicans, and turn him loose. Send him to places like Ohio and Michigan and Florida to do his outrageously blunt talk (which I think will be much appreciated in those key Rust Belt states), and have him ridicule McCain and the GOP veep.
A little risky, but I think there’s a good bit more upside.
Clean Joe vs Dirty John
there’s a lot of ink being spilt on his foreign policy acumen, but his other strong suit is his extensive experience as a member, and chairman of the judiciary committee…clarence thomas notwithstanding.
given that it’s very likely we’ll see at least 2 supreme court vacancies in the not too distant future, l take this as a definite plus.
given what’s at stake, l’m pleased with him as vp…and l really like his in your face aggressiveness and snarky sense of humor…. we need someone like that right now.
a democrat who fights back…what a concept.
I had to log in just to give you a 4 for that fighting comment!
a 4 to you too, just for logging in.
I can live with Biden.
What the heck – 4’s for all three of you. 🙂
His foreign policy “acumen” is nonexistent when it comes to the Middle East and South Asia. He is a veritable compendium of all the standard issue prejudices, myths, misconceptions and nonsense. His understanding of the social and political dynamics of the Middle East and the greater Muslim world is virtually zilch.
I’ve come to grips with the fact that US foreign policy regarding the Middle East or anywhere else will not change.
I have come to the realization of that fact, but to grips with it? That’s far more difficult.
But my point about Biden is that despite his much vaunted “expertise”, he is no better than the average American when it comes to his “acumen” on the Middle East and the Muslim world. He expounds the exact same nonsense I hear on the street every day of the week. In fact, quite a few of the Americans I know have a better understanding than he does of the history, relationships, and dynamics of those areas. Therefore, I am not in the least impressed with his supposed foreign policy “expertise”.
But I like it!
He’s gonna shine.
And I really like the way the names sound: Obama/Biden!
Good news if you like corporate polices, insider politics, business-as-usual and endless war. A disastrous choice that confirms beyond any doubt that Obama is totally out of touch with what this country needs and is not only not going to “change” anything, he’s going to make it worse. He’s shaping up as one of the most standard corporate candidates this country has ever seen. He’ll be Bush’s third term, no question about it now.
Biden? Bush’s third term?
Yes, he works with the banks, who are from his state since you obviously don’t know. But he is not Bush’s third term
Interestingly, I wasn’t as hard on Biden on the Bankruptcy Bill because he was doing the protect-the-home-state-industry thing. I don’t like it, but I understand.
But yeah…Bush’s third term? That’s some good shit our friend is smoking. Just because everything hasn’t changed doesn’t mean that nothing has changed. Geez…
ok, so if biden goes all the way through to november without saying
“… a noun, a verb and pee-oh-dubya!”
to mccain’s face, then i’m sorry, i gotta call this pick a failure.
/snark
I think he’ll help the ticket in a big way with senior citizens as well. Many of them have doubts about Obama. My dad did. Now that Biden’s on the ticket, dad’s totally comfortable.
Dad’s a lifelong Republican who has grown thoroughly disgusted with the Bush/Rove era. He supported Maverick McCain until he saw McCain use that same playbook. (The Britney/Paris celebrity ad did it for him.) He actually made a point of re-registering as a Democrat a few weeks ago.
Obama is about as much change as many people are willing to go with at one time. Thus, if he had picked a woman, a real left-winger, or someone else not at the center of Democratic thought, many would not be comfortable.
Biden is a pick that settles the ticket nicely.
Agreed – He provides a comfort factor for people like my senior-citizen Catholic working class parents in Philly. Boo is right in that regard – the ticket just locked up Philly and PA. In Ohio, Biden will help with heavily-Catholic Cincinnati and bring that state into the fold as well (but probably as a squeaker).
He is the Lyndon Johnson to Obama’s JFK.
And I think once his entire voting record becomes better known, he’ll seem more palatable to progressives like myself who knew him primarily from his representation of the credit card industry in Delaware.
This choice will make the corporate permagov more comfortable with Obama, and after the election they may get surprised (or we may; time will tell). And yet at the same time choosing the poorest man in the senate with the working-class roots allows him to go after Many-Mansion McCain (and even more so if Romney is MaCain’s VP). It’s a realpolitik choice; nice to see a leader who is a chess player.
Biden brings many of the complementary strengths that Hillary would have, without the DLC baggage, Bill, etc.
I also like what this says about Obama in this regard – he could have ruled Biden out for the “clean and articulate” remark, but he’s shown that he’s willing to overlook personal injury for the sake of the ticket and getting elected. Again, I’m reminded of Kennedy and Johnson, who didn’t particularly love each other but were the right combination to get across the finish line a winner.
JFK/LBJ is a great analogy. Kennedy’s intellectualism was nicely balanced by Johnson’s down-home image, and that combo will work perfectly for the current ticket. And we can hope that the good surprises produced by JFK and LBJ in their turns are echoed over the next 8 years.
My only disagreement is your comparing Biden’s role to what Clinton would have been. To me, Biden brings a warmth and comfort to the mix that Clinton could not. We’d have had the spectacle of two rather distant policy wonks interacting awkwardly with each other. Obama needed Biden’s sloppy bonhomie. In retrospect I don’t see anybody else on the shortlist who could have done it like Biden.
Excellent point about Biden’s warmth. He’s always come across as one of those “I hate how he voted on that bill, but you gotta love the guy” type of senators.
Biden isn’t my ideal — too “centrist”, too cozy with the money establishment, but I’ve felt all along that there’s a chemistry with Obama that makes him perfect for the campaign. The interaction between them will demonstrate every day that Obama connects totally with real people — something he’s had a hard time showing by himself. Biden will derail McCain’s only shot: that Obama’s some kind of elitist. Nobody else on the shortlist could have done that. Biden has exactly the the rough charisma that McCain has, but he’s sharp and he is what he is, in contrast. I think his presence on the ticket will do much to destroy McCain’s strange folksy “straight-shooter/maverick” image.
I’m not sure I’d like to see Biden as prez, and I’m kind of sorry it’s not a woman, but in hindsight Biden seems like the obvious and perfect choice. In the Oval Office he’ll be a worthy sparring partner and a powerful communicator who allows Obama to let out his inner intellectual. As far as ideology, most of the shortlisters would have been significantly worse. I’m much happier than I expected to be. It’s going to be a good campaign and could be a great administration, after all.
“I’m much happier than I expected to be.”
That summs it up for me too, especially after learning more about Biden on the intertubes in the last 24 hours.
My theory is that BooMan’s supposition that Michelle Obama drew the line at Hillary Clinton and told her husband “No” is more true than any of us know.
Biden thus ended up as Obama’s second choice.
Honestly, from a completely Rovian point of view, there’s nothing that Biden brings to the ticket that Hillary doesn’t have. As nasty as the Clintons were to Obama, Biden’s criticism was the more biting and effective at times…and the more ham-handed and stupid with that whole “clean and articulate” thing.
But there’s one big problem that Hillary has that Obama was talked into saying no to:
Bill.
So when the Hillary folks ask WHY NOT HER, point to Bubba.
I don’t think that Barack, for even 1 second, considered Hillary. What is the advantage there? I see not even one. It wouldn’t help with the PSMAs, who are idiots.
I don’t see that Biden was second. I think he was on the #1 list from the start. He’s a great choice.
The problem from the start was Bill.
That’s what my problem was. I had no interest in another 4 years of making excuses for Bill. He’s having another affair right now, I have heard, and I don’t doubt that for a minute.
I had to apologize for 8 years for that guy’s inability to keep his zipper up, and have no interest in going through that exercize again.
I think she’d have had a much better shot at VP if she’d divorced him.
If she had divorced him.
There does seem to be a lot to like with Joe. Here’s some recent voting history from On The Issues and their overall political profile.
The chart that shows Biden in the left quadrant is what people don’t appreciate about him. In the case of the media and GOP cross-over voters, that’s a good thing. He has been a reliable liberal for thirty years, with a sterling record on civil rights and the environment, as well as his foreign policy expertise. He voted against the FISA legislation, against Kyl-Lieberman, and authored the Violence Against Women Act. I supported him in the caucuses for these reasons, among others, and seeing the candidates up close I concluded he is more liberal than Obama, Clinton, or Edwards.
“his foreign policy expertise“
I keep hearing this, and then I keep hearing him talk standard-issue utterly ignorant nonsense about the Middle East and the Muslim world. So, this vaunted foreign policy expertise is in relation to what part of the world, please?
He’s a standard issue Mid-Atlantic loudmouth asshole. I appreciate that. Policy wise, he’s really sucked on a lot of issues. Getting him in as VP gets him out of the Senate and into an office where he probably can’t do much harm. That’s a good thing. Also, my wife and mother both seem to like the guy. I’m not sure if that counts for anything, but it’s a random observation I made while eating lunch at the Reading Terminal.
what did you have for lunch?
Triple dumpling soup, roast duck and a couple of beers.
I think it counts for everything. Ask the people you know who haven’t warmed up to Obama what they think now.
And the name – how much more American can you get? As in, “Hey Joe, you got American cigarette?” GI was the everyman of the “Good War”.
GI Joe was the everyman…
I agree. I was caught off guard by their reaction. Neither follow politics obsessively like I do, so they don’t come to the game with the prejudices. Anyway, if my sampling of 68 year old agnostic Philadelphian women and 34 year old Catholic Philadelphian women holds up, I’m fairly certain Biden was a solid pick.
You might want to check out Indianadem’s link above. For a Catholic senator from Delaware, he’s more of stealth progressive than I had realized, and probably as liberal as you could get without the corporate titans of Delaware deciding to aggressively fund his replacement. I like the idea that Obama was astute enough to find a stealth progressive that comes across as a champion of the same working-class folks that he’s weakest with.
Between the choice of Biden and McCain’s gaffes this week I expect a big – maybe even 15 point – bump coming out of the convention.
Speaking of McCain, I’ve noticed co-workers starting to call brief mental lapses (like “Where did I park my car?”) “McCain moments.” I expect with not knowing how many houses he has, what kind of car(s) he has, and other gaffes sure to resurface on UTube that this meme has legs. 🙂
His record isn’t awful and it does have some good points. My issue with him is that he was very wrong about the axis of evil – the Patriot Act, the bankruptcy bill, and the authorization to use force in Iraq.
If this were a Democratic primary, I wouldn’t vote for the dude. It isn’t, so that’s neither here nor there.
I should add that if you come from Philadelphia, like I do, or New Jersey, like Booman, or northern Delaware, like Biden, calling somebody a loudmouth asshole isn’t an insult.
Yeah, we’re probably the only region of the country where people proudly self-identify as loudmouth assholes.
It’s like, “You’ll like Tom, he’s a real asshole.”
I heard his Springfield speech on C-SPAN. Dynamite. And he came out punching at McCain on all the right issues using McCain’s own words, i.e. “No one has supported George Bush more than me”.
Who is the next most senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee?
classic hard cop soft cop choice.
obama can be the soft cop and talk all the Change Talk and Hope Talk (registered trademarks)
and like one of the commentors here said above, biden can go off to florida, appalachia and ohio and loudmouth his way through a bunch of righteous verbal assaults on mccain and bush. he’s the hard cop. of all the candidates during the primaries, too, i think biden said some of the frankest, wittiest and most newsworthy quotes aka ‘memes’
i say – HAMMER! hammer away, joe, hammer!!
I’ve been hunting down his comments. He’s already been using the hammer
Biden: Bush’s comments were ‘bullshit’
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), piling on to Democratic complaints about President Bush’s speech in Israel today:
“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”
Speaking before the Knesset, Bush said that “some people” believe the United States “should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”
“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”
Democrats have interpreted the comments as an attack on Sen. Barack Obama, and Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the president was out of line.
“He is the guy who has weakened us,” he said. “He has increased the number of terrorists in the world. It is his policies that have produced this vulnerability that the U.S. has. It’s his [own] intelligence community [that] has pointed this out, not me.”
Biden noted that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both suggested that the United States ought to find a way to talk more with its enemies.
“If he thinks this is appeasement, is he going to come back and fire his own cabinet?” Biden asked. “Is he going to fire Condi Rice?”