Whether Barack Obama made a good choice in “picking” Paul Ryan to be the Republican vice-presidential candidate has yet to be determined. But, given the apparent consternation and division among Republican political strategists, it looks like a pretty good pick…for Democrats.
So perhaps now’s a good time to recall that Obama made a good decision four years ago when he picked Joe Biden. Nobody in the punditocracy has made that case stronger or more repeatedly than The Atlantic’s Steve Clemons. Whether it’s Biden’s economic advice to focus on jobs and infrastructure (which Obama has followed for the past year after spending/wasting a year on bank bailouts and deficit reduction), or his role in Obama’s “war cabinet” pushing for and ultimately getting a plan to end the US military role in Afghanistan, or his “unbreakable bond with middle-class values, middle-class voters, and the struggles of middle-class life” that make him so valuable on the campaign trail this year against a plutocrat like Mitt Romney.
There’s always a danger that Biden could underestimate Ryan and lose their debate quite badly. On the other hand, there’s also the chance he’ll deliver a blow to Ryan’s public image from which Ryan will never recover.
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/