Obama Chooses Biden

I have to be thankful. I've gotten my first choice with all 3 candidates so far.

It's hard to make the case any better than Brooks made it. "Biden's weaknesses are on the surface."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/opinion/22brooks.html

This is the best governing choice, not the best political one. A "Clinton is the VP" text at 3 a.m. had such compelling Obama-esque symbolism that I almost allowed myself to think it could happen. It would have unified the Obama lovers and Clinton lovers into one big love affair. But if Obama had chosen her after knowing what we know about how the Clinton team operated internally, it would hurt me to know he had given up having a voice in his ear capable of guiding an argument toward a decision. The fact that Biden will be too old to have higher ambitions in 8 years is enough reconciliation towards the Clintons.

In short, it comforts me greatly to think of those two working through our foreign and domestic policy agenda. My only regret is that I can't be a fly on the wall to hear to two wrestle their way towards consensus.

"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden."

Wrong. Duh.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14843.html

"Hillary Clinton, for example, told reporters on Monday, “I have a lifetime of experience I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he made in 2002.” On Wednesday, addressing what she described as passing the “commander-in-chief threshold,” Clinton added, “I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy.”

Now, if pressed, Clinton could point out that she never explicitly said Obama came up short, she simply praised McCain’s and her own background. The implication was overwhelmingly obvious, but Clinton came just shy of saying Obama isn’t ready for the presidency.

It appears the campaign has since dropped the pretense.

Chief Clinton strategist Mark Penn told Ryan Lizza that independents and Republicans who had supported Obama are beginning to “get more of a sense that he’s not ready to be Commander-in-Chief.”

Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson, in a conference call this morning, added, “[W]e continued to believe that Senator Obama has not passed the key commander-in-chief test at least at this point.” "

And uh... Ben Porritt? Who he? The McCain After Dark Emcee?

Solid pick for the obvious positive reasons. Additionally, if McCain now picks Romney, he basically cedes his ability to hit Obama over the unkind words Biden had for Obama during the primaries. Romney flat-out called McCain a liar during the Florida campaign before backtracking and calling McCain dishonest. (To be fair to Mitt, McCain was lying.) For this reason, and because Romney's personal fortune cannot be put to use in a publicly-financed general election campaign that will begin a few days after he would be announced, I think the Biden pick makes the Romney pick less likely. Smart Intraders shoul probably short Pawlenty, maybe Palin (whose scandal doesn't really seem to have legs).

Marc, I tried to comment but your website wouldn't let me, so I sent you an e-mail with my thoughts. Here they are again:

I think it's an excellent, smart choice. And I think you're wrong about it being out of Obama's comfort zone. I think you underestimate Obama's self-confidence and judgment. I bet they'll get along well. THey are both respectful, intelligent men. And BIden is a nice foil for Obama's cool. Obama's coolness and even-temper is an excellent characteristic for a president, but it has the capacity to be problematic for a presidential candidate. BIden's warmth will be a nice contrast. ANd even though BIden has been in Washington a long time, nobody can accuse him of being a typical washington pol: he is a man of modest means (relative to other politicians), he takes the train from Delaware daily, and he still teaches. He's got a great story of his own, he's got the foreign policy bona fides and Obama will listen to him without being intimidated by him (I've already heard a few people comparing Biden to CHeney and I think they are way off the mark on that -- he's no Cheney by a long shot; he's strong but not devious, and there is no way that Obama would allow him to dominate). And he's well known with his own story of tragedy.

And I think older democratic voters who were feeling lukewarm and worried about voting for OBama will now do so more comfortably.

Biden is by far the smartest choice. Bayh and Kaine would have done nothing for the ticket. I always thought they would be silly choices for Obama -- too bland and too no-name.

And he's got that thing going for him that McCain has -- it's kinda hard to smear the guy because he's been around so long. I think Republican attempts to paint this choice as a mistake will fall flat.

I think at first glance it looks like a risky choice, but that in reality it is the smartest choice he could have possibly made. Once again, Obama has shown excellent judgment.

There is nobody on the republican side who will come close. Can you imagine any of the possible Republican veeps having the gravitas of Biden? Or being able to go head to head with Biden in a debate? The only Republican I could see having a shot at keeping up with him would be Rudy, and that has been made impossible by Biden's caricaturization of him.

I am very pleased.

Biden is going to obliterate Mittens, Pawlenty, Fiorina, Graham, Jindal, Ridge, Lie-berman (or whomever McInsane picks) in any debate...I can't wait!!!

Obama/Biden 08 Baby!

I can't believe my f-ing phone went off at 3:00 in morning. I was a Clinton supporter in the primary who has moved toward Obama, but was really hoping it would be Clinton. Now I am f-ing bleary eyed, to hear it is f-ing Joe Biden (nothing wrong with Biden, its' just 3am). Pretty class-less if you ask me to send this at 3am if they really are trying to woo us Hillary folks. I realize he doesn't have to pick her for veep, but geez, I'm grumpy as hell and got a text to hear he didn't go for the candidate I was hoping for. I will no attempt to go back to sleep.

I agree. Obama's young guns on his campaign are playing with fire. They should have sent this at midnight or something so it wouldn't look so crassly like a mockup of the Clinton primary ad. Plus do they really want people to be thinking about that. I'd rather have Biden there at 3am to answer the phone though.

This is a formidable ticket, Joe Biden is a great democrat, he is a fair man, and It is my hope that Barack Obama will use Joe Biden for more then the usual vp role. This is a team that the democrats can bank on come november. I will be volunteering in my town to support this parties ticket. GO OBAMA/BIDEN Let's get the democrats back in Washington.

I'm skeptical that Obama or his campaign staff originally intended for the text to go out at 3am. The media scooped them and forced their hand. They didn't want supporters waking up, finding out about it on the morning news, and not having a text already. My personal opinion is that they should have held all official confirmation until a decent hour of the morning and blamed the media scoop on unscrupulous leakers.

I'm thrilled about Biden! The McCain attacks are incredibly predictable and make me think that McCain isn't going to pick Romney as his running mate. How hypocritical would that be?

A master stroke, with Obama probably about to jokingly acknowledge that there is no question his VP will not be a yes-man, after all. We've had too much of that. Now the Obama campaign can show all the nasty things Romney said about McCain BEFORE McCain dares to pick him. Every time one tries to give John McCain a chance, he compromises his character and presumed competence.

Great pick b/c he is the best possible choice from a governing perspective. The two seem to be truly cut from the same tempermental and ideological cloth (2003 Iraq position notwithstanding), and Marc Ambinder's point about Biden's ambitions being no greater than his office is a good one. A Clinton pick would have meant a tumultuous 4 or 8 year working relationship and I think that's the only reason why she was out of the question. The pick is encouraging because contrary to opinion claiming this is an insecure pick (Fournier), it shows Obama is thinking three steps ahead, considering the formidable challenges he will face in office, and selecting the partner he feels will be most valuable in aiding him as he confronts those challenges.

Biden helps more than he hurts Obama. The primary thing is- can Biden fill the presidency if the need arises? Yes, he can. That might make it easier for some to take a chance on the kid.

Obama couldn't ride his change-hype all the way to November anyway. The sooner he shows his political self the better.

Both jerks obama sucks