Looks like Senator Joe Biden of Delaware will be Obama’s pick for Vice-President.
The selection of the long serving Senator – who’s been a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the past himself – will be seen as bringing foreign policy gravitas to the ticket. Biden is Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. At 65, it’s unlikely that he would be seen as a future President, which may have been an issue had Hillary Clinton been picked.
The Obama campaign hasn’t gone for geographical balance – which was the basis for the speculation about possible Veeps such as Governor Kathleen Sibelius of Kansas, Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia and Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. There’s not much recent evidence that helps much anyway.
Two questions will be asked about this selection – does it represent an acknowledgement of weakness from Obama in terms of experience and foreign policy and defence cred, and what will Hillary do, or more importantly the more undisciplined Bill Clinton do, at the Convention?
Elsewhere: This post probably indicates some of the reasons why there’s a downside to this selection! Melissa McEwen in the Graudian is not excited about Biden. Ann at Feministing thinks “it could have been worse” and links to other reaction while Publius at Obsidian Wings likes the choice, and so does Michael Tomasky.
Hardly surprising if true. He probably needs an old white guy with foreign policy experience as he is seen as weak in those areas. I will wait until the obama-biden.com website is up and running, though.
Looks like they missed that one, though. It goes here – http://www.stop-obama.org
Doesn’t look as if there’s any doubt it’s true, Andrew:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxVW-aUPQsPkU0JKEleSPNCyxSsAD92NR7K00
he couldn’t possibly be any worse. Could he? Please God tell me that it can’t get worse.
Elsewhere: This post probably indicates some of the reasons why there’s a downside to this selection!
Personally, I’m somewhat disappointed they didn’t go with Kaine, if only for the the fact that the Obama-Kaine/Oba-McCain (doesn’t ‘Oba’ mean aunt or grandmother or something in Japanese?) would have done everyone’s head in.
Seems like a good pick, though I was rooting for (well, it’s an American thread after all) Sebelius.
There’s certainly one way of looking at it that suggests that it’s a good pick, but it’s also a defensive one – what does it say about Obama’s own weaknesses? And what does it do to the whole “new politics” theme… which in itself is a problem because the Hillarytariat have been emphasising the “working class voters want policies not new politics” line recently.
In fact you could make the case that Obama’s current problems stem from his narrow victory. It was gamed very well, but he’s got big problems in terms of tacking to the centre (does he tarnish the “yes we can” gloss) and perceptions of inexperience, among other things.
I agree Kim, and it’s really hard to see how any of Obama’s possible picks could have neutralised the two most salient features he needed to get across: trying to pick someone who symbolises both ‘change’ and ‘experience’ in Washington was always going to be a hard call, particularly since none of the possible governors could make up for Obama’s foreign policy inexperience.
Some preliminary thoughts from Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic. Am sure all the American blogs will start lighting up with analysis very shortly.
It’s 100% official now.
The more things CHANGE the more things stay the same…Biden the veteran from a veteran state. I wish Obama had gone with the younger Sen. Webb of Virginia but he was probably a bit too left wing and a bit too young and inexperienced??
Biden is a conservative choice and always makes sense on TV even when your attention strays to the transplanted hairline…but goddamit vanity is my problem!
Safe but not necessarily sound.
Does foreign policy experience matter when a mortgage and petrol busted electorate probably cares more about meeting the payments on the house and car? Would a domestically focused populist have been better? We’ll know shortly.
Don’t like him! Looks too much like Andrew Peacock.
Does this mean that camp McCain will opt for a young, fresh, bean?
I took a dislike to this guy who voted for the war, when he popped up on NPR saying the US needed French or NATO troops in preference to Pakistani troops.
He seemed racist in the long tradition of democrat party racism.
I think he’s symbolic of all thats wrong with the ALP righ…sorry the ‘ Vichy’ wing of the democrat party. This is no longer a ‘change’ ticket’. It’s more like a
‘ business-as-usual’ ticket. I hope the American people don’t reward bad behavior in November because the democrat party are in a profound crisis of identity. The entire democratic-socialist movement Anglosphere-wide is actually. They don’t know who they are or where they’re going. They’re all at sea…adrift.
Or another has been?
If Biden becomes Vice President, he will be as far away from Dick Cheney as Al Gore. Let’s hope that after George W. and his sinister VP, international relations is no longer in the hands of the neo-cons who gave us eternal war in the middle east and torture by any other name.
Obama is in a teeny bit of trouble, given that things are looking pretty good in Iraq and his predictions of endless civil war have turned out to be so crushingly wrong.
He needs a conservative running-mate to help him get through that one. It’s harder these days to just paint GWB as a fool who had no idea what he was doing. A bit of wriggle room required.
For a Messiah, he has demonstrated complete lack of prescience with regard to events in Iraq (although sheer unthinking opportunism is a better characterisation).
Probably he’ll be lucky enough to survive it though. Especially since the “left” has gone into some sort of uncomfortable silence at the moment.
A month of silence even on LP. Well that’s better than the usual stuff, I suppose.
WTF does it matter now? GWB has already done all the heavy lifting – the US is pretty much finished now as global leader of anything at all.
McCain could complete the job quicker than Obama.
If I was a betting person,I certainly wouldn’t bet on anyones confidence in these two as as a manifestation of what they are opposing as opposites.I bet there is a U.S.A. copper somewhere,thinking right now, Biden looks like a jerk who couldn’t help putting his end in,and they have the DNA.And one clever female on the links offered here,suggested in her analysis that,96% of eligible voters in the caucauses,or how you spell it, were left out of the procedure.Thus Obama,is trying and succeeded in using technical means, to achieve his results.As he removed a Black African American woman in the same sort of technical fix to get his own candidate in.So Biden face,represents how many too!? And I guess if you are into manipulation as a test for power and as a example of power,when not entirely there,Obama has achieved that.Complete dominance by utilising the failures of the system to complete the manipulation.
McCain campaign already has an ad about Biden.
As LGF said, they must have had this advert ready to go.
There’s not a lot of evidence that the V-P choice has much impact one way or the other, although perhaps given Obama’s emphasis on working as a team and collective endeavour, he may seek to give a bit more focus to his team of people than the usual leader driven campaigns.
As for Biden, those more interested in purity than winning will no doubt find plenty to hoe into, although anyone who seriously wants to run the ‘there’s no real choice/no difference between Republican and Democrat candidates’ really doesn’t get it (remembering the same arguments were made by some for the Bush vs Gore contest). I would have liked to see Sebilius got a run, but then I’m not trying to win an election.
Amongst the gazillion bits of commentary that have already appeared about Biden, I found this piece in the New York Times of interest
“Genuine” is in the eye of the beholder of course
I think that it is a reasonable choice. Some of those criticising Biden’s record appear to have wanted a progressive VP candidate. To me that would have either been pure fantasy or a wish to lose the election. The Presidential candidate is of most importance, not the VP.
Classic Biden Quotes:
This should be fun.
Stephen Lloyd @20, it’s possibly a generic ad they’ve had waiting in the wings, fill in the blank spaces and away you go.
Melissa McEwen in the Graudian is not excited about Biden:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/23/joebiden.barackobama?gusrc=rss&feed=commentisfree
Ann at Feministing thinks “it could have been worse” and links to other reaction:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/23/joebiden.barackobama?gusrc=rss&feed=commentisfree
Publius at Obsidian Wings likes the choice:
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/08/biden.html
Oopsy, wrong link for the Feministing post:
http://www.feministing.com/archives/010594.html
Michael Tomasky on the positives:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/aug/23/barackobama.joebiden?gusrc=rss&feed=commentisfree
I’m with the “it could have been worse” crowd. Obama has three gaps to fill – he needed someone more conservative appearing, someone with foreign policy experience and a woman. Never going to find all three, given Clinton’s capacity to stir the hate-troops in the Republicans like no one else.
I’d have preferred a woman, but that would actually have been easier if the primaries weren’t as close as they were – it would have looked like tokenism picking a woman other than Hilary.
I liked Richardson, who seems like he can look more conservative than he is, but given the rumours around him the Edwards affair announcement killed that one stone dead. So by process of elimination we had Biden and some people who would probably be worse VPs.
Hopefully he will do his job of getting Obama elected. I’ll admit I would have been tempted to go for either Kaine or Bayh. Both would be worse VPs, but would pretty much have guaranteed their home states. Turning down such rich offers either shows Obama is overconfident, or that he really cares about having a good VP and wouldn’t take someone too right wing for 11 (or 13) electoral college votes.
I’ve been laughing at the idea of a McCain/Condi ticket for the Reps
“I’ve been laughing at the idea of a McCain/Condi ticket for the Reps”
The thought of teflon Condi and frozen McCain. Yummy.
And background music from McCartney/Wonder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sssqBjaTzOU
Joe2@31, I prefer this version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os58ZPwX26w
I know why he was chosen but does he have to be so shiny? Can anyone come out of an interview with him and not feel like they might have just bought a used mazda?
The other thing about Biden is not only his foreign policy experience: he’s a headkicker. Obama has been too high-minded in ignoring the Republican smear engine, Biden will give as good as he gets. Biden does econo-populism because the details aren’t his strong point.
Obama has done enough damage to politics-as-usual with the method of his campaign (lots of small donations beat big donations and celebrity endorsements in the internet age) – who did you expect him to pick, Ralph Nader? Biden is window-dressing for old politics, a point of reference for people reeling at the Hillary implosion. This is the equivalent of what happened to the Republicans a generation ago, when outsider Reagan chose Bush I as his running mate without selling out to the establishment that Bush I represented.
Professor: it isn’t racism to prefer French to Pakistanis in Afghanistan. It isn’t clear that the interests of Pakistan, insofar as they are coherent, are necessarily aligned to those of the US.
pablo: Webb ruled himself out.
SJ: what job? Kerry Miller: has there been anyone who has been prescient about what’s happening in Iraq (with the possible exception of Yahweh or Allah)?
I actually thought Biden would be Secretary of State under Obama, so there you go.
Andrew E writes:
.
??????
I did (!) along with other people in the LastSuperpower group. Here’s a link to one (of many) such discussion on our old forum (which has now been archived and replaced with a new blog Strange Times ):
Iraq Developments
I also had an article published in The Australian (September 2006) in which I predicted successful democratization of Iraq and attacked the attitude that “all was lost”.
There was also a thread here on LP, entitled Strange Alignments which attempted to lampoon us for our views.
I also think that the architects of the surge, were prescient enough to know that they could facilitate a realignment of forces in Iraq which would prevent it disintegrating into the sort of civil war that people like Obama were so sure was about to happen.
Too much change scares the horses. Biden regardless what they might say about him in the campaign will give the sense of a bit stability to ‘change’. The more the GOP focus on him the more they put him in the public view and promote him.
Biden’s criticism of Obama may well be a positive for him as VP. If they worry about change with Obama then they know they have the guarantee of this guy not too scared to speak up.
I still can’t believe that McCain was the best the Republicans could come up with.
I wish the Republicans would ditch McCain and draft Condi. Obama v Condi, now that would be fun!
Isn’t there a female governor of Alaska in serious contention to be McCain’s running mate? Did I hear that correctly?
I seem to remember reading she was a serious contender, and quite talented. It might look like a bit… err… I can’t think of an appropriate word.
BTW, i didn’t mean anything sexist by that, all I meant was it might look a bit petty, like “well we’d better get our own ‘first-ever candidate’”
Sorry for the consecutive posts.
Yes, I was right, her name is Sarah Palin. Analysis of her chances range from a ‘long shot’ to ‘long, but firming’. McCain’s cheif economic adviser, a woman who was formerly the CEO of Hewlett Packard has also been mentioned.
This is a description of Gov. Sarah Palin by Newt Gingrich:
Let’s face it, filling the Veep slot is basically done as a combination of party insider voting tactics and good old fashioned payoff for favours rendered by those backing/buying the Veep.
Aside from TDR, it’s hard to think of any Veep who went to cover himself in glory after suddenly being thrust into the top slot.
As usual the Medium Lobster has the good oil here.
“I still can’t believe that McCain was the best the Republicans could come up with.”
He’s old and desperate. So they got him cheap. He’ll issue markers to anyone and anything just for a last tilt at glory. Whereas Obama’s lean and hungry. So be very careful at feeding time.
“Obama v Condi, now that would be fun!”
Absolutely! Someone who’s fuckups are all in front of him vs someone who’s fuckups are all behind them. Not to mention it’d send both the hard core ideological/identity politics Republican and Democratic bases into a complete headless chicken tizzy.
“…is very much for drilling for oil…took on big oil on behalf of the people of Alaska…”
Whee-hee! All aboard the magic dog sled ride.
“McCain’s cheif economic adviser, a woman who was formerly the CEO of Hewlett Packard has also been mentioned.”
That’d be Carly Fiorina who managed to halve Hewlett-Packard’s stock price during her tenure as CEO.
And incidentally the fact “the Last Superpower” has decided to rebrand themselves as “Strange Times” is, I feel, just one more data point adding to the conclusion that Maoists are nutsy cranky losers in love with the nation-changing authouritian powers they’ll never enjoy themselves.
Exhibit A. The explanation for the name change which I do so hope much will be forthcoming here in all its tangled, self-righteous sophistry.
Despite the Dems and the allied main stream media’s desperation to see Romney as McCain’s Veep, Mitt is clearly out, with (1) Obama doubling down on the class warfare theme (McCain’s 7 houses) and (2) McCain doubling down with ads showing the hypocrisy of Biden attacking Obama in the primaries — Romney did way more than that contra McCain.
This leaves only Govs Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty. Pro-abortion Ridge and Dem-Lieberman were never real considerations, despite relentless media goading. Pawlenty’s lackluster TV performances, coupled with Palin pizzazz, the primacy of oil drilling and the ticked off women/Hillary voters, does now portend a McCain/Palin checkmate on the Dems. This is so albeit the Dems and liberal media dare not mention Palin’s name, that is, everyone but…..
And if there’s any question as to Palin being uniquely positioned and able to more than nullify Biden in debate, see the excellent discussion at palinforvp.blogspot.com
Team McCain, well done!!!
McCain should ask Condi to be VP – say he is only going for four years and then she has a swing at POTUS.
I wonder where Oprah would stand if Condi was running?