23 Aug 2008 01:00 am
This is a formidable ticket, and a risky ticket, and not a comfort zone choice for Obama.
Put aside the obvious: Biden has foreign policy meat on his bones...He’s a great debater... he has a working-class Scranton-bred Irish-Catholic heritage...he knows Washington very well...he has known tragedy in his life...
He was elected to the Senate as a change agent at the age of 29. He is comfortable but not wealthy — he has not used the prerogatives of office to enrich his personal wealth, although his family has benefited from his stature.
Biden premised his presidential candidacy on the notion that Obama was unqualified and not ready from day one. You can expect that the McCain campaign or the RNC will run a national television advertisement featuring Biden’s many and various quotations to this effect.
I gather that what impressed Obama about Biden is that Biden gets things done. He’s a man of action. He’s not a bullshitter. I also get the sense that Biden, 65, is pretty well aware that, at age 73 in eight years, he’s not going to be a viable presidential choice, and thus convinced Obama that because the vice presidency would be his terminal position, the famous Biden ego will take a subordinate role.
I gather that Obama realizes that he needed a pick that would demonstrate some level of intellectual seriousness about the condition of the world. One of his sons heads for Iraq soon. Obama knows that, for Biden, getting Iraq right is much more than just about proving a point.
Biden is also a fighter on domestic policy. He touts as one of his greatest legislative accomplishments 1994’s Violence Against Women Act.
Some liberals think he’s a bully who got the Iraq war wrong (although Biden did try to pass a less bellicose resolution.) . But I suspect that the general response from Democrats will be “Great choice.”
The criticism will focus on Biden’s 1987 plagiarism bout, his support of credit card companies (he pushed the bankruptcy bill that Dems now hate), his comments about Obama, his racial obliviousness (the comment about Indian-Americans in 7/11).
In a normal year, this stuff would have disqualified him instantly.
That Obama (apparently) picked him demonstrates a recognition that the Democratic ticket ought to be more than just about Obama’s personality... or a statement of bipartisan pragmatism... it’s easy to float on gossamers when the world is safe, but when it’s burning down, a guy like Biden is just the ticket.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/
Man! Is that “pie-in-the-sky” or what!