Aug 23 2008
Biden his time.
It’s official — Obama’s VP choice is Sen. Joe Biden.
There are a couple of reasons why vice presidential nominees get picked. They can help deliver that person’s home state in the Electoral College — but let’s assume for the moment that Delaware’s 3 whopping electoral votes were not the reason for Biden’s selection.
The other major reason is to create a balanced ticket. Much like creating balance in the Force, the path to a balanced ticket is a nuanced one – with lots of political intrigue, whining, and CGI hijinks.
There’s no doubt that Biden rounds out this ticket: there’s the ebony-and-ivory thing, there’s Biden’s foreign policy prowess to Obama’s lack of foreign policy prowess, there’s Biden’s insider cred to Obama’s outsider cred… it all looks good on paper. So my more practical, whole-wheat side is pleased with Biden as a selection.
My frosted, progressive side, however, wonders how much Obama is dedicated to his “change” value proposition when he goes for a deep establishment guy like Biden. It’s not enough of a doubt to make me switch sides or stay home, but there’s a part of me that was hoping for better.
That said, Biden is a solid choice and would make a good president in his own right. Democrats can lay claim to the smartest ticket that’s run for preseident in quite some time. After 8 years of dumb government, we could do a lot worse.
Oh – and the whining that I was talking about? That’s the sound of 18 million PUMAs crying out and suddenly being silenced. Actually, we’ll have to wait until next week for them to be (hopefully) finally silenced.