In good Messianic fashion B. Hussein Obama picked a guy who has the mouth of a prophet. Biden has been delegated by the Messiah to go forth and herald to the masses that the great “I am that I am” has arrived. Biden’s message will be along the lines of … “I bear witness that there is no God but Obama and that Biden is His servant.”
B. Hussein Obama’s pick of Biden is risky and traditional at the same time. It is traditional because he has picked a experienced insider politician who balances the ticket by how white he is. Indeed, Biden may be the first white male who was picked because of his whiteness and his maleness. In making Biden his VP running mate Obama is conceding his difficulty with securing the traditional white male blue collar Democratic base, and he is hoping that Biden will bring these voters home.
Biden is risky as a pick because he doesn’t help Obama regionally or even necessarily in any of the contested battleground states such as Virginia, Colorado, Florida, or some of those rust belt states. Historically, a Vice Presidential running mate is chosen in order to give a ticket regional, and ideological balance. Biden as VP fails the need for regional balance, as the Democrats were in no danger of losing Delaware or the Atlantic Coast States North of the Mason Dixon Line — the region where Biden is from. Biden as VP also fails the ideological balance as Biden is marginally less Marxist then B. Hussein Obama.
There are only two reasons that B. Hussein Obama chose Biden. The first, and most important is the one I mentioned earlier, and that is that Biden is White. The second is that Biden brings the aura of experience to the campaign. The Obama campaign no doubt is betting that people will be a little less nervous in voting for the neophyte Obama if they know old Joe is around to provide gravitas.
Look for Biden to provide entertainment value in the campaign. Historically he has an incredible knack for saying stupid things and it is hard to believe that he will be able to get through this campaign without dropping a few verbal daisy cutters. Having said that though Biden perfectly fits the role of attack dog that Vice Presidential candidates are expected to fill. Expect Biden to be a the perfect junkyard dog in this respect. The best way to muzzle Bide will not be to take his charges seriously though. The best way to muzzle Biden is to mock him. The man takes himself so seriously that the best way to unravel him is to not take him seriously at all. Biden will melt in the face of being mocked and laughed at.
Keep in mind also that Biden has is own history. He is the guy who in his own presidential run back in 1988 decided he liked British Politician Neil Kinnock’s speeches so much he decided to plagiarize them on the stump in his own campaign. Between Obama’s plagiarizing Deval Patrick’s speeches and Biden plagiarizintg Neil Kinnock’s speeches one wonders if they will be able to come up with an original thought between them. In Biden you also have a guy who has said less than complimentary things about Obama in the past. Still, I suppose if Kennedy could choose Johnson and Reagan could pick Bush a good campaign will be able to overcome those past sentiments uttered by Biden regarding Obama.
In the end I don’t think that Biden brings to Obama what Obama hopes he will bring. Biden will not be the difference in any of those battleground States, and I don’t think he will make white males feel any better about voting for a Black candidate who is a Marxist and who embraces Black liberation theology.
Still, don’t underestimate the Stupid party (Republicans) in their notorious capacity for losing. Indeed, I think that this choice by Obama may embolden McCain to choose Lieberman as his VP given that McCain may reason that he can afford to choose the guy he really wants in light of the fact that Obama’s choice is so weak.
