Barack Obama Chooses Joe Biden as his Running Mate
President Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate, by now that is no longer news but I thought I would throw my two cents in. What does this mean for the future president? Will this choice help him? Was it the right choice?
I think that this was probably the best choice that President Obama could have made, but it doesn’t come without any baggage. President Obama had a glaring weakness and that weakness was his lack of foreign policy experience. The month of August has demonstrated how lacking he is in that field. Joen Biden shores up this deficiency. He brings 30 years of experience to a man who has none. I think that this is an acknowledgement by President Obama that he needed someone to guide him when it comes to foreign policy.
Biden’s biggest problem is that his mouth sometimes gets him in trouble, President Obama is going to have to hope that Biden doesn’t say anything that could cost him in the polls.
So how will this affect the polls? I don’t think this will sway voters one way or the other. Other than President Obama naming Hillary Clinton as his running mate I don’t believe any choice he made would drastically change the polls. Joe Biden is not going to bring many “on the fence” voters onto his side. Most people don’t vote for president based on who the vice presidential candidate is, but this year could be different. Both candidates have serious weaknesses that need to be filled and I think that President Obama successfully did that with his pick of Joe Biden.
President Obama could not risk naming one of the “darkhorse” candidates whose names have been floating around the last week or so. With President Obama’s lack of experience in general (he only served 140 days as a US senator before abandoning his position to run for president) he needed to pick a candidate with experience and he has. It will be interesting to see how the campaign can still call for change now that a beltway veteran of thirty years is on the ticket.
Joe Biden may help with blue collar voters, the voters that went in large numbers for Hillary Clinton, but will it be enough to put him over the top in an election year that should have the Democrat candidate up by twenty points already? I think he will receive a bump, but I don’t think it will make much of a difference.
President Obama made the one choice that could help him with his biggest weakness and now John McCain is next. Who will McCain chose? John McCain’s biggest weakness, in my opinion, is that conservatives hate him. He is going to need to make a choice that will help shore up the Republican base. That is an odd weakness to have and McCain doesn’t seem to acknowledge it based on the names that he is considering. As with President Obama, I really don’t think that there is a candidate out there who will help McCain get over the top.
America's Watchtower 
“President Obama”? Isn’t one putting the cart before the horse?
As I said on my own blog, lots of people have already voted against Biden once, recall — during the primaries — when the highly experienced senator from Delaware couldn’t climb out of the single digits. Dems don’t seem to be much swayed by experience and it’s a pity.
Meanwhile Obama’s choice of running mate only demonstrates that even Obama realizes that he has no experience. And, please, it’s not just foreign policy experience he lacks. It’s just experience, period.
It’s true that conservatives have lots of beefs with McCain, but then conservatives are not stupid. They realize that Obama is a disaster for their ideals whereas McCain is merely a flawed representative of certain core conservative ideas.
Meanwhile, McCain’s centrism brings him closer to the ideals of moderates of both parties — that same demographic that gave Reagan such large wins. I don’t know if McCain can summon the loyalty of the middle ground, but he’s sure a lot closer to what moderates believe than Obama is.
Of course with the media swooning over Obama at every step and covering over his various faux pas, it’s hard to judge whether people really know how Left wing Obama really is. He’s the biggest champion the Left has ever had in this country. In relation to the average American, he might as well be from Mars.
Critics used to call Reagan the “teflon president” when they couldn’t make any of their slander stick. But it’s the Democratic party that slick coats their candidates.
Let’s see: there was Hillary’s “35 years of experience” (being Bill’s unfortunate wife). Edwards was “not a Ken doll” (though he played one on tv). And these were the front runners that serious, experienced Joe had to compete against when he was mired in those aforementioned single digits.
Face it, Dems like rock stars. Susan Saradon for Secretary of State, anyone? They’re big on glitz and short on substance. I think the average American voter can tell the difference.
For goodness’s sake, I hope so.
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The reason I refer to Obama as President Obama can be read here.So far it hasn't worked, no matter how often I type those words it chills me.
I hope you are right about the average American voter, but I am afraid that the voters aren't paying attention to what Obama really stands for, and the media isn't helping either.
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I think that Biden might help in the long run, yet hurt in the short turn. By not selecting Hillary, this will further alienate her supporters and make them want to vote for McCain. If Obama loses, Hillary will have another chance in 2012; a fact that is not lost on her supporters. I know it defies logic but I can’t even begin to understand how the liberal feminist thinks.
Where Biden will help is with his tendency to say what he thinks. As of late, the Obama has been pretty meek and if they can direct him, he will make a good attack dog in a manner similar what Cheney did for Bush. Of course, this all hinges on the assumption that he does not have a Phil Gramm moment.
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Experience, fine. I guess he needed it. But hope? change? And what about his march toward the center? I guess he figured that experience trumps all of his other messages, which to me says he is afraid he will lose. I hope videos of the protests by Hillary supporters get posted. The estrogen and the fur is going to be flying. Better than watching the Red Sox abandon ship.
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I totally disagree with you that this was his best choice. I see no advantages except experience and TONS of disadvantages. I’m just left shaking my head. I’m doing research on this for my radio show and I’m just finding gem after gem. He is like a gaffe magnet, unbelievable. You can’t believe how many times he’s stuck his foot in his mouth.
There are tons of people that I think would’ve been better for him to pick.
If John McCain doesn’t screw up his VP pick he could actually have a chance of winning.
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Dee don’t forget Bidens comment back in the day that OJT and the Presidency doesn’t work.
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I just thought that this was a good choice based on Obama filling in his biggest weakness, foreign policy. However with Biden’s willingness to stick his foot in his mouth, this pick could also be just what the doctor ordered for McCain
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