How does Obama-Biden stack up?
Dante Chinni
Posted: 08.23.2008 / 6:20 PM PDT
It’s impossible to know exactly what Sen. Barack Obama’s selection of Sen. Joe Biden for his vice president will ultimately mean for the 2008 election barely four hours after the two had their official introduction together. We’ve barely seen them in action.
The speeches both men gave were short and to the point – Obama introducing Biden, Biden introducing the team’s line of attack on John McCain.
If there is one thing that seems clear after Saturday’s introduction it is that the best person to introduce Obama at the Democratic convention is probably Obama. The Illinois Senator’s short bio sketch of Biden was powerful and full of images that may resonate with working class folks (the lone senator taking a late Amtrak train home after work).
For its part the McCain team has unveiled its first line of attack, the fact that Biden criticized Obama during the primaries. It’s not likely one that will carry a whole lot of weight. After all, whatever Biden said in the primaries, when Obama was a competitor, he obviously felt comfortable enough with Obama to take the number two job.
One does wonder, however, if Biden-Obama-dischord ad means that Sen., John McCain has decided against adding former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to the his ticket. It does seem, after all, that McCain would be open to the same line of attack if he took Romney as his number two.
So what can we say about the Biden choice? Judging from what we have heard from our Patchwork Nation communities, the move seems to meet the loose standards people identified as key for Obama’s veep – a steady hand who knows foreign policy and who is a white man.
For all the Saturday analysis of how Biden isn’t about “change,” most of the undecided and skeptical voters have told us over the past few weeks that “experience” was the bigger issue for Obama. Several people in different communities mentioned Biden as a choice they favored.
What’s less clear is how much Biden may help with “working-class white voters.” Few of our Patchwork correspondents mentioned that aspect of Biden when they spoke of him – at least before the announcement.
It is something we’ll be talking about with our communities in the coming days.
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:54 pm PDT
Talk about “loose standards” !!
Look at whom the Republicans chose to carry the Hypocritical torch forward into their abyss of continued incompetence.
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm PDT
Saying Biden isn’t about change is wrong. The leader provides direction and Obama is clearly about change. I’m looking for a positive message after the disaster of the last 8 years.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm PDT
Obama-Biden is the perfect ticket. Two very smart people with lots of wisdom and tough, real life experience. These are a couple that won’t get us into any war that is unnecessary so we can focus on rebuilding the countrys economy and stature in the world.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm PDT
Biden had to be on the Democrat ticket with Obama. Too many people are afraid of change too quickly, Biden will be a safety net for those voters. I believe Senator Biden was a wise choice.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm PDT
The problem is that Obama trying to attract those who are afraid of change got Biden at the same time pushing away those who hoped for change. Biden is not any change to me with his 20 years in Washington. Now I do not want to support Obama and feel cheated (now I support nobody). There will be no change! Biden and change?!
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:56 pm PDT
McCain is really kicking himself right now about this Obama selection. Biden is the one person who can honestly say, ‘I have worked with John McCain for years, and this is not the same John McCain’. This is now the John McCain who has flip flopped on virtually all the positions he took over the past decade, who has pandered to Bush and sunk to the level of the same Rovians who derailed his last run for the presidency. His gambit has now failed, and Biden will rightly call him out on it. Shame on McCain!
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:25 pm PDT
biden’s selection says little else than: I am barack obama and I am too inexperienced and the polls are sinking so let me get some old dude who is a washington insider, who supported the same war I oppose but I want to win at all cost so screw change, I want to win…..I was for obama but started having doubts about him and watching his performance at saddleback has convinced me that he is the coca-cola candidate, all marketing, no substance. I am not a mccain supporter but I guess I will have to vote mccain because obama has slowly lost my trust and confidence.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:48 pm PDT
High Strangeness Obama and McCain political ads.
Watching the random political adds showing up on http://illusions.me it first appears to be an Obama or McCain ad but then a few strange twists leaves one wondering did the Obama campaign do an ad for McCain and the McCain campaign do an ad for Obama? Or is it some others? Which is fitting because the page is about illusions and creating appearances.
Are some creating the appearance of being from a certain source only to disparage in subtle ways? What is the true source?
August 24th, 2008 at 12:01 am PDT
After eight years of a fiscal conservative (like Reagan) creating mountains of debt (like Reagan) I think it’s time we elect a couple of adults and see if they can do any better.
Passing trillions of dollars of debt to the next generation while hiding behind the mantle of tax cuts is childish and irresponsible.
If the GOP grows up, I might take another look, but it’ll be a very long time.
August 24th, 2008 at 12:56 am PDT
These comments that suggest that Biden is just “some old dude who is a washington insider” seem more like Republican plants than legit comments. Biden is very progressive and has been an agent of change for a long time, not an agent of the death-culture status quo. When people say stuff like “I’m not a McCain supporter but I’m gonna vote McCain because Obama let me down with this totally conventional VP pick.” I say “GET REAL”.
Obama/Biden is a fantastic ticket for a lot of reasons. I would have picked Richardson myself, but Biden is an excellent choice who should help cement the coalition needed to win the White House, especially in the face of rampant vote fraud such as occurred in Ohio. Read BradBlog.com for more details. I’m not making this stuff up. It’s actually been PROVEN now. The voting machines actually dropped votes in the 2004 election and have proven to be easily hackable. There’s also a substantial national Republican effort to knock as many Democrat-leaning voters off the voter rolls (like they did in Florida in 2000) as they possibly can.
Obama/Biden has the combined force of arms to possibly defeat this concerted assault on our democracy and way of life. Support our republic and volunteer to be a poll watcher this election. The country you save may be your own.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:11 am PDT
In order to beat the next “Swift-Boat” attacks Biden will have to focus on:
Letting folks know about McCain;
- reprehensible treatment of his first, crippled wife,
- Keating Five and countless errors in judgement,
- using surrendering in time of war as experience to lead.
- “Exxon” John
- excessive pandering
Defending against any Obama negaitives
- housing
- the Rev.
- the idea of age as “inexperience”
- popular appeal as a negative
August 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am PDT
If Obama’s weaknesses are NATIONAL POLICIES AND WORLD AFFAIRS why is he standing for president?????
August 24th, 2008 at 2:48 pm PDT
Biden and Obama presents a balance partnership not only during the election but thereafter in the executive branch. Obama didn’t need another young candidate; he is enough “change” for the electoriate. Biden will give the team the foreign policy and securiy leadership necessary….Dante, good comment about MCCain perhaps not selecting Romney for his VP. The Massachusetts Dems have enough videos showing him flip-flopping to embarass the GOP. Also, when he left off, his poll numbers were only 29% approval in the Baystate… Maria Consoli…Cape Cod (Service Community)
August 24th, 2008 at 8:11 pm PDT
This is the same Biden who was laughed out of the 1988 presidential campaign for plagiarizing the speeches of British Labor Party politicians. To Obama this demonstrates a greater knowledge of foreign affairs than his own obviously. So for Obama’s first executive decision he picks a guy with a scandal in his past.
August 24th, 2008 at 11:49 pm PDT
Now let me see if I got this right. Obama stole a speech just this last year and repeated it in the Primary’s. Biden did the same in the previous Democrat primary, and wasn’t Biden was kicked out of college for plagiarizing a paper when he was a student. Sounds like a winning ticket to me!!!!
August 25th, 2008 at 7:35 am PDT
Biden is a snake (who’s been in Washington WAY TOO LONG). He’s simply the “whitie” token for Obama.
I wish Obama had picked someone else. Means nothing positive for the ticket.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:10 am PDT
I supported Biden till he dropped out so I am naturally happy with the choice. He is sharp and he understands that oil and the energy crisis is THE crisis that needs to be solved. He understands that the oil issue isn’t just about the economy and global warming but also National Security. You wouldn’t see Russia being such a bully or Iran spending billions on uranium enrichment if oil was back at $30-40 a barrel.
Hopefully when elected he will head up a task force but not one stacked with oil people the way Cheney’s task force was. I really like his idea to use the power of the US government as the world’s biggest consumer to push energy change.