Biden is a good choice for Obama
So, Obama’s vice-president choice is Joe Biden. I said last week I think it should/might be Kerry, and I know Shariq wanted someone fresher and new, but I think its the right choice for the same reasons I picked Kerry. Biden will be a good attack-dog, he has strong foreign-policy credentials, and he’s a strong Democrat. He’s also older and a Catholic which, according to Michael Tomasky, will help with those constituencies. Who am I to disagree? I love Obama’s latest ad too (on the right) - its time he started attacking McCain/McSame for his hypocrisy.
Update: Vino S disagrees, with good reasons.
I don’t disagree with Vino - that Obama could have shored up his economic credentials than foriegn policy expertise. But according to the polls, Obama is more trusted on the economy and McCain more on foreign policy. So it makes sense for Obama to focus on his perceived weak spot.
The man who copied Neil Kinnock. Oh dear.
His job is to be an attack dog, and to bolster foreign policy experience - no more. He can do that.
McCain copied a Tory slogan!
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203227.php
Damn it, Sunny. You got there first!
I am quite happy with Obama’s choice. He will definitely get a bounce because of this, perhaps not Catholics (Kerry is a Catholic and he didn’t win that constituency in 2004 because of his pro-choice views), but seniors which is Obama’s weakness. The strategy will be two-fold. Obama will keep on doing what he knows best: which is bring about a positive and coherent plan and message, and Biden can take care of McCain. If he can find a memorable line like he did with Giuliani, it will be a slam-dunk.
If McCain wants to do better, he will have to get a woman as his VP. But since he already said he wants to make abortion illegal, that will make his life a lot more difficult.
If he can find a memorable line like he did with Giuliani, it will be a slam-dunk.
I wish the Democrats would just go for the jugular and use something like ‘Every McCain sentence has a noun, a verb, and his time spent as a POW.’
Because that’s what McCain amounts to.
So John McCain has borrowed from a winner, while Joe Biden borrowed from a loser.
Sunny:
Sorry to cross threads, but any comeback on the Cromwell points?
It is difficult to know if the following is satire or not…
So John McCain has borrowed from a winner, while Joe Biden borrowed from a loser.
Not sure what your point is here Rumbold. I thought you made the statement originally because you thought he was a copycat?
Or is it ok to be a copycat as long as you copy from winners?
Ravi - Heh. I’ve seen those quotes too. Too bad the MSM hasn’t properly called him out on it yet.
I wasn’t thrilled at first but Marc Ambinder’s convinced me that he was the best person for the ticket.
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/if_its_obamabiden_this_is.php
Normally a younger person would work perfectly, but as Ambinder says, picking someone like that would make the Obama campaign seem not in touch with the problems in the rest of the world.
There’s no doubt that Biden is a serious guy. Also I think the public would be reassured that if something happened to Obama, Biden would be ready to lead.
Obama Biden.
I know its late, and perhaps im the only one with an unsophisticated sense of humour, but did anyone else laugh?
how is it an ad for obama? it doesnt say anything about obama, it disses mccain, that’s it.
good one kulvinder..
perhaps he wants to say look if you choose me, dont worry, there is a bland ‘conservative’ seeming old man behind me..
You mean about the name?
My wife commented this as we were watching the news… I wouldn’t have noticed to be honest.
According to wikipedia he used Kinnock’s speech and attributed it to Kinnock most times, it was the one he didn’t that got taped and caused a storm.
Sonia, your comment pretty much sums it up. In the polling, Generic Democrat has been beating John McCain by a bigger margin than Obama.
Americans want to vote for a Democrat. Obama just has to reassure them that he’s upto the task. Picking a serious, reputable person like Biden helps the process.
He’s also a great campaigner and has a good personal story as well. He has the lowest net worth of any senator despite being there for 6 terms and his son has just been deployed to Iraq.
Sunny:
I was joking.
What polling are you referring to? Is it one taken recently? The fact is that Obama has been getting a flood of negative advertisement from Republicans, which is something that “generic” Democrat hasn’t. Any generic Democrat turned specific would be target of the same faith.
More importantly, despite all the negativity, there are far more Democrats excited with Obama than Republicans with McCain, and I would wager that no other Democratic candidate generates more excitement than Obama.
McCain has a very difficult task ahead choosing his VP. I am hoping for Mitt Romney.
If its Mitt Romney, that would be ace. They’d self-combust!
What polling are you referring to? Is it one taken recently? The fact is that Obama has been getting a flood of negative advertisement from Republicans, which is something that “generic” Democrat hasn’t. Any generic Democrat turned specific would be target of the same faith.
I think Shariq is referring to recent polls where more Republicans are pro-Obama than Democrats are pro-McCain.
Ravi, I was referring to a comment made by Chris Hayes on bloggingheads about a month ago. It was basically about how Obama would tack to the centre as everybody does after the primaries. It was mainly in response to a lot of the uproar about the FISA bill and stuff.
There were polls (mentioned in the Economist I think) where respondents were asked to choose between Democrat and Republican. When the same people were asked to choose between Obama and McCain, the gap narrowed.
“McCain more on foreign policy”
I think that he should hammer away at him on this as well.
Ben