Vice President

[Image by SEIU International licensed with Creative Commons.]

In an email sent out at 3:30 am, the Barack Obama campaign announced that it had picked Joe Biden to run as Barack Obama’s Vice PResident.

Negatives:

He’s been known to put his foot in his mouth on occasion.
He was accused of plagiarism back in the 1980s.
His middle name is Robinette. (Seriously, Robinette.)

Positives

He’s been involved in American foreign policy for twenty years.
He captured Rudy Guiliani’s essence better than anyone when he said, “Rudy Giuliani — there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”
He will attack McCain relentlessly.
He’s a Catholic (and Catholics are a key swing group.)
He’s old, with all the wisdom of being old.

Reconciling With Hillary

Just wanted to get on record before Obama announces his pick – my money is on Hillary Clinton, although the smart money would be on Joe Biden, and the real dark horse being Al Gore ((Because Tim Kaine, Jack Reed, Evan Bayh, Kathleen Sebelious, Chet Atkins, and the rest of the lesser lights being too boring to speculate on.) – that despite my initial strong opposition to a Vice President Hillary Clinton (as demonstrated by this and this), I’ve reconciled myself to the idea recently. If it helps Obama win, I’m certainly for it – and as Obama clearly told the Clintons, “No.” initially, I don’t think giving her the nomination now shows weakness. Rather, by including such a prominent and powerful former opponent, it demonstrates strength.

So, now I’m on record – if Obama thinks Hillary Clinton will help him win more than the other candidates, then choose Hillary.

Yes, her connections to the past may muddy his “Change” message and Bill’s sordid connections may prove to be a distraction – but overall, she has demonstrated a political strength that could help unify the party and allow her to speak to groups that Obama has not been able to effectively reach out to yet.

And she’s a fighter. We need someone to take on this new Rovian McCain.