The selection of Joe Biden, for all his merits, was something of an anticlimax, and the Obama campaign is mostly to blame. It overmanaged the announcement. The ponderous stagecraft of the delay in releasing the decision and all the teasing of the press (a good thing in its own right, by the way: we deserve to be teased) were intended to supply a burst of excitement as the convention began. Also, the promise to let campaign supporters who registered their cellphone numbers get the news first by text message has doubtless done wonders for the Obama database. (Not that most of them did get the news first that way, of course; unless they turned off TV and radio and stayed up into the early hours on Saturday, glued to their phones.) In any event, Biden had been so widely tipped that the fanfare fell flat. Oh, right, fine, Joe Biden.
He is a good choice but an unadventurous one--despite the fact that his verbosity and rapid-response opining can get him into trouble. (The Republicans have put a "Biden gaffe clock" on their website.) His knowledge and experience of foreign affairs fill a perceived gap in the Obama campaign, and his pugilistic style is something else the campaign can use. But it doesn't fix what has been going wrong, which is the apparent failure of Barack Obama to connect with uncommitted voters. Biden does connect: he has that common touch. But if Obama cannot do that for himself, having a partner who can will not be good enough.
Obama hasn't connected with uncommitted voters and Biden has? Last time I looked Obama is the nominee. Anyway no one can connect with an uncommitted voter.
Enough already with Obama's "new" politics. As in football, if you can't block and tackle, you won't win, no matter how many soaring passes you throw.
Biden knows how to block and tackle. Maybe he can tutor Obama.
I love the idea of the RNC's Biden "Gaffe Clock," but let's hope they do better than the first one they posted: Biden introducing Obama as "Barack America." That's a slip of the tongue -- confusing Sunnis and Shiites, "Bomb Iran" and "I voted for my first wife before I voted against her" are gaffes.
As Joe Biden might say of the matter: His knowledge and experience of foreign affairs fill a perceived gap in the Obama campaign, and his pugilistic style is something else the campaign can use: he has that common touch.
Or is all that plagiarism stuff old news?
The Biden Gaffe clock is a hilarious idea. Since McCain changed his campaign's management he seems to be having all the fun.
Who knew that Obama could go from projecting the charm and vigor of JFK to become a humorless Woodrow Wilson?