Could Barack Obama have made a worse pick for VP?
Perhaps. Someone like Bill Richardson would’ve put America to sleep. Hillary may have juiced the Democrat base, but she would also have turned the conservatives out in droves to vote against the ticket. I thought he would pick someone like Sen. Evan Bayh from Indiana. He had proven himself a good liberal and would probably not have overshadowed Obama.
Instead, Obama chose Joe Biden, a six-term senator from Delaware. Biden has run for president twice. He’s also the powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Obama has been pummeled lately for his apparent lack of experience in, and understanding of, foreign policy and national security issues, demonstrated by his tepid response to the Russian invasion of the Republic of Georgia. He needs someone on his team with that kind of experience. But, Joe Biden is such a powerful personality it will be difficult for him to keep from totally overpowering the ticket.
The other problem the ticket has is Biden’s foot-in-mouth disease. He’s the one who referred to Obama as ’articulate and bright and clean.’ Clean? He also made a failed attempt at humor while trying to endear himself to immigrants from India. ’You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent,’ he told a supporter. Uh, Joe, the clich’ is Indians work at 7-Elevens, not shop there.
Then there’s the plagiarism thing. He got caught lifting part of a speech from a British politician while campaigning for president in 1987. A few days later, it was revealed that he also plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in law school. To add insult to injury, he was asked about his grades in law school on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. He said he graduated in the top half of his class. As it turned out, he actually graduated ninth from the bottom. He also claimed he attended college on a full scholarship and had received three degrees. The truth was, he had received a half scholarship based on financial need, not scholastic excellence, and had two majors, not three degrees. The weight of his tendency to exaggerate the truth caused him to drop out of the race.
Of course, that was 20 years ago. How much bearing will it have on this election? Only time will tell. Biden’s misspeaks, gaffs and outright fabrications are really the least of this campaign’s worries. The scuttlebutt within hours of the announcement was that the ticket looked upside down. Biden should be the presidential candidate. That fact will only become more obvious as the campaign lumbers toward November. McCain and Biden will come off as two seasoned experts on foreign affairs at a time when such expertise is so critical. Obama will appear to be shopping for a tutor to give him a crash course in national security and foreign policy. That’s not really something that instills confidence.
It’s obvious what he was trying to do. Obama was trying to bring what the liberals love to refer to as ’gravitas’ to the ticket. The fact that he seemed so desperate to do so points out the fact that Obama has none. Less than four years ago he was sitting in the state legislature in Illinois. Since then, he’s done very little in Congress aside from supporting amnesty for illegal aliens and sponsoring a global tax on the United States. Simply put, he’s not ready to be president of the United States and picking Joe Biden only magnifies that fact.
