Partisans and ideologues of all stripes have begun to comment on Sen. Obama’s selection of Delaware Senator Joseph Biden as his running mate:
WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, Mr. Obama announced in text and e-mail messages early Saturday.
Mr. Obama’s selection ended a two-month search that was conducted almost entirely in secret. It reflected a critical strategic choice by Mr. Obama: To go with a running mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his résumé, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Mr. Obama’s message of change.
One of the best of the pro-Biden posts is Delaware native Shaun Mullen’s at The Moderate Voice. Shaun’s an experienced professional journalist, a fine writer, and has been acquainted with Sen. Biden since they were adolescents together in Delaware. Check it out.
I’ve liked Sen. Biden for quite a while and think that he’s probably the best choice available to Sen. Obama under the circumstances. I do think that it will be interesting how the campaign manages the apparent contradiction of running a campaign based on judgement rather than resume with selecting a running mate who voted for the Authorization to Use Military Force Against Iraq and, as best as I can tell, was an early supporter of “the surge”. Since Sen. Biden is only a few years younger than Sen. McCain his selection will also tend to blunt the criticism of McCain that he’s just too old to be president.
Update
Jonathan Stein at Mother Jones wonders if Sen. Biden’s partition plan for Iraq will pose a problem for the ticket.
It seems to me that Richardson was the best choice, but I think that he must have some vetting problems. I like Biden though.
He was certainly my preference but during the primaries he ran a really awful campaign and performed poorly.
I am assuming that Richardson has campaigned better than that, but he would be pretty unique in bringing experience to the table without overshadowing Obama. And I think Obama is most likely to win the election with Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.
On the update point, I wonder how many Americans know about Biden’s partition plan or at this point would care to know.
As a matter of intelectual curiousity, I would like to hear Biden explain why partition is or is not a good idea for Afghanistan.
Biden’s partition plan is still probably the best answer. People who think it’s over in Iraq are premature. The Maliki government has started to move against some of the leaders of the Anbar awakening. The Shia and Sunnis have not necessarily made peace.
Could be. But Sen. Obama has already dismissed Biden’s partition plan.