Posted by
Bert Chapman on Saturday, August 23, 2008 1:02:16 PM
My first response on hearing Obama picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate was "if you plagiarize enough you might get to be Vice-President." Biden's first presidential run in 1988 went down in flames when it was revealed he had plagiarized one of his speeches with rhetoric used in a speech by then British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. My next reaction is that by picking a Washington insider with 36 years in the Senate, that Obama is showing his own insecurities and destroying the remaining residue of his infantile rhetoric about "change we can believe in." Joe Biden is an old-line liberal apparatchik who has received favorable treatment on a house sale from the influential credit card and banking industry in Delaware, a duplicitous demagogue who, while Senate Judiciary Committee chair in 1991, told Clarence Thomas, that he supported his confirmation than proceeded to try and stab him in the back, during the most sleazy confirmation battle in U.S. History.
Biden is a foul-mouthed undisciplined poltroon who has been an abysmal failure on the Democratic presidential campaign trail on two occasions. None of the policies he's advocated for in his political career have improved the economic standards of anyone other than well-heeled liberals, he has no commitment to reducing spending or the size of government, he's a thorough going liberal including being a strong abortionist, and his much vaunted foreign policy acumen will not stand up against significant scrutiny. He has criticized the war in Iraq without advocating credible alternatives to win the war. His plan to partition Iraq by ethnic groups may have superficial appeal but it will not help that country achieve the cohesion it needs to be a stable part of the region let alone be able to contend against the dangerous menace a nuclear-armed Iran will pose to that region. He has demonstrated no prescience on dealing with North Korea, a rising China and the threat it poses to Taiwan, he has failed to support Colombia in its battle against drug terrorists and the subversion against his government sponsored by Hugo Chavez, and has been timid in his response to Russian aggression against Georgia. Do we really think such an individual has the foreign policy wisdom to advise Barack Obama?
It's hard to imagine Biden subordinating himself to Obama campaign prerogatives. Obama's advisors better stock up on their favorite anti-stress or anti-ulcer medications over the next few months because they will need to consume lots of pills in response to Biden's frequent outbursts of verbal diarrhea.
McCain needs to pick a Vice-Presidential candidate who is a ferocious no holds barred debater who will know how to infuriate Biden when the Vice-Presidential debate is held. The McCain campaign also needs to stress the danger of having an indiscreet and verbally imprudent demagogue a heartbeat away from the presidency. Some Democratic politicos are portraying Obama's selection of Biden as a political masterstroke. I think it reflects serious weakness and insecurity on Obama's part. If Obama really wanted to portray himself as the candidate of change he could have chosen someone like Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, or arguably, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh. This selection shows that Obama is committed to the political objectives of the Washington liberal elite and that he is not some advocate for substantive policy change that will produce qualitatively better living standards, governance, heightened international respect, and increased national security for the U.S.