If you stayed up late enough on Friday night, you may have heard the news before this morning that Senator Joe Biden will be Obama’s Vice Presidential nominee. Much is being written and said already about the pick, and the blogs and radio shows are sure to have fun with some of the silly comments that Biden has made over the years. Obama is touting Biden’s character, highlighting his working class roots and Catholic background. This focus is supposed to help Obama with middle class Americans and perhaps some of the Catholic community. While Biden may have some appeal to those constituencies, my question is: who cares?
We’re not voting for Joe Biden in November; this election is about whether or not we trust Barack Obama in the White House. Since the debate is about Obama, we should wonder what choosing Biden says about Barack, not Joe. All claims about Joe Biden’s character and faith aside, the bottom line is that Joe Biden is the opposite of what Obama has promised. The Senator of Delaware has served for more than 35 years in Washington, which Obama claims is broken, and Obama has a weak case that Biden represents a significant change (especially when measured against McCain, the “Original Maverick” himself).
The Editors of National Review hit the nail on the head in their analysis of Obama’s VP choice. Biden is the opposite of that upon which Obama has based his campaign: a career Washington insider (not change), a Senator who supported the Iraq War (Obama’s opposition has been his central claim of good judgment), a man who highlights Obama’s obvious lack of foreign policy experience (Biden said so himself), and a willing recipient of many lobbyist contributions (which Obama swears off and claims to be above). These are just a few obvious contrasts to Obama’s message, which seems to carry less and less weight by the day.
While Obama’s VP options were thin, how can he expect Americans to believe his promises and trust his character when he chooses a running mate who contrasts the very positions upon which his message depends?
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