The Good News and Bad News About Joe Biden

I could not be more relieved today when I heard that Joe Biden will be Barack Obama’s choice for Vice President. My belief has been that there is a 100% chance that the next President will be either a Democrat or a Republican and it is 50/50 as to which side will win, I want to see the best candidates from both parties because one of them will be President.

Joe Biden is one of the members of the senate that I really respect, I always used to judge politicians on how well they did on Meet The Press with Tim Russert and Joe Biden always did well. While I may not always have agreed with him I could understand where he came from because he was that good at explaining himself. Another thing I like about him is he could admit when he was wrong and he answered the questions honestly.

Biden is an excellent choice because he has the guts to call a spade a spade and has a lot of foreign policy experience, something Obama lacks. Biden’s 35 years of experience makes me feel better about an Obama Presidency, now I know that we will at least have one grown up at the table if things should get ugly.

A trendy pick for some people was the governor of Virginia, Tim Cain. While this might have been good for the people screaming “yes we can!” eventually it would have dawned on people that it is not a good idea to have a President with four years of experience in the senate and a VP with two years of experience as a governor. I am sorry but being an activist is not the same as actually having to lead. As a Republican I was hoping he would pick Cain and then lose in November. As an American I wanted him to pick Biden just in case he did win.

This is a case of good news/bad news, the good news is that Biden is extremely capable and would make a fine Vice President (or President if need be), the bad news is that I think it improves Obama’s chances of winning in the fall. Obama can inspire his base and Biden brings in the seasoned leadership, while it will sound odd, this is exactly what George Bush and Dick Cheney were able to do in 2000 and it worked, twice. However, I am hoping that if history repeats itself, as it has been known to do, we get to see a little 1988 action again.

In 1988 Michael Dukakis, who was a young governor from Massachusetts, choose Lloyd Bentsen from Texas to be his running mate. This was a move that was highly praised because Lloyd Bentsen was so much more qualified to be President then Republican Dan Quayle. The problem was that Lloyd Bentsen was also much more qualified to be President then Michael Dukakis and in the end George Bush beat Michael Dukakis 426 electoral votes to 111. As a Republican and as a McCainiac I am hoping that 2008 looks more like 1988.