Well, you can forget about hearing it first via a text message. The old media has scooped the story of Biden being the VP. Apparently, they have known about it since around 8 pm est, when the secret service detail showed up at Biden's house. A 'blackout' of the news held for a couple of hours, and then CNN was able to confirm that Obama asked Biden.
That aside, here's the report on the wire. It's not all that great, the pick framed that "an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy" and Biden will help out on that end. The short bio that they give for Biden reads like a mortuary note:
The 65-year-old was first elected to the Senate in 1972. Shortly afterwards, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He considered resigning, but decided to continue with his political career.
Biden is currently serving out his sixth term, making him Delaware's longest-serving senator.
Biden is married and has three children. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and got a law degree from Syracuse.
In 1988, Biden suffered an aneurysm and nearly died but has recovered fully.
One of Biden's grandfathers was a Pennsylvania state senator, according to the Almanac of American Politics.
I've always thought that was a pretty low barrier to be crossed, given the ones asking the question are the same who gave us a Bush for 8 years as President.
Let's not fool ourselves that Biden in any way reinforces the message of Obama of change. The choice of Biden as a VP is not a sympatico choice in the way that Gore was for Clinton. Nor is it generational. This choice acknowledges the Obama campaigns need to go out on a ledge here and jump to a new place. They realize that their strategy wasn't working, and are pivoting to something different.
There is a huge hesitancy among the public to embrace Obama. McCain's favorables are at least as high as Obama's, even in some states where Obama leads. Obama trails the generic match-up by 10 percent. You should read Jay Cost for a realistic understanding of this contest.
A month ago, this race was in a very different place. John McCain realized he had a losing strategy, and drastically shifted to another one, and has been gaining on Obama ever since. This week, its become clear to everyone that the Obama strategy wasn't working, and the choice of Biden is a recognition of the current landscape. Most likely, it's not the desired one by Obama, but its probably as good a counter as we could expect given the environment, and McCain's recent moves.
McCain would have loved to just jive it up with the press and get monkey love, but it didn't work like it did in 2000. Obama would have loved to ride above it all while the media sang his praises, but it didn't work like it did against Clinton in the primaries.
There are complications in this choice; many. And a lot to overcome. But one thing it does well is recognize the 2008 GE landscape. Biden can fight a partisan war. He will engage the Republicans on the turf.
I sorta get a chuckle of the traditional media's response to the McCain-Obama match-up. You'll recall the articles that would herald it as a contest that would be 'above reproach' and one that would rise above the Bush and Clinton 'scorched earth' campaigns of the past few decades. Well, it's actually going to be the most dirty and ugly campaign of the last 80 years. I think there's a very real shot of the turnout being lower in '08 than it was in '04 among those who watch a lot of television. And given the demographic turnout model that would favor Obama, that's probably not a bad thing either.
Update [2008-8-23 2:35:24 by Jerome Armstrong]: Now the NYT's, its official. The framing of the choice is not beneficial:
...Mr. Obama’s choice of Mr. Biden suggested some of the weaknesses the Obama campaign is trying to address at a time when at a time when national polls suggest that his race with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is tightening.
McCain on Obama: Ready to Lead?
Biden on Obama: Not yet Ready.
A friggen silver platter.
And closes with this:
You know, there's a part of this choice that's a Friday night news dump, as in, 'if I gotta make a choice here's one' and with the thought that the VP choice is quickly overshadowed by the convention. Though the partisan-attack lack of Obama is the real gap this fills now, my guess is that the Obama campaign is going to frame this as a governing ticket; but from the early reports, they have some work to do.
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