I'm sure there were plenty of people locked and loaded for all of Obama's top VP picks (as, I'm sure, there are lots of Dems locked and loaded for all of McCain's picks), but there are some really good reasons to wonder about whether or not Joe Biden was a good choice. The common thought is that he brings a wealth of experience to the ticket, as well as foreign policy expertise, and Obama needs both of those.
Of course, if you look at what the Obamessiah has said in the past, he doesn't - his judgment is good enough to make up for his lack of experience, and he seems to think that pledges of speaking harshly at terrorist states translates into foreign policy. And, don't forget, he already has 300 foreign policy advisers, so why would he need a VP with that expertise?
Nevertheless, he picked Biden. Let the vetting begin.
The first gaffe of the ticket has already occurred (Obama introduced Biden as the next President of the United States of America), but a look at Biden's history opens up a wealth of additional material to pull from. McCain didn't waste any time after the announcement, quickly putting out an ad with a couple of devastating quotes from Biden himself:
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? The Obama campaign is spinning these statements as debate rhetoric, and there is certainly a lot of validity of that - in fact, the same arguments will probably be made if McCain chooses Romney for his VP.
Still, when the Obama campaign says that it's proof that Obama can handle and respect differing opinions, I think they overreach. In reality, what they're saying is that they agree that Obama needs help on foreign policy -- despite his cast of hundreds -- and that is a clear sign of weakness. While it's impossible to know everything about everything, and therefore it's a requirement to surround oneself with knowledgeable people, it's a delicate balance, and in this case it doesn't seem to wash. In fact, Kathryn Jean Lopez posts a rather succinct e-mail she received from a reader that sums it up:
Sean Hannity maintains that Obama's biggest problem is that he can't make decisions, and has never had to make big decisions. This is a problem, since making decisions is the primary job of the President! This weakness can be seen in his floundering on just about every issue over the past 60 days - if he were convinced of his foundation and capable of making decisions, he wouldn't flip and flop all over the place. This lack of experience will be a problem that Obama probably won't shake between now and November.
But, the problems don't stop there. Kyle-Anne Shiver points out that relying on Biden's foreign policy directly undermines one of Obama's biggest campaign talking points: that he opposed the Iraq War. Never mind the fact that Obama wasn't even in the Senate when the vote happened...Biden was, and Biden supported it:
And, on Meet the Press in 2007, Biden also said the following regarding Saddam Hussein's WMDs:
Shiver's conclusion, which is hard to deny:
Biden also presents a clear weakness on abortion, which has suddenly become a big deal again:
Biden is known for his loose mouth - he pops off frequently, and this should provide a great deal of fodder for the McCain campaign to work with over the next couple months. That alone presents a problem for the Obamessiah - he had enough trouble containing the damage from Michelle's outbursts, but now he has to worry about Biden, too! Plus, Biden has a 35-year record in the public eye, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time until people start mining nuggets from his record.
This could be really, really fun, and I'll pass along the gaffes (both past and future) as they come up!
As a minor side note - did anyone else receive their text message or e-mail to be notified of Obama's VP pick? I signed up to receive the e-mail, but it never came. Of course, I have gotten several new campaign blast messages since then, so I feel pretty confident in saying that the whole promise of notifying 'the people' first was not only a lie, but also a cheap trick to boost the size of their potential donor base. Eh, whatever. E-mail is free and easy to delete...but I suspect those who pay for text messages may be a little more irritated in the coming weeks...!
Speaking of the campaign e-mail from Obama, the latest one included the following statement:
Well, this is good news! We've been hearing for months about hopiness and changitude, but if you look at the Obamessiah's policies, they're actually 50-year old policy retreads with flashy new language. It's good that he's going to finally explain what he's all about.
Stay tuned, and I'll keep you up to date.
There's my two cents.
Of course, if you look at what the Obamessiah has said in the past, he doesn't - his judgment is good enough to make up for his lack of experience, and he seems to think that pledges of speaking harshly at terrorist states translates into foreign policy. And, don't forget, he already has 300 foreign policy advisers, so why would he need a VP with that expertise?
Nevertheless, he picked Biden. Let the vetting begin.
The first gaffe of the ticket has already occurred (Obama introduced Biden as the next President of the United States of America), but a look at Biden's history opens up a wealth of additional material to pull from. McCain didn't waste any time after the announcement, quickly putting out an ad with a couple of devastating quotes from Biden himself:
Still, when the Obama campaign says that it's proof that Obama can handle and respect differing opinions, I think they overreach. In reality, what they're saying is that they agree that Obama needs help on foreign policy -- despite his cast of hundreds -- and that is a clear sign of weakness. While it's impossible to know everything about everything, and therefore it's a requirement to surround oneself with knowledgeable people, it's a delicate balance, and in this case it doesn't seem to wash. In fact, Kathryn Jean Lopez posts a rather succinct e-mail she received from a reader that sums it up:
Forget all the stuff about the 3am text message being a put down of Hillary. If Obama is elected, the real 3am phone call will be "Hey Joe! What do I do now??"
Sean Hannity maintains that Obama's biggest problem is that he can't make decisions, and has never had to make big decisions. This is a problem, since making decisions is the primary job of the President! This weakness can be seen in his floundering on just about every issue over the past 60 days - if he were convinced of his foundation and capable of making decisions, he wouldn't flip and flop all over the place. This lack of experience will be a problem that Obama probably won't shake between now and November.
But, the problems don't stop there. Kyle-Anne Shiver points out that relying on Biden's foreign policy directly undermines one of Obama's biggest campaign talking points: that he opposed the Iraq War. Never mind the fact that Obama wasn't even in the Senate when the vote happened...Biden was, and Biden supported it:
On Meet the Press, November 27, 2005: "I've been calling for more troops for over two years, along with John McCain and others subsequent to my saying that."
And, on Meet the Press in 2007, Biden also said the following regarding Saddam Hussein's WMDs:
"Well, the point is, it turned out they didn't, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued - they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued."
Shiver's conclusion, which is hard to deny:
By picking Biden as his own running mate, Obama effectively signals to the electorate that (A) his own judgment on Iraq was flat-out wrong;
(B) that he has changed his mind and forgot to tell us; or
(C) that he doesn't have a clue what he actually thinks and that the choice of VP is clearly above his pay grade.
(B) that he has changed his mind and forgot to tell us; or
(C) that he doesn't have a clue what he actually thinks and that the choice of VP is clearly above his pay grade.
Biden also presents a clear weakness on abortion, which has suddenly become a big deal again:
Biden did vote for the partial birth abortion ban, but then he roundly criticized the Supreme Court decision last year, which upheld the ban.
Senator Obama may have been thinking that he would help himself by putting a Catholic on the ticket, but he seems to have not taken any note of the fact that the Catholic Church is now guided by a new, very conservative Pope. There is not a single dictum emanating from this Pope, nor from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which lets a single Catholic off the hook on the matter of voting for pro-abortion candidates. If anything, the strictures against such votes have become much more important under Pope Benedict XVI than under Pope John Paul II.
It is entirely possible that Senator Joseph Biden will publicly be denied the Sacrament of Holy Communion during the course of this campaign. This, of course, will invite a siege of press attacks against the Catholic Church, but it will also signal to the Catholic laity, who make up a full 25% of the American electorate, that this Pope takes the abortion issue more seriously than any other at the moment.
Obama seems not to have paid much heed to the fact that John Kerry was the first Democrat to lose a majority of the Catholic vote to George W. Bush. He seems also not to have taken note of the new Pope's resolve on this issue. Perhaps Obama has been persuaded to believe that Father Pfleger is more the rule than the exception, and if this is the case, then he has been squarely bamboozled.
Senator Obama may have been thinking that he would help himself by putting a Catholic on the ticket, but he seems to have not taken any note of the fact that the Catholic Church is now guided by a new, very conservative Pope. There is not a single dictum emanating from this Pope, nor from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which lets a single Catholic off the hook on the matter of voting for pro-abortion candidates. If anything, the strictures against such votes have become much more important under Pope Benedict XVI than under Pope John Paul II.
It is entirely possible that Senator Joseph Biden will publicly be denied the Sacrament of Holy Communion during the course of this campaign. This, of course, will invite a siege of press attacks against the Catholic Church, but it will also signal to the Catholic laity, who make up a full 25% of the American electorate, that this Pope takes the abortion issue more seriously than any other at the moment.
Obama seems not to have paid much heed to the fact that John Kerry was the first Democrat to lose a majority of the Catholic vote to George W. Bush. He seems also not to have taken note of the new Pope's resolve on this issue. Perhaps Obama has been persuaded to believe that Father Pfleger is more the rule than the exception, and if this is the case, then he has been squarely bamboozled.
Biden is known for his loose mouth - he pops off frequently, and this should provide a great deal of fodder for the McCain campaign to work with over the next couple months. That alone presents a problem for the Obamessiah - he had enough trouble containing the damage from Michelle's outbursts, but now he has to worry about Biden, too! Plus, Biden has a 35-year record in the public eye, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time until people start mining nuggets from his record.
This could be really, really fun, and I'll pass along the gaffes (both past and future) as they come up!
As a minor side note - did anyone else receive their text message or e-mail to be notified of Obama's VP pick? I signed up to receive the e-mail, but it never came. Of course, I have gotten several new campaign blast messages since then, so I feel pretty confident in saying that the whole promise of notifying 'the people' first was not only a lie, but also a cheap trick to boost the size of their potential donor base. Eh, whatever. E-mail is free and easy to delete...but I suspect those who pay for text messages may be a little more irritated in the coming weeks...!
Speaking of the campaign e-mail from Obama, the latest one included the following statement:
Over the next four days, the Democratic convention will define what change means and highlight our differences with John McCain to every voter who's tuning in.
We'll show the change we will be bringing the country on the economy, health care, energy, foreign policy, and the issues that affect all Americans.
We'll show the change we will be bringing the country on the economy, health care, energy, foreign policy, and the issues that affect all Americans.
Well, this is good news! We've been hearing for months about hopiness and changitude, but if you look at the Obamessiah's policies, they're actually 50-year old policy retreads with flashy new language. It's good that he's going to finally explain what he's all about.
Stay tuned, and I'll keep you up to date.
There's my two cents.
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