Saturday, August 23, 2008
I wuz wrong
Never let it be said that Joltin' Django's afraid to admit when he's wrong. I said B. Hussein Obama would pick Indiana Senator Evan Bayh to be his running mate. Unless you've been hiding in a hole today, you know that Obama put Delaware Senator Joe Biden on the 2008 Democratic ticket.
Gary Bauer tells us 'bout Obama-Biden:
"The selection of Biden -- the 6th term chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee -- is a direct admission of Obama’s own weaknesses and inexperience. In fact, when Biden was running for the White House last year, he specifically said that Obama was not ready to president and that the presidency 'is not something that lends itself to on-the-job-training.' He also said that it would be a 'tragic mistake' to nominate someone, like Obama, who does not have foreign policy and national security experience. And yet for all his vast experience, just like Barack Obama, Biden also opposed the troop surge in Iraq, which is now considered a stunning military success. The Democrats will have two defeatists leading their ticket." [Emphasis mine]
UPDATE: Richard Spencer says Obama's picking Biden "was a terrible misstep and demonstrates how seeking to 'balance' a ticket actually only serves to emphasize the negatives of both the candidate and his running mate."
More from Spencer:
Let’s take a look at some of the reasoning going on in the Obama camp and why little of it holds water.
1. Biden has foreign-policy experience: Well, yes, but he also voted for the Iraq war and often times tries to appear more hawkish than McCain in international affairs. I haven’t checked yet, but I’m sure the DailyKos, “netroots” types are really ticked off by the pick, and Obama will have squelched some of that “Let’s change the world!” enthusiasm in his movement-like base.
2. Biden is Catholic and culturally conservative, sort of: The Biden selection was, at some level, an attempt to win over those “bitter” Hillary Democrats in the small-town Midwest—Biden’s from a homely little state (where the Hell is Delaware anything?) and might seem like a “normal” churchgoing type. The problem is Hillary only began to seem like a conservative populist this spring because she was running against Barack Obama. But when those Hillarycrats from Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania go to the polls in November, Obama—and not this “average Joe”—will be at the top of the ticket. Moreover, traditionalist Catholics won’t pull the lever for anyone who’s pro-abortion.
3. Biden looks presidential: Perhaps this 35-year veteran of the Senate has elder statesman status in the DNC; however, Joe Biden is ultimately an obnoxious, arrogant loudmouth, who before the campaign is up will have made some absurd exaggeration or attempted some stupid tough guy posturing that will have harmed Obama’s chances.
What’s perhaps most remarkable about the pick is that Obama is taking on Hillary’s negatives—“voted for the war,” “ultimate Washington insider”—without gaining any of her positives—namely, those devoted Hillary women who still might not vote for Barack. Ralph Nader was right, if Obama really wants to win, he should have swallowed his pride and given the lady a call.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Saturday, August 23, 2008 
