Obama VP thoughts
August 19th, 2008With less than a week before the start of the Democratic Convention, Obama’s running out of time to select his running mate.
The popular wisdom has narrowed the field to Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.
I tend to like Biden in this. Though Kaine and Bayh both performed well during Sunday’s talk shows and made strong cases for Obama, and though both help broaden Obama’s appeal, I think Biden adds what Barack’s campaign needs most: an attack dog.
The weaknesses of Biden is that he’s part of the establishment, he voted for the Iraq war (though he’s admitted it was a mistake) and that by choosing someone with such a formidable resume, it could call attention to Obama’s thin resume.
Kaine’s a solid second choice but as a pro-choice Catholic new to the national stage, it’d be easy for some bishop somewhere to threaten excommunication and it would be the only subject for weeks. I don’t think the Obama ticket needs any more faith-based problems. Biden is also a pro-choice Catholic but his long record of other accomplishments ad gaffes will water down an single-issue criticism. (The challenges facing pro-choice Democratic Catholic candidates was one of the more interesting bits of Robert Shrum’s book No Excuses.)
Bayh is simply the safest choice. He’s what the Al Gore choice was for Bill Clinton - simple, safe and not at all controversial. That he was a supporter of Hillary Clinton doesn’t hurt but it will fuel the overblown arguments that there’s still some kind of substantial rift between the Clinton camps and Obama. There may be a rift between the Clinton and Obama but the camps are doing fine.
I would personally like to see Anti-Iraq-War, Vietnam veteran and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as the choice. But sadly, I don’t think it will happen.
What do you think?
– Steve
Stumble it!
August 19th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
What about Wesley Clark? He has a distinguished military background and is an attack dog in his own right. While people may try to dig up some of the generals that he angered over the years by his actions, people can’t question his service or his leadership credentials.
August 19th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Sadly, General Clark has been persona non grata with the Obama campaign since he got blunt about Senator McCain’s campaign invoking his POW history a little too freely. Which is entirely a shame, as I agree that Clark would’ve been a great choice. (Then again, I voted for him in the 04 primaries. In the state that he carried.)
August 20th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I was very pleased to see Sen. Hagel stand up for Obama against the McCain attack machine. However, as a vp choice there are problems. He supports bringing our troops home from Iraq soon, but his voting record on other issues is decidely more conservative than many Democrats (and also many independents) will be comfortable with. I like Biden’s cred on foreign policy, and he certainly is high on the intellect scale, but sadly, Biden is also an easy mark for the simplistic “elitist” label. Rove and co are already working overtime to tag Obama with this and as BS as it might be, it seems that many voters are just not seeing past the label. I agree with Jon Stewart that it’s about time we had a president (and vp) who is smarter than most of us…but not everyone else does.
I did find it interesting that a supposed weakness of Bayh is his wife’s ties to business interests. Ah ok…so Phil Gramm can be tied to the crooks in the mortgage industry and his wife can be all chummy with Enrons list of shame…but it’s McCain after all…he’s a “maverick” and a “straight shooter”…never mind the bunch he surrounds himself with.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
The decision is a tough one and Obama knows it. How can he please his party while not handing more Independents or Hillary die hards over to the McCain camp? I don’t even want to get started on why the Hillary die-hards threaten to vote for McCain and sabotage an election because their pick didn’t get the nod. Anyway, I hope that he can find a good Veep that serves to fill the ‘me too’ roll of change (what Gore was to Bill). Since McCain can’t actually put together any ideas, come debates time the Obama ticket will do well since they have some substance. I can’t wait to see who Obama has in mind for his VP. The veeps this time around could make or break this election for the candidates. Sad but true.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Any of the choices you listed would be acceptable politically. I take exception to someone calling him/herself a “Pro-Choice Catholic”, however. One either tries to follow Church teaching, or one does not, so lapsed Catholic is a more accurate description.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
“by choosing someone with such a formidable resume, it could call attention to Obama’s thin resume” — but see Kennedy and Johnson.
That said, whenever I see the name “Biden” I think “bankruptcy bill” and my vision goes red. Choose Biden and forget about economic populism.