Barack Obama's Selection of Joe Biden: What Effect Will it Have on Election 2008?

After days and weeks of rumors and speculation, Barack Obama finally revealed his running mate in the early hours of Aug. 23. Obama wasn't stalling, he was just "Biden" his time.

At first glance Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden didn't make a lot of sense. The first thing I thought upon seeing Biden's selection online, no, I wasn't one of the chosen few who received the text message, was: huh? The thoughts that sprang immediately to mind were the plagiarism "scandal" that sunk Joe Biden's Presidential candidacy in 1988 and Biden's comments earlier this year in which the Senator from Delaware called Barack Obama "fresh and clean".

Glad you cleared that up, Joe. Since Obama's initials are "B.O.", the GOP attack dogs might have swift-boated Mr. Obama as having bad personal hygiene in between reminding voters 11,817,742 times that the first minority nominee for Prez on one of the major party labels had the middle name of "Hussein". Just change the swift boat to the Old Spice ship and claim Barack Obama threw his deodorant over the White fence back in the 70's. Disgraceful! Then blame the revelation on the Clintons, that's the ticket!

Nobody in the GOP could possibly slip and call Barack "Osama" could they? Surely not. It couldn't have possibly been Republicans who fostered the notion that Barack Obama was a muslim and took his oath of office on the Koran could it? If you believe that, I have some beachfront property in Arkansas to sell on craigslist. That's craiigslist the website, not Craig's list as in Sen. Larry Craig's little black book. It will be interesting to see if Sen. Craig, who's NOT GAY (wink), will return to the scene of his crime, the Minneapolis airport mensroom, when the GOP convention meets the week after next. But back to Joe Biden.

Joe Biden has roots in Pennsylvania, which I did not know before his name was announced as Obama's running mate. Scranton, PA, to be exact. With Pennsylvania being one of the "battleground" states in this fall's election, and Obama's struggles there in the primaries, this selection makes sense on another level besides Biden's foreign policy experience and age. Delaware is close to Philadelphia, to boot. Joe Biden is one of the least affluent members of the U.S. Senate, thus hard to paint as an "out of touch" eastern elitist. I'm guessing Joe Biden even knows how many homes he owns, unlike John McCain. One of the things pun-idiots like to talk about is: can the VP selection make a difference in any swing states? Can he deliver any states that would otherwise go into the red column? My first impression was that Biden could not, but Pennsylvania, Ohio and a few others are possibilities with this selection.

While Joe Biden may not be an inspired choice, he does shore up some of Barack Obama's perceived shortcomings, which I don't think John Edwards, he of the $400 haircuts, did for John Kerry in 2004. One thing I agree with John Edwards on is that there are two Americas, but unfortunately for Edwards, he is finished politically in both of them due to his recent foibles. Also, in the 2nd America, the one with drugs, gangs, and grinding poverty, $400 haircuts and his metro-sexual image are not looked upon favorably. Not that long ago, Edwards was being painted as a homosexual by the hard right, like the Matchbox 20 song, see how far we've come...

The next question is: who will John McCain pick as his running mate to counter Joe Biden? My guess, and it's just a guess, is Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. He is young to John McCain's old, flipping the democratic dynamic duo upside down. Pawlenty is from a normally blue state, so if polls in Minnesota show that the Governor could make a difference in November, who knows? I thought Obama would pick Gov. Evan Bayh of Indiana, so don't etch that in stone. That could be how John McCain learned to write by the way, on stone tablets, not that he's old or anything.

With Joe Biden's combover hairstyle, I believe he had a hair transplant years ago, the price of his haircuts should not become an issue ala John Edwards. What could become an issue is Biden's tendency to shoot from the lip. Joe Biden sometimes makes "gaffes" on the campaign trail and the plagiarism thing will surely come up again, but he is a spirited debater and his GOP counterpart will probably need to hold his own in that department. Biden is not one to be bullied as John Edwards got his nose somewhat bloodied by Dick Cheney four years ago.

The McCain camp seemed to be thoroughly prepared for Joe Biden's selection as there were GOP ads using Biden's words to attack Barack Obama almost as quickly as the selection was announced. McCain, according to CNN, called Biden to congratulate his friend and Senate colleague within hours of the announcement. The same John McCain who reportedly recieved an offer to join John Kerry on the Democratic ticket in 2004.

For this, my 200th article on this site, I chose to write about this choice as it will have some impact on the Presidential election, no matter what some say. Many scoff at the VP selections, but in what figures to be a close election, just one state could be the difference. Just ask Al Gore. Thus a few thousand, or even a few dozen votes, could swing the election.

With Joe Biden's working class Catholic credentials, he could connect with another group that Obama has struggled to attract. The strategy is shaping for the stretch run from Labor Day to Nov. 4, Hopefully, the campaign will be about issues affecting millions of Americans rather than the usual mud-slinging that has marked the last several Presidential elections. I doubt it, but we can hope. Yes, we can.