Saturday, August 23, 2008

Obama's Pick of Biden as Running Mate

For some reason I had a hunch that it would be Biden. Maybe it's just that media discussion of Biden has seemed stronger and more consistent than other choices lately.



I find the Biden pick pretty strange. On the "soft qualities" side of the coin (by which I mean everything other than their policy positions, which are largely similar between the two) they are total opposites. Biden is an old white dude with significant experience on the national stage who seems to be able to relate to the working class. If anything, I think the pick just highlights Obama's inexperience and appearance of being an out of touch elitist.

3 comments:

Straadin said...

I'm actual happy that Obama picked someone that has criticized him in the past. It signals that he won't shun/stifle people for disagreeing with him or criticizing him.

kazoolist said...

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment that Obama deals well with criticism:

a.) He notably did not pick Clinton, his strongest Democratic challenger/critic, as his running mate.

b.) In March he walked out in the middle of a press conference after growing tired of critical questions from reporters.

c.) Within the last seven days, Obama's tried to invoke the powers of the Department of Justice to muffle a man from running critical TV ads.

d.) Obama has indicated he finds criticism of his wife "infuriating", despite that this criticism only comes because he's projected her into a prominent role in his campaign.

e.) He's further avoiding criticism by refusing to engage in town hall debates with McCain.

kazoolist said...

Follow up note: More on Obama's response to criticism can be found on NRO in Dealing with Dissent, the Chicago Way.