http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080823/D92NT5P80.html Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence Email this Story Aug 23, 5:02 AM (ET) By RON FOURNIER DENVER (AP) - The candidate of change went with the status quo. In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness - inexperience in office and on foreign policy - rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions. He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate - the ultimate insider - rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list. The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden selection is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative - a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image. Democratic strategists, fretting over polls that showed McCain erasing Obama's lead this summer, welcomed the move. They, too, worried that Obama needed a more conventional - read: tougher - approach to McCain. "You've got to hand it to the candidate and the campaign. They have a great sense of timing and tone and appropriateness. Six months ago, people said he wasn't tough enough on Hillary Clinton - he was being too passive - but he got it right at the right time," said Democratic strategist Jim Jordan. "He'll get it right again." Indeed, Obama has begun to aggressively counter McCain's criticism with negative television ads and sharp retorts from the campaign trail. A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a "reverence" inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing - even eager - to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House. Biden brings a lot to the table. An expert on national security, the Delaware senator voted in 2002 to authorize military intervention in Iraq but has since become a vocal critic of the conflict. He won praise for a plan for peace in Iraq that would divide the country along ethnic lines. Chief sponsor of a sweeping anti-crime bill that passed in 1994, Biden could help inoculate Obama from GOP criticism that he's soft on crime - a charge his campaign fears will drive a wedge between white voters and the first black candidate with a serious shot at the White House. So the question is whether Biden's depth counters Obama's inexperience - or highlights it? After all, Biden is anything but a change agent, having been in office longer than half of all Americans have been alive. Longer than McCain. And he talks too much. On the same day he announced his second bid for the presidency, Biden found himself explaining why he had described Obama as "clean." And there's the 2007 ABC interview in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president. It seems Obama is worried that some voters are starting to agree. ---_ EDITOR'S NOTE: Ron Fournier has covered national politics for The Associated Press for nearly 20 years
I don't think it really shows a lack of confidence as much as it shows the appeal of his message, and how much it has caught on. Obama gained popularity and got the nomination by promising to bring change to the way Washington works. There were many who disagreed with him, and he had to work hard to get where he is now. Don't forget that unity has been a big part of his message. Joe Biden was one of his harshest critics from within the Democratic Party before/during the primaries. The fact that he has now chosen one of the longest serving and most reputable Democratic senators as his running mate shows that Obama has already made an impact on Washington. Part of the core of the establishment has admitted that he actually has the best ideas for our country, and they want to help make them happen. Yes, Biden also fills in a few of Obama's weak spots and balances the ticket out, but he would have a very hard time running with someone like Kaine or Sebelius. And even though Biden has been a senator for 36 years, he's still a bit of an outsider. He has never lived in Washington, and he's actually one of the least wealthy members of Congress. The more I think about it, the more he seems like the perfect choice. Evan Bayh would have been good also.
I agree, it shows that he's willing to compromise his values in order to get what he wants. Ultimately Obama is selling his soul for the presidency, and he will win.
And if he had picked someone less experienced, you'd be saying that he was making a big mistake by not picking a VP candidate who balanced his weaknesses. It shows wisdom and, well, experience, to pick someone who can help you make well informed decisions no matter how seasoned you are. Don't you think so? Can't you guys offer up anything more than regurgitated, right leaning buzz articles?
Joe Biden was the main sponsor of the RAVE Act and had it passed as an amendment to the AMBER Alert bill. Fuck Biden.
Where the fuck did I say that? Do you know anything about the RAVE act? I could care less about ecstasy, it's the crews getting shutdown because they are being held responsible that I care about. Raves aren't like fucking concerts you go to. If they get fined a large amount it's very hard for them to survive. It's bullshit that someone who brings out an artists for people who actually enjoy music goes bankrupt because one idiot sold a bunch of pills to an undercover cop. http://www.drugpolicy.org/communities/raveact/
i fuckin love goin to raves, i personal belive that raves are more fun then concerts the reason why?? is that ure meetin soo many new people and of course CHICKS!!!!! omg, chicks are soo hot at the raves and OMG!! dam politics!!! i hate em destoryin the fun and freedom bastards
You cited a bill that was harsh on rave drug use as your reasoning for hating Obama, and provided no further explanation. That is why I took it the way I did. And how do you know what kind of concerts I go to and what kind of music I like. Clubs can easily regulate (or conceal) the activities that take place on their property. That's why some clubs are always getting in to trouble with the police, and others stay clean and open for years. People get busted when they behave stupidly, and this includes allowing stupid behavior to take place on your property. To say that the RAVE act is keeping underground music in the dark is just silly. Jazz, the blues, and rock n roll resistance from the government was due more to out and out racism than the drug use associated with the culture. What about clubs that get shut down because minors drink on their property (provided by the club or brought in from the outside)? There are all kinds of issues like this, sometimes you have to deal with little things in appreciation of a bigger picture. Note that I don't agree with the act. I just recognize it is a non-issue compared with other issues in today's political landscape.
Republican: "Barack Obama lacks experience" *Obama picks Biden* Republican: "Biden pick shows lack of confidence!" Where is the logic in that? Seriously.
i was referring to your whole post, not just that one part. When you basically said that first they say he has no exp, then he gets someone with exp and now it shows a lack of confidence. Maybe propaganda was the wrong word, more like making up excuses to try and make obama look bad i guess. I think Biden was the perfect pick for obama and not a lack of confidence at all. I also beleive a first term senator that spent 2 of those years campaigning for the presidency shows a lack of experience.
I agree that Obama is less experienced than Mccain. But I don't think it counts for much. You want a person who can respond to new and changing scenarios with wisdom, not just stick with the same tactics that got us in to this mess to begin with.