Tim Dunlop

Monday, August 25

On the surface, Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate strikes me as pretty uninspired. It’s hard to imagine that it wins him an extra vote come November, though I think that sometimes the ability of a running mate to do that for any candidate is overstated. Biden’s obvious strengths as a politician—his foreign policy knowledge, his experience in DC—serves to plug some holes in Obama’s resume, in the same way Dick Cheney did for George W. Bush, but in so doing, they also draw attention to those holes. In particular, Biden’s inside-the-Beltway credentials as a long-serving Senator seems a funny trait for a candidate running on the promise of change from business-as-usual Washington politics to value. It’s one thing to try and bust out of that mould of being a captive of “Washington interests”; it’s another to acknowledge via your YP choice that, in fact, some ability to work within that system is a good thing.

Not that I think Biden is a bad choice per se; in fact, I don’t really think there is anyone better from the list of those whose names cropped up over the last few months. I certainly don’t think Hillary was ever a serious option. He is a fairly personable guy, even if he, rightly, has a reputation for talking to much. He is a regular on US political programs and has developed a solid presence in that medium, a bit of go-to guy for the cable shows looking for an articulate criticism of Bush policy. And I guess, Obama, again like Bush, was wise to pick someone who looks like a safe choice in fulfilling in the only main constitutional role a VP has: to step into the breach in the event a President dies in office. Still, I’m pretty much a half-glass-empty empty person on the matter.

Conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan offers the glass-half-full version:

I’d say it suggests a serious, adult attitude toward the enormous burden that the next presidency will be, especially in foreign policy.

We’ve learned how disastrous a vice-president can be, in the current administration. No vice-president in American history has done as much damage to national security, constitutional integrity and the moral standing of the United States as Dick Cheney. Biden has aspects of the Cheney pick - he’s older, more seasoned and more adept at foreign policy than Obama. But no one imagines that Obama would delegate - and all but abdicate - critical decisions to Biden the way Bush has to Cheney.

Nonetheless, it seems obvious that Biden speaks his mind frankly, and would have real heft and independence in the office. He knows enough that foreign leaders call him in international crises. That reassures me, as we face some grim days in the coming years in the war on terror.

This strikes me, in other words, as a pick for a candidate who is already very serious about governing - and making calls that forgo a campaign buzz for the sake of the country if he wins. Putting country first, you might say. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

Anyway, onto the conventions, McCain’s choice, and—finally!—the home stretch for this longest of long campaigns.