So, Joe Biden then...

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Who is this guy who's one election and one bullet away from running the free world?

A cursory glance at his biography suggests he's considerably older than my Dad, and he's one of those archetypal left-wing politicians who went straight from law school to politics (think Tony Blair). He also seems to have come through some awful personal bereavement early in his career. Any American political followers have any deeper knowledge or opinion of him?

[ursus arctos]

So, Joe Biden then...

A safe, rather than inspiring, choice from Obama.

I'm not even sure that Biden would qualify as "left wing" by US standards, he certainly wouldn't meet any OTF definition. Having run unsuccessfully for president a couple of times (his primary failing being a near complete lack of charisma), he has successfully remade himself as the "wise man" of the Democratic party on foreign policy matters. All of which tends to explain why Obama picked him (you will get sick of the terms "experience" and "gravitas"). It is, however, worth pointing out that Biden (unlike Obama) voted to authorise the war in Iraq, though he realised his gross mistake rather quicker than Senator Clinton did.

I doubt he will win Obama many votes, but he won't lose any, either.

[tee rex]

So, Joe Biden then...

Famous for plagiarising Neil Kinnock. Er, that's all I've got.

[anton pulisov]

So, Joe Biden then...

Looks like the Democratic Dick Cheney.

[ursus arctos]

So, Joe Biden then...

Minus the impeachable offenses, war crimes, fealty to the oil industry and experience in the executive branch . . .

[Ginger Yellow]

So, Joe Biden then...

Pretty much what ursus said, although I'd dispute the not likely to win many votes thing. He won't in a "Wow, Biden? I've got to vote Dem now" way. But his most notable characteristic (apart from a love of his own voice) is that he's willing to aggressively attack the Republican party on TV, which for some reason is rare among Democrats. And it's pretty much exactly what Obama's campaign needs. And he could in theory neutralise the experience attacks in the way Cheney and co did for Bush, although the media always apply different rules for Democrats. I'm a lot happier about him than most of the other names that were apparently on the shortlist, although I had been coming around to Clinton again.

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

Ursus, he may not have charisma but he undeniably has "charisma."

He called in strong terms for more of a debate about going to war with Iraq. Voted for authorization anyway. He's not a terrible VP pick in and of himself but I feel Obama just increased McCain's chances of winning. Biden is pretty great if you already basically agree with him and pretty offputting if you don't. I enjoy listening to him spar myself, he's a pretty smart guy with some effective rhetoric. His famous gaffes tend to be of the only human variety, but of course the tolerance for actual humanity in an American election is about nil.

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

And surely Obama's decision not to vet Clinton was a mistake.

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

This may be as good a time as any to intone our American Prayer and maybe try imagining how Joe Biden's puss could be worked into such a (terrible, sickeningly myopically self-congratulatory) montage. (And notice how one of the singing ladies is wearing a Black Sabbath shirt. wtf?)

[Incandenza]

So, Joe Biden then...

Biden was pretty horrible (admittedly, not alone among his peers) to Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings, wasn't he?

[ursus arctos]

So, Joe Biden then...

I imagine we will be hearing a bit about that in the coming days.

He was far from alone, but he was also the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time.

[Guest]

So, Joe Biden then...

All I know about this guy is that he was disgustingly supine to the Republicans in the years after September 11.

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

FWIW Biden was Rush Limbaugh's fervent hope for the pick. I just checked and Fox & Friends this a.m. are already well into a Biden gaffe field day.

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

Hieronymus of Hesselink wrote:

All I know about this guy is that he was disgustingly supine to the Republicans in the years after September 11.

If you can accept that such things are relative, Biden was less supine than many as I recall it, rhetorically anyway.

[ursus arctos]

So, Joe Biden then...

Including Senator Clinton.

[Guest]

So, Joe Biden then...

Weird, I remember reading loads of articles at the time that mentioned Biden in passing and how eagerly he was bending over backwards to accommodate the Republicans. In particular, Joe Conason and Eric Alterman used to kick the shit out of him every second week or so.

[ursus arctos]

So, Joe Biden then...

As Bruno said, there were lots of asses to kick . . .

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

Be that as it may, the important things are that Biden a) authorized the war and b) once described Obama as refreshingly clean and articulate and black, with some ambiguity as to whether the first two adjectives were intended as modifiers of the last.

[linus]

So, Joe Biden then...

I don't get this pick. All this for this? Why not at least get someone who will help him win Ohio or another strategic state?

[ursus arctos]

So, Joe Biden then...

Care to suggest such a person? I don't believe one exists.

[Anton Gramscescu]

So, Joe Biden then...

Johnny Bench? Joe Morgan?

[Bruno]

So, Joe Biden then...

LeBron?

[Incandenza]

So, Joe Biden then...

You're both way off.

[Gyuri]

So, Joe Biden then...

I'm not inspired by the pick, although this is partially for idiosyncratic personal reasons. Right after the infamous Biden plagiarism incident, I noticed that my grandmother had a tendency to make an authoritative pronouncement immediately after someone else made exactly the same point. . .my family would call her Joe Biden whenever she did this, and he has been a family joke ever since. Also, when I interned in the Senate after my freshman year at university, I would regularly see him and his then fresh and ridiculous hair implants, which didn't really increase my esteem for him.

That being said, I've come around to thinking he is probably the best of a weak crop of VP possibilities (though Clinton would have more potential upside, she would have a much higher downside and create a possible nightmare scenario when/if governing).

I don't believe that VP picks help much with picking up states in the post-political machine era, so am not worried about that aspect. On his foreign policy views, while he did vote for the Iraq war, and was quite amenable to various Bush idiocies in the early post-9/11 days, he only just trailed the public on turning against the war and the worst excesses of the Bush administration (and by just trailing the public, he was several steps ahead of the rest of the Dem leadership).

Further, I'm not sure that the Obama campaign could have succeeded with a relative unknown (Sebelius, Kaine) or with a Dan Quayle-alike (Bayh). Obama was the first successful presidential candidate since 1992 that I actually liked (as opposed to tolerated as the lesser of numerous evils), so I think it would be too much for me to ask that the VP pick satisfy that test as well.

[Incandenza]

So, Joe Biden then...

Since Obama was kind of AWOL during the Georgia thing and let McCain steal the spotlight and reinforce his supposed foreign policy know-how--no matter how wrong he is about everything--I think this is a good pick.