It Appears It's Biden: An Uninspired But Decent Choice

Unless the news sweeping the networks of all kinds now is a trial balloon or a monumentally clever diversion, it appears that Delaware Sen. Joe Biden is Barack Obama's choice as his running mate in the upcoming presidential election.

Biden's been getting the lion's share of the speculative attention. He's got great foreign policy chops and he's an outspoken guy so he'll do a good job of hounding Bush III (aka John McCain). Not that that's going to be a particularly hard job against a GOP ticket with a combined net worth upwards of $300 million and an unknown number of houses and mansions. Even some of the "Reagan Democrats" won't be able to choke that one down.

I think the choice is uninspired. I'm a little disappointed but not overly so. It's not that I don't think Biden won't be a good VP; he will. It's just that he's a symbol of politics as usual and Obama has campaigned hard against that entrenchment. I think selling a change-based campaign just got a little tougher.

On the other hand, I think Obama's right in one respect: Biden is the kind of guy who's not going to be a lap dog as VP. He'll challenge Obama's thinking and his naivete on the Beltway scene where Biden's been a fixture for decades.