Biden is an acceptable Choice
by tdaxp ~ August 24th, 2008
I agree with Tom completely on Biden:
No harm done (Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog)
Biden will be a good campaigner and brings a lot of nice foreign policy credentials. Plus he’s very establishment-looking, so Obama’s riskiness factor is somewhat addressed.Difference maker?
Better said: no harm done.
I made a similar point (if with someone more pointed verbage) a while ago:
Barack Obama is the candidate of the Establishment, “Dr. No-Change,” who will flip and flop with the views of the Establishment of the government and the Democratic Party. This might be a good thing. Having a smart, intelligent, and ambitiousness President would lead to changes, some of which may be harmful. As it is, Obama’s plan to coast on our greatness isn’t half bad.
Obama’s selection of Joe Biden, one of the top Democratic establishment politicians with regards to foreign policy, is good news. It effectively repudiates most of his rhetoric during the campaign, and instead promises an administration which is right out of the cookie-cutter left-of-center mold.
Neither liberal nor conservative, an Obama administration would bring a Brookings Institution nirvana of foreign policy. That is not half bad.
[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2 008/06/19/the-foreign-polic...
August 24th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
The Iranians will be skeared of Biden’s wife…
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=com.ubuntu%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=j2i&q=biden+wife+iran+davos+leather&btnG=Search
August 24th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Though I am not sure on your reasoning, we seem to both have gotten what we wanted out of Obama’s pick. To be perfectly honest with you, I kind of wanted Biden as the Democratic nominee.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I think Biden strengthens the democratic base, because of his strong credentials and experience in the senate. not to mention now barack has someone to do the dirty mud slinging for him….not too bad of an idea
August 25th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Biden’s Foreign Policy credentials are overrated.
The leftists who now run the dem party will be fine with whatever he says because he is one them. I don’t think Biden helps with centrists or undecideds. Biden is a career politician - he knows nothing else. So much more change, eh?
The guy has a big mouth - let’s see what crap flies out of between now and the election.
You can say this though, he is a better choice then Richardson would have been.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Obama needed to check the grey-haired-white-guy box, to make the ticket look normal to the millions of Americans who will, reasonably enough, find Obama to be an exotic offering. This was a tactically safe play that puts up no points. But since he is ahead, he just needs to eat up the clock.
August 29th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Obama ticked the grey-haired-white-guy box, McCain checked the vpilf box. Everything you said [1] in your post (underdogs need high-risk strategies, etc) is right. “Taking like a hick,” and your analysis of it, puts Half-Sigma “prole” remark [2] in perspective
And of course:
Ever since Obama stabbed Webb in the back [3], I’ve been depressed about the lack of prospect for a seriously attractive national figure (Hong Le Webb is a knock-out). Fortunately, McCain turned this around.
[1] http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/6119.html
[2] http://www.halfsigma.com/2008/08/sarah-palin-the-next-harriet-miers.html
[3] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/06/20/the-economist-and-barack-obama-attack-jim-webb.html
September 8th, 2008 at 5:31 am
[...] Biden is an acceptable Choice [...]