It's 3:20 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning: At 3:10 a.m. Stephanie got the cell phone text message: Obama has picked Senator Biden to be his running mate and they will appear together at a rally in Springfield IL (where Stephanie and I have been to the Lincoln musuem and library). I may watch this from Jeffersonville, IN, where a new Obama HQ will open at 2 p.m. today.
-- Perry
2 comments:
Unfortunately, I really do think this disturbs Obama's change narrative - since Biden has been in the Senate since before Stephanie was born. It's a direct response (and almost obviously so - enough that it's almost conceding the point) to Senator Clinton's phone call at 3 a.m. ad (whose theme the Republicans have been hammering at). Some voters might understandably think - see, even Obama agrees that Obama is not entirely ready to lead. Rather than a peer, Obama has gone for generational/experience balance. Perhaps - after 9/11 - the pressure is more on Obama than it was on Clinton to pick someone with experience (though in 1992 Gore - though young - already had experience in Senate foreign affairs and was considered an expert and weapons control). At least Clinton supporters will not be able to say that Obama picked someone with much less experience than Senator Clinton to be his running mate. Biden - though perhaps from PA and with working-class roots- is no Southern moderate. I'm wondering how this is going to play in Southern IN for example, where Congressman Hill has to run for reelection with Obama - whom he endorsed two weeks before the IN primary - at the top of the ticket - or for Allen Boyd, running for reelection in North Florida with Obama at the top of the ticket (not to mention in KY - where Obama will got beaten badly - except his candidacy will elevate African American turnout in parts of Jefferson County - which should aid Congressman Yarmouth (but Obama won't help KY's other Democratic Congressman, Ben Chandler - both Chandler and Tarmouth endorsed Obama - Yarmouth very early; Chandler before the IN (and therefore KY) primary).
It's also hard to know how the Biden selection is going to play real well with two groups Obama has been trying to cultivate: young people and political independents. Presumably independents would have liked a Republican, a moderate, or even a non-politician on the ticket, and presumably young people would like - well, a younger person. Perhaps I'm not giving folks in these categories enough credit - and young people and independents (who overlap somewhat) may also have national security/experience concerns - in which case the Biden selection could help. Still, I'm not sure how this is going to help Obama win Georgia or North Carolina or West Virginia or Indiana or help him turn out younger voters in Bloomington or South Bend or Charlottesville or Athens or Atlanta or Research Triangle.
Post a Comment