So it's an Obama-Biden ticket....

Well, it's official - Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware as his running mate. That wouldn't necessarily have been my first choice, but then, one has to consider the Republican attack machine ready to pounce on Obama's weakness in foreign policy at a time when there are wars going on in Georgia, Iraq and Afghanistan. So I suppose it should come as no real surprise that someone was chosen who comes with a great deal of depth in foreign policy experience to bolster Obama's perceived weaknesses in that arena. I just hope that Biden doesn't turn out to be too much of a liability to this ticket - after all, he's unsucessfully run for President several times himself, so those failed bids could really play against his chances of winning over voters who rejected him in favor of other candidates during his Presidential races. Add to that the fact that he's Catholic and it could possibly alienate some pro-choicers who would fear his sticking too rigidly to Catholic anti-choice dogma. After all, during John Kerry's failed Presidential bid, the whole abortion issue came to a head because of Kerry's Catholicism and there was a buzz about his being pro-choice despite his religion being staunchly anti-choice. So it remains to be seen whether this choice will sink Obama's chances or enhance them. It's too bad that John Edwards got caught with his pants down like so many other politicians have. An Obama-Edwards ticket was what so many of us had hoped for in the beginning of this whole process, but alas, yet another politician who felt invincible had to go commit an act of unfaithfulness against his cancer stricken wife and got caught having an affair and quite possibly fathering an illegitmate child on top of it all. Right there, I lost a lot of respect for someone who I had long admired for never forgetting where he came from.

I realize that the reason that Biden was chosen was his depth of knowledge and experience in foreign policy and that he's being used to blunt the Republican attack machine, that will no doubt go after Obama's rather lightweight record in foreign policy at a time when there are wars in Georgia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, I can't help but wonder if this selection will do for Obama what he hopes, and that is to guide him to victory in November. With wars raging around the world, two of which we are involved in, I can't help but worry that people will look to McCain to guide this country forward in a time of war instead of a relative political lightweight like Obama, whose thin resumé may turn out to hurt him in the long run. Even with the addition of Biden to the ticket, I don't know as this selection will necessarily be of great help to it. I also worry that someone of Biden's long time in Washington will have a difficult time in standing behind and deferring to someone as junior as Obama. I just hope that he doesn't hog the stage during campaign stops as he has a reputation for long windedness as well. He could well upstage his junior partner on the ticket and have a hard time playing the second banana to superstar Obama. Biden is also perceived as somewhat white bread and bland, and not terribly inspiring like Obama, so that could also prove to be a little problematic. Still, I do wonder whether America is ready to elect a black man with a funny name despite a white Catholic Vice-Presidential choice. My thinking is that Americans have shown a disturbing propensity toward voting against their own economic self interests and that despite a deteriorating infrastructure, failing schools, a burgeoning budget deficit, a weak dollar, a disappearing manufacturing base, a broken health care system, skyrocketing fuel prices, unaffordable higher education and other "kitchen table" issues, that somehow, Americans fill find a way to once again vote for the party that has long favored corporations and the wealthy instead of the party that could make their lives better in the long run. But only time will tell whether Americans are poised for real change or for just more of the same.