Freshman Senator Barack Obama has named Senator Joe Biden as his running mate for the 2008 Presidential Election. This is assuming, of course, that Obama gets the nomination of his party during their convention this week in Denver:
Turns out Democratic primary loser Hillary Rodham Clinton will get time to shine at the party’s national convention after all — and quite a bit of it. Democrats officially will choose Barack Obama to run against Republican John McCain this fall.
But in an emblematic move meant to heal divisive primary wounds, the vanquished Clinton name also will be placed in nomination alongside his during the traditional state-by-state delegation roll call vote at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
And, she gets her own plum speaking slot.
So does her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Now, I don’t think that there is any chance in hell that Hillary is going to unseat Obama as the party’s nominee. However, this certainly portrays the Democrat Party as less united behind their Messiah as they have portrayed themselves. I mean, other than showcasing the fact that Hillary had nearly 50% of the Democrat vote during the primaries, what does this do? Not much by itself, but add it to this:
The campaign of Republican rival John McCain wasted no time, immediately producing an ad featuring Biden’s previous praise for McCain and comments critical of Obama from an ABC News interview last year. Biden had said he stood by an earlier statement that Obama wasn’t yet ready to be president and “the presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”
“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,” McCain campaign spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement. “Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be president.”
In addition to the comments above, Biden also said this:
“I would be honored to run with or against John McCain because the country would be better off.”
So, when you add all of these things together, what do you get? You get a picture of a political party which is:
- Trying to please (or appease) party leaders who didn’t get the nomination.
- Nominating someone for President with very little executive, economic, or foreign policy experience.
- Nominating someone for Vice President who stands by his statement that the Presidential candidate is “not ready” to be President, and that said the country would be better off if he were running with or against the other party’s nominee.
Does this sound very united to you?
I have never been a McCain supporter during this election. I feel most of his views are not only not conservative, but could very easily been seen as liberal. Even if McCain chooses a very conservative running mate, and this is a big if, I’m still not sure that I could come out and support him. However, chances are I will vote for him, if for no other reason than to keep Obama-Biden out of the White House.
Watch the Democrat convention this week and look for the signs of division and anger; they shouldn’t be hard to spot despite the press’ almost religious worship of all things Obama. This will give you all you need to realize that Obama’s election isn’t as inevitable as the Democrats would like you to believe.
