Descend into the Maelstrom

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."  - Senator Joe Biden (D-Hatchetville)

Politics begets strange bedfellows.  Obama’s candidate for VP was announced last night: Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.  There were many who thought Obama would end up choosing an old salt of Washington to be his running mate, and this seemed feasible to me.  But, as with all of the other candidates on the short list du jour, which included Tim Kaine, Evan Bayh, Kathleen Sebelius, and some guy named (Chet) Edwards, I could not muster any excitement over the prospect of Joe Biden as the running-mate.  It is a damning statement about the Democratic party today, that few within its ranks outside Barack Obama can generate true national excitement. 

But that’s the point.  Obama has generated so much excitement that the new Republican swift-boat narrative has emerged: he’s too exciting, too much of a celebrity.  McCain and Co. have successfully used this strength as an entry point for their attack, turning it into the Achilles Heal.  The  Obama campaign is certainly not lacking for excitement.  I would say the biggest weakness of Obama, and the Democratic party, has been an inability to play offense well.  It’s one thing to attack, but attacking effectively is a completely different matter.  Your swings have to hit. 

Why is Biden where he is?  Not to shore up the ticket’s Washington experience, foreign policy credentials, or to reassure older white people from Biden’s generation. He’s on board specifically to play hardball.  When Biden attacked Obama, Obama wiped the blood off his nose, and liked the taste.  Joe Biden brings something to the table that many of the other prominent Democrats could not: a particularly feisty brand of attack-dog politics, one that even ventures into the realms of (*gasp*) political incorrectness, colloquialisms, f-bombs, and public lashings of other government officials both in America and abroad.  If he stays true to his track record, Biden could be very useful to the Obama campaign.  He could be the hatchet-man deputy that would allow Obama to stay above the fray and free to practice the "new kind of politics" he talks about, while his boy with 30 years of Washington experience does the dirty work down in the trenches.  Make no mistake, Biden would enjoy this role immensely too.

The implications for the campaign are clear.  Biden will go after both McCain and McCain’s own running mate like a lusty pit-bull, while Obama can stay magnanimous and praise McCain’s service to America.  Biden will be difficult to defeat in a debate.  Plus, Biden will surely out-maneuver McCain’s running-mate on foreign policy, be it the Russia-Georgia war, Iran, or Iraq, as the Republican field is filled with foreign-policy dunces and chicken-hawks who have have brought us into the national-security wasteland we are in today. 

Biden is ambitious, as we know he wanted to be president for at least the last 20 years.  There is no doubt in my mind that he will run his own little fiefdom during the campaign, and Obama will let him loose to do so as long as he doesn’t cross him. 

In the Obama administration, Biden will still be a useful sidekick.  He could play a large role in getting legislation rammed through as he calls on his old buddies from Congress.  He could continue to stay on the offensive, doing the negative PR that is necessary while allowing Obama to continue staying on a positive message.  A classic example: when it comes time to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice, Obama could sing the high praises of the Judge, while Biden could circulate around Washington, threatening to cut funding for this project or that, or questioning the credentials of another judge who was short-listed and could emerge with insurgent support.

Now that I’ve thought about it, Biden may not be such a bad choice.  Think about it, Markos.