That’s the mistake the GOP made in this campaign. They figured they could make this election an issue of “Obama: Yes or No?” and that all they had to do was make Obama look bad and they’d win by default.
But that’s not the way it’s working out. The issue of this election is “Obama or Romney?” (which shouldn’t have come as a surprise). It’s not enough to convince people Obama is bad. They’ve also got to convince people Romney is better. And they’ve been so busy on the first half, they’ve neglected that second half. They’ve got to stop treating this election like it’s Carter vs Reagan and start acting like it’s Carter vs Ford. Otherwise, the Republicans are going to be shocked on Election Day when the Democrats’ second rate candidate beats their third rate candidate.
Because he said “North Carolina” when he meant “Virginia”? No, I’m pretty unconcerned by that. Does it scare you Romney said “President” when he meant “Vice-President” the other day. It would be pretty silly if it did.
Actually, after a long stretch of awful VP picks, Biden is the only one that’s halfway decent. Of the set of Edwards, Palin, Ryan, Cheney and Lieberman, Biden is the only one that hasn’t been a disaster.
(seriously, what’s with VP picks. Even going further back, a surprisingly high proportion of them seem to be surprisingly terrible.)
Why should it? Biden has a tendency to misspeak, but that’s not a flaw that portends disaster. He’s actually a very smart man and his foreign policy expertise is extensive. There’s no reason to fear Biden becoming president, and compared to other recent VP choices, he’s a genius.
Total WAG: the best VP candidates already tried to run for president in the primary, and they wouldn’t accept a VP spot from the candidate they were running against for political or personal reasons.
Ideally, a good VP candidate is somebody who looks good but not so good they look better than the Presidential candidate. A VP candidate is also a way to show appreciation to some geographical or ideological faction that feels it isn’t getting its due.
What does the VP candidate get out of this? A place in the history books and a head start on his or her future presidential campaign.
I like Joe Biden more for his slips. It makes him seem more real, more honest. I think he’s a big dope and pray for the health of the president every day. But it does make him seem more real and more honest.
After 8 years of listening to people bash Bush because of this… yes, it is pathetic. But done constantly.
And I can believe that the “chains” comment was planned.
Obama: “Let’s start using slavery allegories in regards to the Romney team. What the fuck they gonna do - tell a black man he doesn’t know what he’s talking about? Better, have two rich white guys claim that they are being enslaved themselves?”
Biden: “Better yet, I’ll start using them - they won’t know what the hell to do.”
Obama (laughing): “That’s the best idea you’ve had yet. Go for it.”
Well… I’m sure it wasn’t planned, but it’s still funny as all hell to think it was.
Of course it was planned. White House staff have even said so.
It’s a response to a talking point that’s been made by the Romney campaign about how their deregulation programs will “unshackle” and “unchain” business. The Democrat talking point is that “unchaining” big business will “chain” the general public.
That’s the context that’s been left out of some reports of Biden’s speech: "He (Romney) said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules – unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
Let’s face reality. Do you really think the Obama campaign needs to send Joe Biden out to win over black voters? They’ve got the black vote in the bag. What they’re trying to sell is the idea that they’re the Main Street party and the Republicans are the Wall Street party. That’s the message Biden was putting out there.