Obama/Biden
Cell phones around the country greeted their owners this morning with text messages proclaiming that Barack Obama had chosen Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential nominee. An interesting pick; I would have been more excited by Kathleen Sebelius or Wesley Clark, but I can live with it.
The things you need to know about Joe Biden are: (1) He has been a Senator forever (half of his life). (2) He is a smart guy, not a stuffed suit. (3) He has formidable expertise in foreign policy. (4) He is somewhat prone to gaffes. (5) He is feisty, and effective in attack-dog mode. (6) He can be a bit of an asshole.
The best news about the pick is that it shows Obama wants to take the fight to the Republicans, especially on foreign policy. There is nobody McCain is likely to pick for VP whom Biden would not be able to make look silly in a debate. As Ezra Klein points out, all you need to know about why Obama picked Biden is contained in this very short clip:
He can think on his feet — literally, and apparently while chewing peanuts or something — and manages to effortlessly eviscerate Rudy Giuliani with a single sarcastic look. Most importantly, he gives the impression of being completely comfortable with the intricacies of foreign policy; this will contrast well with McCain, who loves to talk about foreign policy but is somewhat fuzzy on many of the actual details.
Biden is far from a perfect pick...
