Obama-Biden

The campaign makes it official:

Barack Obama Saturday named veteran Senate colleague Joseph Biden as his vice presidential running mate, adding foreign policy heft -- but also a loose tongue -- to his ticket for November's election against Republican John McCain.

After hours of media leaks, the 47-year-old Democratic White House hopeful confirmed that he was picking the Delaware senator, 65, in an early-hours email and text message sent out to millions of signed-up supporters.

"I've chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate," Obama said in the email. "I'm excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can't do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change."

[...]

The chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee has twice run for the presidency himself, including a shot at the Democratic nomination this time round when he had some unflattering things to say about Obama's inexperience.

Republican John McCain's campaign responded by saying Obama's choice of Biden was an admission that the Democrat was not ready to serve as president.

"There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama's lack of experience than Joe Biden," McCain 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," he said .

But in turning to the loquacious and pugnacious Biden, Obama is banking that the veteran's expertise on national security will blunt McCain's attacks and that his personal background will keep wavering Democrats in the fold.

Biden's foreign-policy expertise makes him an understandable pick, but the heavily hyped text-message announcement was made this morning at 4:50AM Eastern Time. I know all the cool kids are supporting Obama, but surely even most of them are asleep by that point. Maybe the campaign wanted everyone talking about it over breakfast, but why Saturday?

Damian P.

Posted by damian at August 23, 2008 08:28 AM