Vice President Biden

For the last week and a half I have been telling everybody to take any odds in Vegas that the VP was going to be Governor Tim Kaine from Virginia. Today I am happy to be proven wrong.

In the face of recent Republican attacks, questionable debate forums and vomit-inducing poll numbers, my colleagues and I were a bit bothered. We had feared for a while that Obama had not been hitting McCain hard enough and now, finally, the day we “hoped” would not come was here.

What the critics had been saying all along about Obama's credentials to lead suddenly seemed to gain disturbing resonance in his campaign: Hope is not enough. Action is necessary.

Unfortunate events had cost Barack Obama polling points, but more importantly the attacks seemed to have succeeded in pushing his campaign to a dangerous crossroads: If he stays positive, he loses. If he goes negative, he contradicts the style of leadership he purports to stand for, and in doing so becomes a hypocrite.

So now what?

My friends and I concluded he had to hit back. We weren’t calling for anything below the belt, but the time had come to throw a counter punch and we were perplexed and frustrated as to why none was thrown: No need to become a swift boat ogre, but... Come on man - defend yourself!

Then today.

To quote an email from one of my friends:
“Today Obama found his balls: they are named Joe and Biden. Amen.”

As the faithful Clinton supporters continue to cry foul I am sure commentary like this – albeit valid - will not help. However, I am optimistic this new formula for success will create a healthy force for the Democrats going into the convention and beyond it: Obama can continue to rise above. Biden can be the pit-bull in the trenches. America needs both.

Hopefully this rising tide of momentum, tenacity and hope will raise all Democratic ships together.

I broke this blog into three parts:
1) Why Biden is a great pick
2) Where the Republicans will now try to hit the Democrats
3) Top five quotes from today’s speech


WHY BIDEN IS A GREAT PICK:
Experience. Only four Senators have more years in the Senate that he does. The argument that the ticket is “inexperienced” just got a lot more difficult.

Gravitas. He will attack the opposing ticket with fire and urgency. The themes from today’s speech are already resonating: We can’t have “four more years of Bush/McCain”

Personal Background. And there a two stories here. Although their stories are extremely different, both Biden’s and Obama’s upbringings encapsulate that of the American Dream. Americans like stories and the fact that both of them have different – and awesome – stories to share adds depth of character to the ticket. The second story relates to the incredible adversity he and his children overcame. If you have not heard this story yet, you will.

Style points. Anyone else out there a little sickened by the fact that they had camera’s docked out at all the “VP finalist” homes? I was. But I watched it anyway. Call me a slave. Anyway, in the midst of this garbage, I caught a pearl: One morning Biden pulled into his house and instead of hurriedly driving by the press corp., he stopped, rolled down his window and gave all of them bagels and coffee. Well played, my friend, well played.



WHERE REPUBLICANS WILL NOW TRY TO HIT THE DEMS:
Brace yourself. Don’t be surprised. Don’t allow them to “shock and awe” us.

Biden and Obama went head to head a couple of times in the debates. Biden questioned his experience. It got ugly. But the ugliest moment actually took place off the debate stage. Biden made a comment to a reporter that about Obama that some interpreted as racist. If you read it and didn’t hear him say it, it looked really bad. Biden called him a “clean looking… African American”. Doesn’t that look terrible? I remember at the time thinking it was a terribly stupid thing to say, but not a terribly hateful thing to say. He apologized and claimed that the comment was taken out of turn. Obama accepted his apology. What to expect: Republicans will try to use to claim the Democrat ticket is more divided than it appears to be.

The man has hair plugs. But he is funny about it. Rumor has it that a while back he entertained questions about his hair plugs and actually invited the camera’s to zoom in and take pictures of them. Expect to hear some jokes and under the table remarks about them. What to expect: Whisper campaign. Jokes. Under the table remarks. Fox News will show pictures, the Religious Right will say this act of vanity proves that he’s out of touch with “real”American Values, and Rush Limbaugh will criticize him for it then get some himself three years from now.

The Plagiarizing Scandal. This is big one. So big, I thought it eliminated him from being a candidate. The worst part about it is that it happened twice. Biden had his bid for President in 1988 cut short because it came to light that he copied a political speech from a British official. Within weeks it came out that he had also plagiarized a paper out of a Law Review while he was in Law School at Syracuse University. Yuck. What to expect: Commercials. Lots of them. Pictures of a classroom. Pictures of cute, little, innocent-apple-pie-eating children. Voice over: “Do you want your children to grow up cheaters? Joe Biden does!” It’s going to sting a little.


TOP FIVE QUOTES FROM TODAY’S SPEECH
The gloves come off. Biden is throwing blows. Here are the top five hits of the day:

5) Seven Kitchen Tables
“Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there at night before you put the kids -- after you put the kids to bed and you talk, you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you are worried about being able to pay the bills. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's not a worry John McCain has to worry about. It's a pretty hard experience. He'll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at.”

4) Lincoln Refernce in Springfield: Planting Our Feet
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is no ordinary time. This is no ordinary election. And this may be our last chance to reclaim the America we love, to restore America's soul. Ladies and gentlemen, America gave Jill and me our chance. It gave Barack and Michelle their chance to stand on this stage today. It's literally incredible. These values, this country gave us that chance. And now it's time for all of us, as Lincoln said, to put our feet in the right place and to stand firm. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to elect Barack Obama president. It's our time. It's America's time. God bless America, and may he protect our troops.”

3) Gorgeous Wife
"Ladies and gentlemen, my wife Jill, who you'll meet soon, is drop dead gorgeous. My wife Jill, who you'll meet soon, she also has her doctorate degree, which is a problem. But all kidding aside, my Jill, my Jill, my wife Jill and I are honored to join Barack and Michelle on this journey, because that's what it is. it's a journey. We share the same values, the values that we had passed on to us by our parents and the values Jill and I are passing on to our sons Beau and Hunter and Ashley."

2) Bush/McCain ‘08
"You can't change America when you supported George Bush's policies 95% of the time. You can't change America when you believe, and these are his own words, that in the Bush administration we've made great progress economically. You can't change America and make things better for our senior citizens when you signed on to Bush's scheme of privatizing social security. You can't change America and give our workers a fighting chance when after 3 million manufacturing jobs disappear, you continue to support tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas. You can't change America and end this war in Iraq when you declare and, again, these are John's words, no one has supported President Bush in Iraq more than I have, end of quote. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't change America, you can't change America when you know your first four years as president will look exactly like the last eight years of George Bush's presidency..."

1) Americans and Leadership
"...Ladies and gentlemen, that's the bad news. But there is good news, America. We don't have to have four more years of George W. Bush. And John McCain. The next President of the United States is going to be delivered to the most significant moment in American history since Franklin Roosevelt. He will have such an incredible opportunity, incredible opportunity, not only to change the direction of America, but literally, literally to change the direction of the world. Barack Obama and I believe, we believe with every fiber in our being that our families, our communities as Americans, there's not a single solitary challenge we cannot face if we level with the American people. And I don't say that to say it; history, history has shown it. When have Americans ever, ever, ever, let their country down when they've had a leader to lead them?"