Joe Biden: Mediocrity and Elitism

Barack Obama made his decision and decided Aug. 23 would be a good day to announce it, using an unconventional delivery system for supporters: text message. His pick came in at 2:45 a.m, tapping Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate for the presidential election.

This choice surprised few as Biden is a veteran of the Senate, but certainly scares the always-important moderate voters that both Obama and McCain are in a brawl after. What was Obama thinking choosing the third most liberal senator in the nation when he himself is considered to be the most liberal? The only way this ticket could be more liberal would be to include Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on it rather than Joe Biden. Moderates will never and certainly are not currently won over by partisanship, especially when it is present from top-to-bottom of the ticket.

The role of vice president involves a responsible, serviceable politician, not someone from a party who can’t earn anything for himself. He doesn’t have any tools to add to the “Obama Machine.” He makes Obama look bad.

Though Obama’s choice was little surprise to Americans, it should surprise that Obama went against the philosophy of his whole campaign. For months there has been one word that has been synonymous with the Obama campaign: change, something that Joe Biden certainly doesn’t bring to the table. Obama’s rhetoric seems to aim at removing the more veteran politicians so he picked one to be his running mate? Excuse me, this doesn’t make any sense. It is like starting a recipe for a cake and deciding mid-way through making it to use another recipe. Frankly, I want my cake to taste OK, not like the confused rhetoric cake Senator Obama is serving up that makes no sense with an Obama-Biden ticket.

Joe Biden is 66 years old, which is certainly not young. When Barack Obama is sworn into office, Biden will be 67, which makes this look as though it is Joe Biden’s last chance to get close to being in the White House. Failed attempts to get there in 1988 and this past election season leave voters questioning, if we didn’t want him to be the president, then why is he on our ticket a heartbeat away from the Oval Office?

Biden is neither a hero, a maverick, nor a great politician, someone better defined as flip-flopper as he voted in favor of the war in Iraq, standing by President Bush’s side at that time only to become the most spoken senator against the war on terror. This is certainly not the first time Biden has done this. In 1995, Senator Biden voted no on banning certain types of congressional gifts. Then suddenly two years later, Biden stood for campaign finance reform, voting in favor of McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance reform. What makes matters worse is the fact that Biden refuses to acknowledge his shift in position. What happens when Biden decides to shift one of the positions that he and Senator Obama hold? It is clear Biden will not hold himself accountable, especially as the mediocre politician voters have seen he is, he would prove to be a serviceable vice president at the very greatest.

With the 2008 election still within reasonable reach of either candidate, it isn’t helpful for Obama to have Biden on his ticket, but rather a nail for the Obama car to run over. Those voting for Obama should cross their fingers and hope that the Obama tires are strong enough to hold up until Nov. 4, because after then, a patch will be easy enough to obtain. With poor decisions like this headlining the DNC’s campaign, expect to watch John McCain, not Barack Obama, riding his chariot into D.C. to be sworn into the highest post in America come Jan. 20, 2009.