Barack Obama chose Sen Joe Biden as his running mate because he had known the Senior Senator from Delaware since childhood. They both attended school together, played on the same basketball teams, and worked the same internships during College. They even talked each other in to attending law school and running for the U.S. Senate!
As you realize, the aforementioned is a fiction created by your favorite Usedcarsalesman.
Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate a few years back and probably only then became personally familiar with Joe Biden. Nobody would suggest that the two compare favorably to Siamese-Twins joined at the waist since birth.
In fact, Obama apparently only chose Biden to shore up what some suggested were his foreign policy and experience weaknesses that might have cost votes later.
Usedcarsalesman says there is nothing wrong with that. Those who believe that the assembly of a Democrat or Republican Presidential-Ticket is more about votes -- drawing them or shoring up perceived weaknesses that may cost them -- than anything else are probably right.
Which brings us to the current situation: Obama's competitor for office, Sen. John McCain, recently surprised a few people by selecting a Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.
Perhaps McCain did so to capitalize on the apparent dispossession felt by some Hillary Clinton supporters after Obama won the Democratic nomination. Perhaps McCain wanted to sort of say: "Hey I am a big enough dude to veer from what's worked in the past without looking weak." Who knows?
To Usedcarsalesman, Palin didn't seem that big a deal at first: "Yeah, she's a woman, but it's a Republican gimmick. " However, Palin upped the ante by demonstrating that she was hardly short on presentational skill.
On the night of her well-delivered speech at the Republican National Convention, Usedcarsalesman literally thought he heard Democrats gulping for miles around his Toluca Lake abode. Actually Usedcarsalesman gulped a little himself -- he was impressed by Palin even though he didn't really jive with the Republican platform.
And of course, polls followed showing that McCain had apparently gained considerably from the selection of Palin. According to most, McCain --once behind -- now polled side-by-side, even ahead of Obama with two months remaining.
If you thought McCain's VP selection had served to outflank Obama, Usedcarsalesman would probably agree with you.
But the Presidential election isn't tomorrow! The game isn't over yet !
Keep in mind that Democrats have stomached 8 years living under a country governed by a Republican with an MBA who can't seem to keep more than a couple of political "balls" -- foreign occupations and domestic security -- in the air at a time (In fact, many of them would argue that Bush's foreign occupations "ball" should have never taken to the air in the first place and that his domestic security "ball" stayed up but enabled unconstitutional domestic activities by the feds).
So, Usedcarsalesman would suggest that Democrats still have enough gripe-induced fight to make the big moves to win this one.
Thus far, however, Democrats have countered the Palin selection with "dirt" and hopeful speculation that Palin's viability will disintegrate once she debates across from lawyer and seasoned Washington political vet, Joe Biden.
Usedcarsalesman says that's not good enough. He suspects Biden is going to be the one ultimately trying to find his legs at the debates, not the camera-ready Palin. And the so-called "dirt" on Palin has so far proved more interesting to the public than damaging.
No, Usedcarsalesman says that if Democrats want to win, they need to arrange the almost unthinkable: In the next couple of weeks Biden needs to resign from the ticket for the good of his party and not for some new personal reason or medical issue either. Biden needs to resign from the Ticket simply because he believes that his party (and even some people on the fence) would prefer a different VP candidate opposite the first female Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin.
Usedcarsalesman says there's nothing wrong with that.
Biden's decision would serve as a business-like, organizationally-focused way to approach a political contest. It would let Obama save face -- "It was Joe's decision not mine. But I support him on it." And it would also allow Obama to now select a comparable if not superior match for Palin -- likely Hillary Clinton. He could then battle McCain without possible damage from perceptual sabotage created by a mismatched VP contest.
In conclusion, Usedcarsalesman effectively says that if Republican's want to play "mixed-doubles" for an open White House, Biden should "sub" himself out in favor of a female leader -- namely Hillary.
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Post: Democratic Party leaders may argue that there will be other Presidential elections, that there's always 2012 or 2016, that there's no need to make unprecidented maneuvers that might hurt the party in subsequent elections. Usedcarsalesman understands their reasoning. But he would argue that failure to make this change -- replacing Biden mid-campaign for strategic reasons -- might undermine confidence in Democratic Party leadership for decades should the very unconventional Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama, fall short.
