The Veep Selection

It would have been seen as a fiasco, if only it were one-quarter as important as the Obama campaign and the media made it out to be this past week. I received my text message at 3:17 a.m., two hours and 32 minutes after CNN, and three hours and 19 minutes after the Associated Press, reported that Joe Biden had been selected as Barack Obama's running mate; four hours and 27 minutes after Jake Tapper noted that the Secret Service had dispatched a team to protect Senator Biden; approximately eight hours and 7 minutes after Andrea Mitchell reported on Hardball that the other two individuals (Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh) on the short list had been told that they were not being selected, and roughly a day and a half after most pundits had predicted Biden would be the nominee.

Quite a secret. Fortunately, the choice itself will probably prove much wiser than the new-age plan to announce the decision that the Obama campaign so vainly devised. We have variously heard that Biden has a great family and a great family story; rides the train home every night to his family; has a son (Beau) who soon will be deployed to Iraq (albiet in the JAG Corps); is the least wealthy member of the United States; is beloved by the (i.e., white) working class; will win votes in New Jersey (unnecessary) and Pennsylvania (useful); is a great orator and splendid debater; is a choice which will please the Clinton camp; has the gumption to attack McCain when appropriate; is a foreign policy expert; and is a very experienced in government and politics generally.

There is one electoral consideration that has received less notice than the others. South Florida. Biden is a kind of candidate who will appeal more to the elderly than has Obama. And he has the reputation for support of Israel that the presumptive presidential nominee lacks and which is of particular concern to non-young Jews. (The narrative that B.O. has problems among Jews, I believe, is misunderstood by the media, because his support is strong among young Jewish voters.) Thus, Florida, which otherwise should go for McCain in a close election, becomes more winnable as a result of the Democratic vice-presidential selection. Which is more than what happened in 2000.