The Wisdom of Choosing Joe Biden

To read the swing state of Ohio, listen to its delegates in Denver on the choice of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate (h/t Ohio Daily Blog,):

Attorney Jan Roller of Cleveland, a Clinton delegate, said Biden “adds great strength for the experience he brings to the ticket, especially in foreign policy.” Justin Zollars, a college instructor from Bowling Green, said he’s happy with what he called “a smart pick” because Biden is experienced with foreign policy.

Sonny Nardi, a Teamsters leader and a superdelegate pledged to Obama, is also happy with Biden but more due to his appeal to workers and the middle class. Biden has middle class Irish Catholic roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Nardi believes Biden’s story and personality are a good fit in Ohio.

Lesley Huff, a probate attorney in East Cleveland pledged to Clinton, had an interesting philosophical take on the Obama-Biden pairing. “It’s very clear that the American public is asking for two things – change, the kind of change that supports and protects, and they are also asking for stability,” she said. She illustrated the desire for stability by pointing out that Americans “don’t want strange and odd debacles like Hurricane Katrina, where people certainly needed support and assistance and didn’t get it.” Given that the party’s platform calls for constructive change and the party has a “change agent” as a presidential candidate, “it was wise to make sure there was a complementary force for stability, a force based on tremendous knowledge and experience. The seasoned quality of Joe Biden I think is something that nobody can question.”

Steve Lieber of University Heights, also a Clinton delegate, was a shade more qualified in his praise:

Well, out of all the selections he had, Biden is probably a good pick. I think he has a lot of experience, he balances Obama well, he was a good choice out of all the people Obama had out there to pick. I’m a Hillary delegate, I like Hillary, but Biden was probably the best one he could pick. My personal feeling is Hillary probably wouldn’t have wanted to run for vice president.

Some of the delegates are public officials who issued public statements about Biden today. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an unpledged superdelegate, said:

Joe Biden is a dedicated public servant and a devoted family man. He has spent his career working to protect American families and will be invaluable in helping Senator Obama fight for the middle class. It has been my pleasure to call Joe a friend and colleague. I look forward to working with him as part of an Obama White House in charting a new course for middle class families and for our nation.

UPDATE: Here’s the statement from Gov. Ted Strickland:

Joe Biden is an outstanding choice for vice president. His foreign policy knowledge is unparalleled, and his humble Pennsylvania roots give him a deep understanding of the challenges facing Ohio families. Ohioans will have a clear choice this Fall —- four more years of failed Bush economic policies under John McCain, or a new direction that will bring the the real change we need to Washington with an Obama-Biden ticket.

Lesley Huff’s analysis nails what I’ve been writing at places like BlogHer (which has a fantastic back and forth with debate and opinion and analysis from all perspectives) and The Point and in person – I was at three different social events yesterday and, at all three, people wanted to talk about the Joe Biden pick.

Here are the highlights of why I posted my support of Obama’s decision within minutes of learning about the selection:

1. I’ve met him, I’ve heard him live, I loved his debate performances. I’m not forgetting his gaffes or that he’s a white male, but I was never a Hillary supporter and I’ve had my issues with the Obama campaign (more than with Obama himself I should add). I analogize this pick to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland’s pick of Lee Fisher, who had run and lost in the Ohio gubernatorial race the previous election cycle against Bob Taft (who went on to have even more dismal ratings than Bush): a balance of personalities and appeals.

2. I understand people’s complaints about Biden not being new, Biden not being a governor, Biden being male and white and from a small state. But if there are lessons we’ve learned already, that we might not have had the advantage of learning until Obama became the candidate he now is (think back to a year ago when he was sparkling, but how much more did we see beyond that sparkle compared to what we’ve seen in 12-15 mos?), those lessons include trusting the people Obama trusts. Not all of them, and not all of them on every decision. But there’s no doubt that the team he’s assembled and relied on, by and large, over the last two years have some serious mojo and instincts and smarts. He had a VP selection committee – most people liked the people Obama named to help him. If we can’t trust this pick, if anyone who supported Obama can’t trust this pick, you’re going to have serious problems with him as a president, no?

3. I fell for this choice immediately because Biden has what Obama lacks: the double-edged sword of entrenchment. For all the ways in which it was used as a negative against HRC, entrenchment also carries with it many goodies for people who are elected to be in D.C. One of my concerns with Obama has involved the length of time it takes to build connections that can help you get what you want done actually done. My concerns included confidence that Obama and his people, as new and fresh as many, though not all of them, are, could and would find the literally thousands of people they’ll need to get done what they and we want them to get done. These are the realities of governing a federal government. It’s not sexy, it’s not Utopian – it’s what we have.

4. This is a Democracy. Obama was not and has never been my pick for president, but I’m a Democrat and by the system we have in place, he’s getting the nod to be the candidate. I don’t have to love it but I do feel that I have to want to vote for him. To expect that Obama would pick someone as emblematic as he is of change ignores the fact that we have more than 100 million people who will be voting and WANT to vote and to whom the Democratic ticket MUST appeal in order to win (well, half of that and then some for good measure).

Just as a unitary president or a single-party federal government is dangerous, so would a ticket that is change and change. We simply do not have an electorate that wants that – they will not vote for it. Change freaks out a LOT of people – even when they really sincerely believe they want it and know they need it – they can still get freaked out and pull back.

Biden is a hedge against that urge.

5. The female myth. I’m 46 – I want to break that ceiling too – but it never was Hillary for me – I don’t care how feminine or what she is/was. Yeah, I voted for her over Obama but I’ve always said I’d vote for whomever was the eventual nominee. Obama has many things going for him – no question. But not several of the things I prioritized in terms of governing.

6. Biden is definitive where Obama is deliberative. Deliberative is a thing I like – I love process. But in times of crises, when you must act quickly, decisiveness with less info and input than you might prefer is necessary – and this is where Biden v. Obama’s years in service matter to me.

7. There are other good choices, I happen to have lucked out that Obama chose the one I really like. If it had been pretty much any of the others- with the exception of US Senator Jim Webb of Virginia – I would be fine too. I just happen to really like Biden, Dodd and Richardson.

8. Again – we live in an enormous country. Coming off of two weeks in a country of 6 million (Israel), really – unless you’ve lived under such a small national government with such a small and tight population – Arabs absolutely included (I’ll be writing more about that this week), I know – it can be really difficult to realize just how many people half the electorate comprises. And how varied.

9. This choice is about shoring up governing and concerns about governing. If we can make that case – that this is the team that can and will govern this nation to a position of strength on so many levels where we’ve become weak or weakened, the White House will be Obama and Biden. Independents want stability and improvement just as much as the next voter. I believe this ticket has great potential to appeal to them.

10. What about the wives: What does a female pick for VP look like next to a vibrant and capable woman like Michelle Obama? How will any even minimally-competent woman as McCain’s choice make not only McCain look but Cindy McCain? Those are image problems for the 100 million+ people in the voting population. If I believed that holding on to the disappointment and belief in the correctness of Clinton being the nominee (to be put-out as some voters are) would actually impact future actions by other individuals who do not share the same level of those emotions, I wouldn’t be so sold on feeling positive now about the ticket. But I do not foresee that position as being one that actually helps women, or this country.

Obama himself made gaffes related to sexism as did his campaign. But the real offenders aren’t the ones who will suffer if that position isn’t held by HRC or a different woman in this cycle. We suffer – our elders and our kids. And in exchange for what?

The number of programs that work to life women and help them lift themselves far outnumbers the groups that have formed to motivate people with spite. IMO, rightly so and hopefully with more successes (Stephanie Howse who just replaced Fannie Lewis in Cleveland City Council did WHP Go Run among other experiences).

The media and the perceptions of people watching and listening to the media is what needs to be impacted – withholding or switching a vote because of perceived wrongs against women by the media won’t affect the media one iota. It only affects us.

Finally, and most importantly, I want a Democrat in the White House and in the majority in the Congress. This ticket has the best odds at achieving at least the first if not helping the latter. That’s what the pick is about.