Most agree that Barack Obama made a good choice in selecting Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden’s long experience in the Senate, his impressive foreign policy credentials, his Catholic faith, and working-class background all fill holes in Obama’s resume.
Now the question is, how can Biden provide fresh voter appeal heretofore missing in the Obama campaign?
Obama has always had a serious problem relating to working-class voters. His replies to Pastor Rick Warren last week were long, tendentious, and skillfully nuanced. McCain, on the other hand, gave crisp and definitive answers to unanswerable questions. End result: It didn’t matter who was speaking closer to the truth. Obama sounded like a pointy-headed intellectual who blue-collar voters like to mock and McCain gets praised for his certainty and quick thinking. (Click Here to Read More)
Barack Obama has a major decision to make. And it could be one that has a major impact on his chance to be president.
Sometime soon, Obama will make his selection of a vice presidential running mate. It now appears certain that Hillary Clinton will not be Obama’s choice.
One thing is certain. If Clinton is not named to the ticket and no successful effort is made to soothe the still fresh wounds of her supporters, many Clinton delegates at the Democratic Party National Convention later this month will be screaming, “Why not Hillary?” (Click Here to Read More)
UPDATE: July 7, 2008: Jim Webb says that he has told Barack Obama that “Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for Vice President.”
“I am the only person in the history of Virginia to be elected to statewide office with a union card, two Purple Hearts, and three tattoos.” — James Webb
Many of Barack Obama’s campaign staffers and a number of other Democrats are pushing Senator Jim Webb of Virginia as the vice presidential nominee. Their core position is that Webb is a bona-fide rural blue-collar hero with solid appeal to the Scot-Irish Americans of Appalachia and elsewhere. These are low-income rural white voters who overwhelmingly rejected Obama in favor of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
Also, as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, with service as a Marine in Vietnam, and a former secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration, Webb brings military experience to the ticket. This tends to counter McCain’s advantage as a hero of the Vietnam War. Finally, Webb would provide solid help for Obama in Virginia, which is shaping up to be a battleground state with a 13 electoral vote prize that has been traditionally counted in the GOP column.
But Obama should proceed with caution in selecting Webb. As a widely published author, Webb has left a long paper trail that could become a major distraction to the Obama campaign. For example, Webb has argued against admitting women to the U.S. military academies. This position of Webb’s will not help Obama in the important effort to close Democratic Party ranks with women who supported Hillary Clinton. (Click Here to Read More)
