Barack Obama was able to manage the suspense almost until the last moment. The campaign’s famous self-discipline and tight control of message unraveled only a little as a relentless mainstream media, sniffing the wind for any clue, began to besiege the home of Joe Biden the senior senator from Delaware. Helicopters circled the scene as if it were an L.A. freeway chase. When the Secret Service showed up it was game over. The word was out just hours before the candidate was prepared to make an official announcement.
All evening Kathy Brady-Murfin kept checking her cell phone. “I’m expecting a text from Barack!” The message did not come through before she had to turn in. I’m sure the first thing she did this morning before heading off to work was checking that phone.
Kathy usually does not share my passionate involvement in politics. In her jaundiced eye all politicians are suspect. And she usually maintains that there’s not much difference between Democrats and Republicans. When push comes to shove, she usually does vote Democratic, however. Rumor has it she may have even voted for me upon occasion. But Kathy is genuinely excited about Obama. How excited? She even signed up for a modest monthly automatic contribution to the campaign through the election, overcoming her usual anxiety over our precarious finances.
My wife is symbolic of all of the folks breathlessly awaiting word from Obama. It is the passionate devotion of people like her the will give the Democratic ticket an edge that no horse race poll can take into account.
Are those folks happy with the choice? Judging from the comments flooding into pro-Democratic sites like Huffington Post and the Daily Kos, a handful of curmudgeons and inevitable trolls aside, the pick is a grand slam home run.
The new team got its debut today in Springfield. Returning to the picturesque and symbolic steps of the Old State Capital on a warm, sunny afternoon, Obama immediately invoked the memory of an equally sunny but much colder March afternoon 19 months ago where he launched his campaign of hope and change to an ecstatic, if frozen audience. In rolled up shirtsleeves this time, Obama introduced his choice for running mate with genuine enthusiasm and affection. He emphasized not only Biden’s extensive and widely admired foreign policy chops, but his working class Irish Catholic background, his struggles over tragedy, and his legendary devotion to the family to which he returned each night from Washington on an Amtrack train. He made much of Biden sharing in an “improbable story,” but one which is intensely American.
Obama also contrasted Biden’s handling to the recent Russian invasion of Georgia to McCain’s bellicose attempt at policy making by press conference by pointing out that Biden “quietly” went to Georgia to meet that nation’s embattled president. He pointedly said that Biden was “what many others pretend to be -- a statesman with sound judgment who doesn't have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong.’
Biden for his part sprinted confidently to the stage looking—silver hair plugs not withstanding--almost as youthful as Obama. His speech made it clear why he will be not only an outstanding addition to the ticket, but a great vice president as well. It is expected that a veep pick will laud the man who picked him. But Biden was able to articulate how he had personally come to admire Obama as a leader, an agent of change, and as a statesman. He immediately diffused the pitiful attempts of John McCain’s campaign to use his own presidential debate remarks to undercut Obama.
More importantly, in his characteristic blunt, plain spoken language, Biden immediately went to work on destroying the McCain campaign without personal rancor against a man he called his long time friend. He invoked the kitchen table discussions “after the kids have gone to bed” repeated in millions of American families beset by soaring prices, stagnating or falling wages, and plummeting home values about how to make ends meet. He included himself and his family—he is the least wealthy member of the U.S. Senate and reportedly had to take second mortgages on his home to finance his children’s college education—in those kitchen tables discussions. He contrasted this to McCain who will "have to figure out which of the seven tables to sit at.”
Then it was off to the races. Biden lashed McCain to George W. Bush’s sinking and disastrous presidency with a ruthless precision that Obama has been loath to pursue. He was not even shy about taking on McCain’s status as a war hero who increasingly invokes his P.O.W. experience every time he faces criticism-- "these times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader." He could point out that his own son, the sitting Delaware Attorney General, will soon be deployed to Iraq as a member of the National Guard linking himself to the sacrifice of military families everywhere. What a contrast to the neo-con war hawks, McCain aside, who avoided war service for themselves and their privileged children.
All in all it was a stellar performance all around. The photo op with two tall, handsome men flanked by attractive wives, although noticeably shorter in duration than the turn taken by Barack and Michelle last February—probably at the insistence of a nervous Secret Service—made for a compelling pictures.
I didn’t check in with Fox News, where I expect that the usual sniping echoed the pitiful talking points from the McCain campaign, but commentators on both CNN and MSNBC effusive in their praise of Obama’s choice and the performance of both members of the ticket in Springfield. The only misgivings I heard were that Biden, the fifth senior U.S. Senator, would not reinforce Obama’s message of change and that he does not bring strong economic policy credentials on the table in a year when the sagging economy is emerging as the big issue.
I have to disagree with both assessments. Biden, although a senior senator, was always something of an outsider just by virtue of his daily commutes back to Delaware and his intense devotion to his family. Secondly, Obama can argue that the personal esteem in which Biden is held by both sides of the aisle will make him the perfect choice to help steer a program of change through congress.
On the economy, Biden is a great choice because, as Barack repeated in his introduction, “he gets it.” He understands what working and middle class Americans are going through. He has been there himself. And he has a legislative history of not only fighting for, but often spearheading economic initiatives critical to those kitchen table voters. And he is the antidote to the class cluelessness of the likely ticket of McCain-Romney.
Now it’s on to Denver and sharpening the message of the Obama-Biden campaign even more.
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