Life in the reality warp...

[jducoeur]

I seem to be the only person I know who actually rather likes the choice of Biden as VP nominee. It's smart on a lot of levels, adding someone who I think provides good balance to the ticket, and even more importantly balance to the potential Administration. No, it's not the choice that the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party would have chosen -- which is exactly why I approve, and exactly why it was smart. Yes, he's a Washington insider -- *someone* had damned well better be, if they want to get things done. I may want refom, but it's only going to happen if they know how to work the system, very effectively; otherwise, they'll just get steamrollered by the entrenched interests.

And frankly, this afternoon's speeches were fun to watch. Biden definitely isn't the beautiful speech-maker that Obama is (he certainly lived up to his reputation there), but he had fire and spirit and the willingness to be politely ruthless that is absolutely needed if they're going to win in November. It was what I wanted to hear; moreover, it was what I *expected* to hear. Everyone's been fretting about "Oh, my god -- McCain is catching up in the polls!" Of *course* he was -- he's gone on the hard offensive, while the Obama campaign played rope-a-dope for a while. I think that ended today, with a Biden speech that was uncompromising, full of delicious sound-bites, and frankly made some damned good points.

One thing that only occurred to me today: the Democrats have just hurt Romney's chances of getting the VP nod. Their message was substantially focused on painting McCain as rich and out-of-touch, contrasting with two Democrats who come from much less exalted circumstances. Romney would just make that contrast worse -- not just two white guys, but two very *rich* white guys. The Democrats would be all over that, and I have to expect that the Republicans know that it's a danger...

Comments

Running mate

[new-man.livejournal.com]

A good choice for McCain would be Sarah Palin, the current governor of Alaska. She's young, female, and republican. And popular in her home state -- which doesn't count for much...

A second choice might be Judy Martz the former governor of Montana, ex-Olympic skater and Miss Rodeo Montana. If he just wanted to go populist ;-)

Re: Running mate

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

I think both of them as a vice president would be great, so long as Palin doesn't get caught in the Ted Stevens' mess.

But would a woman fly politically?

Re: Running mate

[new-man.livejournal.com]

I think that a female VP would go a long way to counter some of the New! Different! edge that Obama has, without going so far as to alienate the bulk of the Republican party.

It might even pull some swing voters over to the Republican side -- including some of those passionate Clinton supporters who are looking for a place to go.

Re: Running mate

[jducoeur]

Yes, that's possible. The difficulty there will actually be a subtle one: they need a VP candidate who won't upstage McCain, and some of the female candidates might do so. If McCain chooses a running mate who makes him look *too* much like a kindly grandfather, it could backfire on him badly. His image is predicated on strength, and he can't afford to undercut that. So I don't consider a female running mate impossible, but he'll have to be careful about his choice and how the relationship works.

This relates to a problem with Romney that my mother pointed out to me yesterday: he's too *tall*. If you look at McCain and Romney together, McCain looks downright tiny, and that would be really, really bad for him. One of the points she made about Biden that hadn't even occurred to me is that he is almost exactly the same height as Obama, which is what you want in terms of visuals, and visuals matter...