CSMS Magazine Staff WritersMillions stayed up last night holding their breath as they waited for a text message to confirm Obama’s VP choice. The text message arrived at 3 AM, and the 65-year old senior Delaware Senator Joseph Biden emerged as the lucky star. Hours earlier, all eyes were on Biden whom for weeks was considered to be among a small group of potential VPs that Obama kept in a short list as possible running mates. News of Joe Biden’s choice was undoubtedly leaked before hands despite the tightlipped frenzy surrounded the Obama campaign that has promised to release the VP pick in an electronic blizzard to registered supporters. During the hours leading up to the magic 3 AM text message, the mainstream media clearly zeroed in on Biden but could not confirm pending the arrival of the message.Within minutes, an army of journalists barricaded Biden’s private home in suburban Delaware. Everyone was waiting for a word from Biden, who was preparing to join Obama for their first rally after 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) in Springfield, Illinois—Abraham Lincoln’s hometown where Obama began his White House quest in February 2007. Reports say that Biden will then join Obama on a tour of four states to the west before ending up in Denver for next week’s Democratic convention.Joe Biden is a veteran politician who entered the political stage when he was first elected to Congress in 1972 at the age of 29. Biden rose to high ranks in the US senate, becoming Chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee. He is also said to be well versed in foreign policy matters, which prompt many observers to believe that in turning to Biden, Obama is betting on Biden’s expertise on national security in order to preempt McCain’s attacks.Joe Biden may be more of a liability than an assetThe choice of Joe Biden for the Democratic ticket may have caused a lot of angry campers this morning, for the Delaware senator has long reputed as an uncontrolled bavard, a loosed cannon who has twice dashed his own hope for the presidency for speaking too much and for angering too many people unnecessarily. Biden, who was a candidate himself at the beginning of the campaign, triggered a media outrage when he made some racist comments, saying that Obama was “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”He since apologized, but that did not stop him from launching some damagingly unflattering words against Obama on the campaign trail, focusing on Obama’s inexperience. During a debate among the Democratic presidential contenders, he said Obama is not ready to be commander-in-chief and he added that he “can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” And in Iowa, when asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News if he still believed the Illinois senator was not ready to be president he said: “I think I stand by the statement.”In choosing Biden based on his foreign policy credentials, Obama seems to have indicated that his rivals were right, beefing up McCain’s arguments that he is not ready to be president. As proof of that, McCain campaign wasted no time this morning in attacking the ticket. “There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,” McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement. “Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing—that Barack Obama is not ready to be president,” he said.In an other issue that the choice of Biden may create is that it may point out that McCain is finally setting up the agenda, forcing Obama to play in his own terrain (foreign policy) in an election cycle that was supposed to be about the economy. The election favors Obama heavily. It’s his to loose. But clumsy choices and strategic blunders could force millions of Americans under an other four years of Republican rule. The coming days will be very interesting while we wait to see if the choice of Biden will finally change the dynamics of the campaign, drifting Obama away from an increasingly powerful McCain now surging in the polls. So far, the horizon still looks blurry and foggy. Also see As Barack Obama ends his historic trip abroad, serious questions arise over his antiwar credentials Barack Obama rocks the Middle East and Europe Obama’s candidacy and the bittersweet feeling within the African American leadership When will race seize to be the cornerstone of American politic? Hillary Clinton’s Paranoia and the Democrats Dilemma Hillary Clinton wants to clinch the nomination at all costIs Barack Obama unstoppable after his stunning victory in Iowa last week? The Obama campaign plunges deeper into the defensive after the Nevada lost last Saturday
A text message that kept the world guessing for more than 72 hours
