The excitement around Obama’s choice for running mate has puzzled me since the beginning. So much hype has been heaped on some very unexciting choices. The paparazzi (i.e. the press) was all over Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine and Joe Biden. I’m from Virginia, and I don’t find Tim Kaine to be all that cool (Mark Warner, was cool; Tim Kaine is just a successor). Poor Evan Bayh’s morning breakfast cereal found its way into the morning news cycle.
The Obama camp deserves kudos for the uber exciting announce-via-text-message gimmick. I wonder how many millions of Americans stayed up at last night huddled around their cell phones waiting for the beep from Team Obama (they must have been leaping with joy and pumping their fists when they found out that for the next 67 days their bumpers will be emblazoned with the words “OBAMA-BIDEN 2008”).
…Joe Biden, the distinguished Senator from Delaware (no offense to Delaware). Biden didn’t stir up much excitement in the primaries, and I don’t see how he could stir up any excitement in the general election.
I guess I can buy into the reasoning. Polls indicate that foreign policy is still Obama’s weak spot, and with Russia stealing American made humvees in Georgia, perhaps he should shore up his defenses with an appropriate choice. In the long run, I don’t see how effective this will be to convince Americans they can trust Obama on foreign policy.
Americans don’t vote for the vice president, they vote for the president. The VP selection probably has more importance as a “celebrity factor” (not referring to the celebrity accusations…) in the general campaign, which in Obama’s case is already one of affable charisma. Perhaps the Obama camp chose it was best to play it safe, hence the crop of wholly unexciting choices.
Given the polling data last week indicating that Obama’s lead had fallen to a slim 1.4% points (RCP average as of 8/23/08), largely on account of Hillary supporters continuing to hold back on Obama, I’m surprised Hillary did not get more serious consideration. But then again, lest Obama supercharge an anti-Hillary Republican base to show up at the polls for McCain, that would have been an exciting but risky development.
The names being tossed around for McCain, however, are genuinely intriguing. Relative to Biden these are true political heavyweights (or at names Americans have heard before): Joseph Lieberman, Mitt Romney, Tom Ridge, Bobby Jindal (an Indian-American VP would certainly stir things up)
For John McCain the VP selection will be far more significant and worthy of media attention. John McCain lacks the same sort of charisma (and youth) that Obama has, so the VP has a lot to add to the image of McCain’s campaign. Also for many Americans questioning McCain’s age, his VP selection might actually matter beyond the election.
I wonder what sort of gimmicks the McCain camp has in mind for his announcement.
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