Veepstakes watch: Obama has chosen Joe Biden as VP

Has anyone seen this circulating....I am personally sick:  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo ( http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo )

And well, I am enjoying making fun of the Democrats convention. Then again, I will fuss at the Republicans too.  

~TW ( http://ramblewoman.blogspot.com )
Retro-Food ( http://retro-food.com/ )

( http://ramblewoman.blogspot.com )

Thanks for the prompt welcome Denise. I'm glad I'm not alone!!!!

Christa @ www.giggleon.com ( http://www.giggleon.com/ )

We have several CEs who are Republicans and a few who are Libertarian. We have people like Carly Fiorina, Liz Mair and Nancy Pfotenhauer blogging from the McCain campaign. We have many many BlogHer members who are decidedly NOT Democrat (my partner included - lifelong registered Republican.)

You aren't alone and I'm glad you're here.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the leaders who will bring the change our country needs", says Lisa Stone, but I disagree.

I think I may be the only one on this site who isn't a registered Democrat! *as I duck to avoid cyber eggs being thrown my way*

I am not a "rah rah" McCain fan but in this election, he is the lesser of two evils. It pains me to say it, but that's how I feel. I would have loved to have seen Rudy get the nomination but that was yesterday.....

I do not want to see the kind of flaming liberal "tax me until I pass out and regulate me to death" change the Obama/Biden ticket plans for this country. For as many of you scared to death that McCain is going to be President (and he will) please know I  am equally terrified Obama will be President.  As much as I dislike the Clinton's, Hillary would have been a better choice (not because she's a female and not because she has the Clinton name, which does not impress me) but because she has more knowledge about how the Federal government operates.

I'm fairly certain I'll get flamed for speaking my opinion but Barak Obama barely has enough experience to be a US Senator let alone the PRESIDENT of our country. Are you all seriously convinced his time as a community activist gives him enough experience to lead a country? Pulease. As for Biden, well. I laugh. I live in Delaware and I'm one of many people I know who dislikes him. Oh sure, he's been around forever but I don't agree with his politics and frankly, he is arrogant and pompous as hell. He has foreign policy experience and that helps Obama alot but the final calls during a national emergency are made by the PRESIDENT.  

The Dems would have blown the Reps out of the park had they chosen Hillary (whom I also dislike greatly along with her husband) but now they will have to run for their  money to get to the White House.

The media has soft-balled Obama for MONTHS. The media coverage is so blatantly not balanced that it makes me ill. It will be interesting to see what the next 70 days brings and in head-to-head debates on the issues and plans for America, I think McCain is going to dig into Obama's support base big time.

Thankfully we are a country with freedom to choose who we want to lead us. It is one of the greatest things about America. Regardless of your affiliation, get out and vote. 

Just found these on BlogHer.com:

Laracolvin: Conversations going 'round in my head ( http://www.blogher.com/conversations-going-round-m... )

Sybil Sage: I need Biden more than Obama does ( http://www.blogher.com/i-need-biden-more-obama-doe... )!

Bianca Regan: When your running mate has deemed you... ( http://www.blogher.com/when-your-running-mate-has-... )

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

Deanna Zandt ( http://www.deannazandt.com/ ) pointed this one ( http://www.alternet.org/election08/96137/?page=ent... ) out on Alternet. 

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

It feels like the ceiling is being put back up - but I believe with all my soul that it's not.  No matter how great and how many women candidates we produce and elect, there will continue to be times when a man will be the better pick - don't you think? not because of gender but because he's a better choice - as many women felt with Obama over Clinton.  It will be hard to feel that we're not backsliding and maybe you are right - we will have to talk ourselves out of seeing it as backsliding - I am sure I do that and maybe am doing that now.

But I have proof that the pipeline nurturing works - Cleveland lost a decades-long city council memer - Fannie Lewis - a minority woman from one of the roughest wards.  And her successor? A young African-American woman who had challenged Fannie three years ago and lost horribly.  But what did that challenger do - she got involved, she went through trainings , she took on political jobs and tasks and guess what? Fannie, in her last weeks, secretly told the city council to appoint Stephanie Howse to her post.  And that's what they did.  And Stephanie has a lot to do to convince people that she should win the election to that seat - but this is how, in part, it works - breaking the ceilings. It won't just happen out of the rightness of it needing to happen - we do have to make it happen - but we have to apply the pressure and the knowledge all the time.

I'm sorry if that sounds contradictory - I just feel that at so many levels we can continue to seed the landscape - and it WILL happen.  Getting Obama into the White House IS a seed, I believe, to more and better women in political office.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

Bill certainly is a problem, but he will remain such whether Hillary is vice president or not. I wavered on HRC to the vice presidency, and decided pretty recently that it made a lot of sense tactically, in terms of the election. That does not mean her choice was absent other inherent issues - Bill, her desiring the position, being able to accept a position where she did not have clear and assigned authority, etc.

Where the Biden selection really goes wrong for me is all of the things I've stated before, but maybe will come at this from a different direction. Hillary tore down a whole lot of walls this year (as did Obama, to his great credit) and women were engaged and making their views known politically like never before. I can recall the feeling on 8 January, after she won here, and it was awesome! Here we had the first primary win for a woman in presidential politics, a whole lot of time had passed on by. Even though primaries are a relatively new selection phenomenon, no one had ever come this close, not even Geraldine Ferraro, not Victoria Woodhull (Anyone read Marge Piercy's Sex Wars?)

Women make up not quite 51% of the population, and that is a rather astounding number to blow off in this process, and in this time. Hillary need not be the choice - he could have selected Sebelius, and flipping Kansas blue might be enough to win the election in and of itself. There was a huge opportunity to give many of this 51% something tangible to rally around, *if* a wise choice was made. At a lukewarm time in my own enthusiasm, this would have really given me something to feel engaged again, like that night on 8 January.

Instead it was Joe, someone in the Senate since 1973. Not that is a bad thing, but it is the established thing, and this for a campaign where the mantra has been change.

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

I really do know what you mean, I do.  But I so cannot fathom McCain - so I think that your suggestion that the persuasion is for ourselves and for others is dead-on.  But that's the case even with fanatical lovers of Obama - I mean, he DOES have weaknesses - all the candidates do.  But in exchange for believing in a particular horse, we neutralize or negate or ignore them - this is true in all matters of debate and argument, yes?  It's a tactic, not necessarily something we buy or believe 100% - do you know what I mean?

Here in Cleveland we just lost Stephanie Tubbs Jones - I wonder what she would have said about Joe Biden.  But she wasn't holding out over HRC being VP from what we know.  That says a lot to me.

I can't speak for anyone else or judge anyone else's choices, but yes - I know what you mean - with all things being equal, who do you choose? I go for the women, I go for Ohioans, I go for alumni of my alma mater - there is something about choosing someone who shares something with you - that is natural and honest.

But I don't believe that HRC and Biden are similarly situated or identical candidates.

I do, however, believe that it's all Bill's fault. And if I were her, I honestly do not know what I would do with all the anger I'd feel toward him! (I voted for him twice and would vote for him again - pragmatism rules for me not spite - but if I were her - talk about argh and ugh).

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

I apologize if I sound like a broken record in referring to Jeff Coryell of Ohio Daily Blog, but he has a really nice post with a roundup of how Ohio's delegates who are now in Denver (including those who are for Clinton) feel about Biden ( http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/content/ohio-delegate... ) - you will read a number of the same words, in support, that you've read from me and others who like this pick.

I'd love to hear what other delegates are saying.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

Certainly there are parameters beyond which I'd not go in supporting any given woman for office. For instance Christina Hoff Sommers and Phyllis Schlafly as two examples...

but when it is close, not dealing with extreme differences, do we go with a candidate we might like just a teeny weeny bit better, or do we try and take out that ceiling?

Biden is the pick, and what I'm seeing elsewhere - amongst many who likely never would have uttered Biden's name as their choice for vp - is a total selling job on why he is a wonderful choice. I'm not sure who they are trying to convince - us malcontents or themselves.

I've certainly been chastised today for being hell bent on seeing Obama nominate a woman: gender musn't enter into our decision else we are being discriminatory, etc. Why, Biden supports most of what you support, and well... isn't that good enough?

No.

OK, I'll take the criticism and claim title to sexism if that is what it takes, but I'm not going to alter my opinion just because someone tosses that at me. At this rate it will be 2108 before a woman is actually in the Oval Office, we apparently have to wait for the moon and stars to properly align. Or we have to find the perfect candidate.

Barbara Jordan, wherever you are... come on back. Just for eight years.

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

VAWA was one of the most significant pieces of recent legislation for women, creating huge community infrastuctures for domestic and sexual violence services and vast amounts of communtiy education about issues that affect populations at-risk of all human rights issues. Biden should have a lot in the bank with women for that.  He does with me.

Deb

www.debontherocks.com ( http://www.debontherocks.com/ )

blog

www.3smartgirlz.com ( http://www.3smartgirlz.com )

consulting

I think Biden is a good choice and balances out the ticket fairly well. I'm don't agree with his stances of drugs but that's hardly what my vote is based on. 

¡SI, SE PUEDE!

- Maria

http://immoralmatriarch.com

Clean and articulate, where have we heard that one before. LOL

Virginia DeBolt
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I hear you on the 216 years of nothingness, but at the same time, I personally can't get excited about Hillary Clinton. I guess that's what it comes down to. I almost voted for her in the primary, but ultimately could not get over a few of her policy stances. As a result, it doesn't bother me at all that she was not picked. I also don't think the other possibilities of female candidates were very strong in general. I like a lot of the female governors, but I am not sure that they were ready to be on the national stage. (I was unimpressed with Sebelius's post-debate commentary and deer-in-the-headlights look. But give her time, and I'm there.)

Take a look at the candidates that EMILY's List is backing, and there's good chances for more (progressive) women in Congress, governors' offices, and local government. I don't think that all is lost by just the VP pick by any means.

Yeah, it sucks to be asked - yet again - to wait. But given how bad things are on the policy front in terms of issues that I care about, I'll take any viable reversal of course that comes my way. My hope is that HRC's campaign was so groundbreaking that we can expect some really exciting future races with even stronger women contenders.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

I'd love to keep score.

So far I'm wondering if the "not sure how many houses I own, ask my staff..." remark counts as one or seven.

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I can't just ride along, can I? Rats.

Well - first, let me say - I get people's complaints about Biden not being new, Biden not being a governor, Biden being male and white and from a small state.

BUT - I think if there are lessons we've learned already, that we might not have had the advantage of having until Obama become the candidate he now is (seriously, think back a year ago - he was sparkling, but how much more did we see beyond that sparkle compared to what we've seen in 12-15 mos?), they include:

1. trusting the people Obama trusts.  Not all of them, and not all of them on every decision.  But there's no doubt that the team he's assembled and relied on, by and large, over the last two years have some serious mojo and instincts and smarts. He had a VP selection committee - most people liked the people Obama named to help him.  If we can't trust this pick, if anyone who supported Obama can't trust this pick, you're going to have serious problems with him as a president, no?

2. Why the click? Because Biden has what I feel and have felt Obama lacks all along - and it is the double-edged sword that Nelle and a few others have pointed to that was referred to as entrenchment when it was mentioned in regard to Hillary: Biden has been there since he was 29!!!

But guess what? That "entrenchment" carries with it many goodies for people who are elected to be in D.C. - one of my concerns was the length of time it takes to build connections that can help you get what you want done actually done.  My concerns included confidence that Obama and his people, as new and fresh as many though not all of them are, could and would find the literally thousands of people they'll need to get done what they and we want them to get done.

These are the realities of goeverning a federal government. It's not sexy, it's not Utopian - it's what we have.

3. This is a Democracy.  Obama was not and has never been my pick for president, but I'm a Democrat and by the system we have in place, he's getting the nod to be the candidate.  I don't have to love it but I do feel that I have to want to vote for him.

To expect that Obama would pick someone as emblematic as he is of change ignores the fact that, as I mentioned before, we have more than 100 million people who will be voting and WANT to vote and to whom the Dem. ticket MUST appeal in order to win (well, half of that and then some for good measure).

Just as a unitary president or a single-party federal government is dangerous, so would a ticket that is change and change.  We simply do not have an electorate that wants that - they will not vote for it.  Change freaks out a LOT of people - even when they really sincerely believe they want it and know they need it - they can still get freaked out and pull back.

Biden is a hedge against that urge.

4. The female myth. I'm 46 - I want to break that ceiling too - but it never was Hillary for me - I don't care how feminine or what she is/was.  Yeah, I voted for her over Obama but I've always said I'd vote for whomever was the eventual nominee. Obama has many things going for him - no question. But not several of the things I prioritized in terms of governing.  That's just my perspective.

5. Why else I got the click: Biden is definitive where Obama is deliberative.  Deliberative is a thing i like - I love process.  But in times of crises, when you must act quickly, decisiveness with less info and input than you might prefer is necessary - and this is where Biden v. Obama's years in service matter to me.

6. There are other good choices, I happen to have lucked out that Obama chose the one I really like.  If it had been pretty much any of the others- with the exception of Webb - I would be fine too.  I just happen to really like Biden, Dodd and Richardson.

Again - we live in an enormous country.  Coming off of two weeks in a country of 6 million (Israel), really - unless you've lived under such a small national government with such a small and tight population - Arabs absolutely included (I'll be writing more about that this week), I know - it can be really difficult to realize just how many people half the electorate comprises.  And how varied.

This choice is about shoring up governing and concerns about governing. If we can make that case - that this is the team that can and will govern this nation to a position of strenth on so many levels where we've become weak or weakened, the White House will be Obama and Biden.  Independents want stability and improvement just as much as the next voter.  I believe this ticket has great potential to appeal to them.

And it's our job - those of us who support this ticket - to put out everything we can think of as to why this ticket is the one that can do that.

Speaking of which, I am compiing 57 reasons to vote Obama - Biden.  If you have some you'd like me to include, please please email me or comment here ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2008/08/23/call-... ).

How'd I do?

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

policy as the candidate himself.

I'm a liberal/progressive, whatever such labels imply. Well left of centre. Biden is pretty much occupying the same space politically.

My concerns are... he is a long term player in the Democratic status quo, someone who has never been able to get people outside of Delaware to vote for him for national office.

He has been in the Senate for a long long time, and as such was there and culpable when Congress flipped with the Contract With America (leaving out the substitution of 'On' despite huge temptation.) He is yet another power insider who have failed to demonstrably change the direction of this nation, despite ample opportunity to get it done.

Obama is supposed to be about change. I like him in some ways... that is I really liked the early Obama, pre-contention with Hillary. Both did not cover themselves with glory through the time from January through early June, but he emerged the victor - and now apparently decides to play it safe with a move toward the past and the old machine.

Maybe I've been around too long, my first vote was cast in the state elections of 1974. I've watched liberals run to excess and piss people off such that the country shifted right into the hands of what we have now.

I was looking for different, for new ideas. New ideas where old ideas would receive consideration only to the extent they were vetted and deemed worthy. I was looking for someone who just didn't mouth the words 'support women's rights,' but who lived and breathed and experienced and sometimes went to bed pondering things like equal rights for women, or why someone did not get a job she desired because some less qualified guy was selected.

IMO, Biden will not appeal to undecideds; he might win a debate on technical grounds - points - against the Republican nominee, but will people identify with him? Will the greater body of Hillary supporters identify with him?

Sebelius would have been a very good choice; at once bold, with a potential to really bring forth and seal the gains made via the Clinton campaign - a permanent shift in our base politics.

Obama whiffed on this opportunity. The policies might be there, but politics is more than policy... it is people, a decidedly human element, with considerations on that level. And in this case, Obama, who had shown so much promise by what he was bringing to politics, has lost that vision in favour of the safety and comfort of Joe Biden. I'd guess Obama has looked up to Joe along the way, and that is good... but that is his personal motivation and feeling, in a situation where he needs millions of others to see and feel what he sees and feels.

In an election where women were energised and excited and really thinking we could get this done, we get this... a redirect backward to 1984 or 1988 - a time where I watched my boss be forced to attend a corporate meeting held at a men's club where the company president had membership. She had to use the back door, they would not let her in through the front.

I'm 53, headed for 54... and the time where I get to see a woman hold the presidency or even the vice presidency - for the first time - is running out. 

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

Wait 'til America gets to know Jill Biden ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/wait-t... )

More about Biden's family here on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_biden#Early_life_... ). I didn't realize one of his sons was deployed to Iraq.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

Here's a great cross-section of responses from Ohio in the Cleveland Leader ( http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/6383 ). It's half love, half distaste.

But there IS already a button ( http://buttons.cafepress.com/item/mccain-lieberman... )!

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

But I'm not gagging either.  Biden brings the credentials to the ticket that are required and if that helps win the White House then I'm all for it.

Megan Smith ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... )
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/msmith )
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock ( http://www.megansminute.com/ )

...in this link to Tony Campbell's "Back to the Future" piece for the Examiner.

I can't agree, analytically. Michael Dukakis -- as a brand, a politician, a man -- is no Barack Obama. It's like comparing inviting people to fundraise, volunteer and vote to save a special cross-country skiing park in Vermont to inviting people to fundraise, volunteer and vote for an Olympic giant slalom downhill event.

An ear-to-ear (LOL) comparison puts Obama in a different galaxy.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

...invoking her irritation at Joe Biden during the Hill-Thomas hearings. Not his finest moment. What of his and Obama's policies re: women concern you the most? Seriously want to know and discuss this week during the DNC...

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

are not Schlafly or Coulter; rather viable, strong candidates who do represent views we support, and who would have brought great enthusiasm and likely votes to the campaign.

Instead we get someone part of the same old machine, a 'machine' by the way that has lost 7 of the last 10 presidential elections.

Obama ran on a theme of change. I'm not seeing a whole lot of change with this choice. What I am seeing is the same old, with people telling me to accept it because 'they support choice and women's rights.'

Not good enough, not when 216 years of history tell me one woman has been nominated for the presidency or vice presidency; when one was thrown in jail on some made up pretext when she ran for the presidency; where Congress with 18% or so of the membership women, is at its highest level ever - flip that number... 82% men is the lowest ever... and 2 women have sat on the Supreme Court over the 216 years.

And so are justifying the selection with 'be happy, they support your rights' appropriate? Not to me.

I could not bring myself to vote for McCain; if he picks Romney, Obama will get my vote. If he is bold of choice that trumps Obama's choice, I'll write in someone.

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

Just curious!

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

...it’s fascinating to watch the right lever be checked with you — click! You are now on board (ya'll go read Jill's personal blog). I wonder, reading all these other comments from disgruntled Hillary supporters and thrilled Republicans, what will come of this choice and how it will play this week at the DNC. What do you think?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

Perhaps I signed up wrong? Or with the wrong email?

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

FYI ya'll, as the editrix pulling together all our convention coverage here on the site, you may have noticed that I haven't taken a position in this campaign. And I won't. BlogHer the organization is non-partisan, hence I am non-partisan. It suits my training as a traditional journalist as well as my progressive-Libertarian roots as a Montanan. If you had to take my political temperature, you'd find that I'm purple, kids, all the way to bone marrow.

That said, I know good writing and I'll feel free to call it out. Such as now: Excellent tactical post Maria, both on your personal blog and here. And a nice cattle-prod to your Democratic readers. I'm never sure what makes me roll my eyes more: Lemming-like devotion on the part of some Republicans, or I'm-smarter-than-thou-and-am-willing-to-hurt-the-candidate-to-prove-it on the part of some Democrats.

I'm so glad you're covering DNC '08 for BlogHer along with the rest of our team ( http://www.blogher.com/party-bloghers-plan-cover-d... ) -- keep bringing it. With tough partisan love like this, we'll get the real policy and political story from the party in Denver.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder ( http://blogher.org/member/lisa-stone )
Surfette ( http://surfette.typepad.com )

He's solid, and ditto to everything Maria said.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Do either of these guys give a shit about the issues that concern women? Once again, more than half the country goes unrepresented (unless McCain is the one who makes an inspired choice.)

Just because an elected official is a woman does not mean that she cares about issues that effect women. Look at Libby Dole for goodness sake! I'd far rather have someone like Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden than Kay Bailey Hutchinson representing me! Those guys may not be women, but they've stuck their necks out pretty far to advocate for issues that are important to me as a woman, whereas some female elected officials have voted against them. It'll be great to have more women in office, but I don't think blanket support to any woman is going to guarantee that certain issues are addressed. (Think about Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, and their colleagues.)

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Wrote about it here ( http://consumerpop.typepad.com/popconsumer/2008/08... ) I mean I'm not jumping up and down enthusiastically happy but then I can't think of who would have made me do a happy dance. (updated to add: sorry for the early am crankiness - it's just tough love - but I got love for my sister Dems, always)

And, to your points, Elisa -

1. Kerry lost that election all on his own and would have no matter who was on the ticket with him. People don't vote on VP's. Witness Quayle. That Edwards was a Senator didn't make the difference. The top 3 candidates this time were all Senators. Clearly voters are capable of getting past the Senate curse. (Though had you asked me before this I would have been right there with you that Senators make for losing candidates).

2. Having lived in Pennsylvania I now know that Delaware is practically part of the state. VP's haven't delivered states since Johnson in 1960 so it doesn't matter much but Biden could help with PA (and maybe even with OH - see Jill's enthusiasm).

3. Since Biden won't be running for president and he can navigate the Senate he can help Obama actually make change so in that sense I think he's the changiest choice Obama could have made.

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and in my "welcome, Senator Biden" message on Obama's website, I mentioned that I hope he will be the blunt force that can make all of McCain's gaffes noticeable to the public. I also told him I wish he were a woman, but there's not much he can do about that! LOL! Despite my lingering political ambivalence of the past month or so, my new mantra is "let's get down to the business of winning the WH!"

Here's why:

1. Two senators? Yes, that worked very well for Kerry/Edwards (or Gore/Lieberman for that matter.) There's a reason Senators have trouble nabbing the presidency. it's called a long record of nuanced policy-making. Nuance doesn't work so well anymore on the 24/7 media or voting public.

2. Delaware? So much for choosing someone who can help Obama in significant swing or swingable states.

3. If anyone represents status quo, it's Joe Biden. What percentage of the country thinks we're on the wrong track? Almost everybody. Meanwhile McCain inexplicably is clinging mightily (and so far successfully) to his "maverick" label. So if he picks someone less insidery-insider...guess who dons the "change" mantle?

I could go on, but i think I'll clear my head by working on my Project Runway recap!

Elisa Camahort Page
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

My BlogHer profile ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... ) truly shows you everything I do online...Check it out!!

that would be the worst choice of all. 

Don't vote for me! Has anyone ever campaigned against themselves? Wait... Obama just did.

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

'yuk' about says it all...

Think anyone would listen to me on Catherine Crier? It would be great fun to see her debate someone like Romney.

How can we talk Catherine into running for office so that in another 4 years people actually see there is a huge amount of substance here?   

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

I'll have to stay home or write in your name.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Uninspired is the only word that comes to my head...again and again. Maybe Obama was drunk when he decided. If so, the hangover is gonna be a killer.

Laurie J. Storey-Manseau

www.walkinginmysleep.com ( http://www.walkinginmysleep.com/ )

www.storeymanseau.com ( http://www.storeymanseau.com/ )

I'm with Jill - I like Biden just fine.

He's a little hawkish for me, although not quite so much as Hilary, but his foreign policy knowledge is an excellent addition to the ticket. And I'll always like him for creating the Violence Against Women Act in the 90s, and how he handled Clarence Thomas when he was on the Judiciary Committee. 

Whatever verbal gaffes he makes (USA Today ( http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008... ) is already pummeling him on that front) still don't measure up to those of McCain. In fact there's little criticism you can throw at Biden that you can't throw at McCain tenfold.

Mom-101 ( http://mom-101.blogspot.com )
( http://coolmompicks.com )

Cool Mom Picks.com ( http://coolmompicks.com )

speculating on Romney being McCain's choice.

If so, then McCain is matching Obama's inanity, and well... we are back to status quo ante.  

Romney is ten times worse than Biden. I've watched this guy from not too far a distance, given this is part of the greater Boston area in terms of media coverage and saturation. I cannot think of someone I'd least like to see near the presidency.

My gosh, I'm living on the Bizarro world.  

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

 But...our population is still heavy with people who were in their 40s or so then, and are in their 60s now and they VOTE, often, and in big larger proportion to their demographic than many other subgroups.  As many others are saying, this is about being pragmatic.

This is the U.S. after all.  I just got my fuddy duddy town to drop it's one political yard sign per yard per election law dropped - they'd been holding out because they said it's not aesthetically in line with the town's desires.  Talk about ugh.  I got a letter from our Mayor yesterday lamabsting groups like Ohio Citizen Action for having the NERVE, nerve I say, for canvassing door to door in our town to tell people about environmental issues.

So - you know - change is change and a country with more than 100 million voters is... a country with 100 million voters.

That's no excuse - just reality.

And to repeat, thank goodness it's not Jim Webb. THAT would have sunk me.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

But I am a bit removed from all this at the moment (quite literally 7000 miles) and I was still holding out hope for the Obama/Clinton dream (or Redeem) Team....hence the UGH for Biden. I will let you know if the "Ugh" feeling goes away. Thanks for renewing my interest anyway... 

You knew I'd be drinking coffee when you wrote that. You wrote it just to see how big a mess I could spew all over my tablet when I read it. I You did that on purpose.

And it's awesome.

Gun control. Shooting ourselves in the foot. Hah. Awesome. You must have slept well last night.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

After hearing who he picked, I might fire off a drunken email as well. First I have to do something I've not done in years (get drunk.) One beer simply will not provide the proper insight needed for such a potentially politically astute and cogent email... which of course is inversely proportional to the amount of alcohol (it could be margaritas) consumed. :)

Guess I'll just have to say something whilst sober, which is a great pity, because it will hardly be inspired, just damn annoyed.

Biden - wtf?

How is that for a reasoned opinion?

Yeah, I was hoping Obama had the insight and the understanding of why he should select a woman. Hillary had some caché, but there was that whole Bill thing, along with the fact Hillary might have said something that hurt Barack's feelings. Can't have that, can (h)(w)e?

I was hoping for inspiration. For excitement. To be able to scream 'yahoooooo!' and move on towards the election. What we got is someone who can inflate a regulation hot air balloon simply by talking into it for an hour or so.

Do either of these guys give a shit about the issues that concern women? Once again, more than half the country goes unrepresented (unless McCain is the one who makes an inspired choice.)

It is a good thing liberals are generally for gun control - we keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

nelle ( http://refractivethoughts.org/ )

&

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

But I want the White House more - and the diversity on the ticket, even as it is, is unprecedented - it makes it almost impossible for McCain to distinguish himself positively in the eyes of the majority of voters - if we can get those voters to vote!

 I'm not poo pooing the disappointment - but I am ready finally to fight and win. This was my break point - we are all different with that, I know.

 Thanks. :)

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

I've noticed your posts about Biden in the past and I thought you might be very happy with this choice.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I'd love McCain to choose a woman, I didn't think Obama would but I have (had) a tiny bit of hope for McCain. But Joe would make him a definite winner.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Pimping my post about the happy dance over Biden. ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2008/08/23/biden... )

But I'll write it too - I've met him, I've heard him live, I loved his debate performances. I'm not forgetting his gaffes or that he's a white male, but I was never a Hillary supporter and I've had my issues with the Obama campaign (more than with Obama himself I should add).

I really really like this pick  - and I analogize to the Ohio gov's pick of a guy named Lee Fisher who had run and lost in the Ohio gov. race the previous election cycle against Bob Taft who went on to have even more dismal ratings than Bush.

Bottom line: I want a Democrat in the house and in the majority in the Congress.  This ticket has the best odds at achieving at least the first if not help the latter.  That's what the pick is about, as I see it.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com )

UGH! If McCain picks Lieberman...... hmmmmm

Yuk

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/virginia-debolt )
Web Teacher ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ )
First 50 Words ( http://first50.wordpress.com/ )