Thoughts on Biden

Picking Biden tells us some things about Obama's strategy:

He Will Be Hitting McCain Harder
Biden is famously gaffe-producing. This is offset by his witty and humorous attacks. For example, he ended Giuliani with the now-famous Noun + Verb + 9/11 quip. Unless you are willing to let him loose to attack and joke he has no way to offset his occasional gaffes. They know this and made an exciting freewheelin' pick that will make the campaign more fun and make McCain the recipient of sharper and more memorable attacks.

They Will Play in Florida
It is fairly well know that Biden is popular with Jews. He is also popular with Older Voters. What swing states have a lot of older voters and Jewish voters? Florida, of course.

Obama Isn't Grudge-Oriented
We've all heard the phrase "don't get mad; get even." Obama got hit with some ripe Biden nastygrams (like a telegram but more public and nastier. He still VPed him. Obama did it because it was politically expedient and smart. Way to eschew vengefullness in favor of victory.


Lastly, I am saddened at an unfulfilled vision. Once it became clear that the TXT from Obama announcing his VP pick would come out on a friday night, I had this vision that all of a sudden, in the midst of the Amidah (the silent prayer) in the young progressive minyan i am part of, all of a sudden dozens of cell phones would chime, buzz, ring, dance, and sing, all in unison. That would have been awesome. Oh well, getting a txt at 3AM is just a little less dramatic.