Reply to 'Spengler': Why Biden Rather Than Clinton

In today's Asia Times Online, 'Spengler' once again comes down on Obama, critcizing his Vice-presidential pick, Joe Biden. In "How Obama lost the election" (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JI03Aa02.html), he faults Obama especially for passing over Hillary Clinton. I personally never thought there was any chance Hillary would be the Vice-presidential nominee, but I have to admit that I too was at first a bit puzzled by the pick of Biden.

But first, more on Clinton. The reason Obama didn't pick her is quite simple: she doesn't want to be anybody's VP. Hillary has already done her eight years in White House, patiently waiting her turn; she doesn't want to go through that again.

Moreover, she seems sincerely to believe that Obama will lose in November and that would put her in an even stronger position to run again in 2012. She could then go to the voters and say, essentially, 'I told you so'. But if she had to wait a whole eight years, there is every chance voters would lose interest or simply find her too old for the job by then.

How do I know she doesn't want to be Obama's VP? From the way she behaved during the primaries. If she had wanted the number-two job, the thing to do was to cut a deal with Obama sometime back in February or March, dropping out of the race in exchange for being his running mate. Instead, she continued to run long after it was effectively impossible for her to win, in a way that weakened Obama's candidacy without ever really strengthening hers. But four years from now, she could still go back and say to those who voted against her: "I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen." So much for Hillary. Now, on to Biden...

I must confess that I myself was a bit puzzled by the pick of Biden--the loquacious, professional Senator from Delaware with all the pizzaz of meatloaf. But just then I realized exactly why Obama picked him. The first rule of choosing a VP, is: "Above all, do no harm." No one votes for a Vice President. The only important thing about the pick is what it says about the Presidential candidate. Biden really has no weaknesses, no skeletons in the closet and he most certainly will not overshadow Obama in terms of personality, so what this says to the voters about Obama is: "I am reliable, I am safe." The very conventionality--the very boringness, if you will--of the Biden pick is meant to reassure those who think he might be unreliable due to inexperience. That's exactly the image Obama needs to cultivate if he is to reassure nervous voters--especially nervous white voters. As a black man, Obama cannot afford to look too radical. He must be more Bill Cosby than Huey Newton if he is to win over Middle America.

And then again, after eight years of erratic (at times, even reckless) leadership in the White House, a bit of stolidness and level-headedness would indeed constitute a noticeable 'change', wouldn't it?

I don't pretend that he's got the election in the bag; I'm sure it will be a close one, definitely too close to call at this point. But I think the Biden pick shows something about Obama that has helped to bring him this far in American politics, and may yet take him to the finishline: his amazing talent for seeming so reassuring and unthreatening--definitely unprecedented in a black politician.