Obama-Biden: Pleasant Surprise and Wise Choice

Back during the primaries, I cited this pairing as my idea of the dream ticket - not because I could foresee it happening, but because I liked the look of Biden just as much, if not secretly more, than Obama, mainly because of his foreign policy experience. I was, therefore, thrilled to hear him announced as running mate, even though I never realisitically expected him to get it.

The immediate response to him in the press has been predictable in terms of the pros and cons assessment of Biden and what he will bring to the ticket. Only one commentator though, Justin Webb of the BBC, has mentioned what for me is the biggest risk of Obama´s choice: people starting to wander if the ticket should not be the other way round. As admirably mature as Obama´s decision was, bringing in a popular, headstrong, wise and very experienced Senator who is more than a match for McCain in his own right, has ironically made Obama look like something of a rookie.That said, I am not too concerned. Once the campaign is in full swing, Obama won´t hesistate to remind people who is calling the shots and his maturity will shine through. Besides, a fresh open minded approach is exactly what the US needs right now.

In many ways, Obama´s selection of Biden is very much like Kennedy´s choice of Johnson for running mate in 1960 - an experienced and accomplished political operator who knows Washington better than anybody. However, there is a warning in that too. Johnson and Kennedy strongly disagreed on foreign policy with Johnson lacking Kennedy´s in depth understanding of foreign affairs and innovative approach to dealing with the Soviet Union. Fortunately, this time it´s the VP who has all the foreign policy nous and as long as Obama is serious about making the right decisions for the country he´ll pay close attention to what he has to say.