Well...Barack Obama's still the best of the two choices by far, but...I'm not too excited about his selection of Joe Biden as his running mate.
On paper, this seems logical. Old, blue collar white guys are afraid of Barack Obama, at least partly because they think he doesn't have experience. So what does he do? He gets an old, blue collar white guy who's been in the senate 36 years to be his running mate. Now they see some white hair and wrinkles on the ticket, and maybe he sells them.
But how about dancing with the one that brung him? Barack Obama's mantra has been "change!" "A new kind of politics!" He was supposed to be refreshing after 20 years of Bushes and Clintons. So who would be his running mate? Some young buck who would thrill the politically-knowing while not upstaging the star. Maybe a guy from the South, someone with military experience and cross-shaped cuff links who would allay the fears of those for whom Obama is too exotic.
The choice, though, is not a fresh face in the slightest. I know Joe Biden from interviews on
Meet the Press and clips of
The Daily Show. He seems committed and passionate, but his presence just does not say "change." It looks more like Obama is saying, "Hey, don't fret, everybody. My old, white chaperon is here to make sure I don't get carried away."
Ideally Hillary Clinton would've been the VP pick, but that went down the tubes with her Tony Rezko comment at one of the debates. I kinda thought Bill Richardson, a Mexican, or Bobby Jindal, an Indian, would've been interesting choices, in keeping with the "change" mantra and perhaps galvanizing growing minority votes.
But no, it's old plagiarizin' Joe. Oh, that's another thing I just read about today that really makes me stand up and tingle for this ticket: Joe Biden was caught red-handed
lifting an entire speech from a British Labor Party leader in 1988, including childhood anecdotes. The tipoff was when he started talking about memories of his mom's mutton stew and afternoon tea after cricket practice. Not the norm for a Scranton boy.
Okay, when you get right down to it, I hope Barack Obama kept his receipt on this purchase. It's nowhere near 30 days so I'm pretty sure he can return the unused portion for a full refund.
Jimmy Page Closes Beijing Olympics
Something I
was excited about was Jimmy Page playing at the closing ceremony of the Olympics. While he was clearly miming "Whole Lotta Love," it was cool to see one of my heroes getting credit at the largest event in the world. (However if London was responsible for their part of the closing ceremony, they had better check into hiring Beijing's guy QUICK. That double decker bus skit made no sense whatsoever.)
More of the same. Yawn.
The Republicans will probably run out Bush 41 to try and conjure up the memory of the late, great Ronald Reagan and some obscure black conservative to show they have street cred.
For instance, the rock 'n' roll of the `60's is held as the gold standard to this day, while a `80's band like Motley Crue are looked at as clowns. But when I was in high school, Motley Crue was practically as big as the Beatles! Why should my generation's icons be denigrated?
Then in politics, this is the first election we've had in 30 years where Vietnam hasn't been an issue. No, wait! It's STILL an issue! John McCain is still talking about Vietnam! Now maybe Joe Biden can quote John Lennon and talk about how inspirational it was to see Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and we'll be back to business as usual.
Michelle Obama's speech tonight really knocked me out, though. I think if they can keep that momentum up, McCain is gonna get steamrolled.