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Aug
23
Because I was in Shabbos mode throughout the late afternoon and evening and refused to turn on my computer even when I heard at 7:57am that NPR was going to profile the choice, who they didn’t name. But when they did, at 8:00am, well – I went outside and did an end-zone dance in the driveway, then came back in and turned this on.
First thoughts: he’s great for Israel, he’s going to acceptable to a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters and he’s going to piss off the pro-Jim Webb guys. He said some indelicate things during the primary that will have to be swatted away and he reminds me of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s choice of Lee Fisher – which was damn smart.
Here are all the times I’ve mentioned Biden, and here’s why I felt confident in my choice of Biden as president (speaking on the failure of the Bush administration in the Middle East):
Obama simply does not have the gravitas to say that – yes, he can say the exact same words in the exact same tone, but it will not be heard or inferred by listeners the way it is when Biden says it.
But the bottom line of joy for me? I’ve been feeling lousy about not having been more active from the start in relation to my support for Biden from the beginning. Not just lousy, but guilty. I still feel guilty and will work hard to be sure I don’t let that happen again.
But now – with Biden as the Democratic VP choice, I can whole-heartedly support this ticket – not just vote for it, and I can offer remuneration for the time and energy I didn’t put out for Biden as a prez choice by putting out time and energy for his ticket.
Very happy voter here.
Other voters? In Ohio? Let’s just say that I don’t see any evidence of any other Ohio blogs humming happy about this choice. But it is only 8:24am.
UPDATE: Redhorse has a perfect pitch post about the wisdom of this choice.
Who is Joe Biden, for those who don’t know him? Start here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:31 am August 23rd, 2008 in Announcements, Barack Obama, Campaigning, Democrats, Elections, Joe Biden, Politics, Vice President, Voting, WH2008, Women
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14 Responses to “Biden! Yes! Did the Happy Dance at 8:01am”
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Biden — the perfect foil for Palin!
“Ted” – please don’t astroturf, ok? I saw you leave this same comment at The Point.
I wanted Biden in ‘88, a Biden/Bradley ticket in 2000 and have been emailing Biden’s office off and on for last four years. This isn’t exactly how I wanted it to turn out but I have to agree with you, this is the first time I’ve been excited about a ticket in years. Yeehaw! I got my text at 3:13 am and was still up lol.
Thanks, Jill, for answering my email question in your post! Still don’t feel that I know enough about Biden to choose an emotion. I’ll get back to you!
Biden is a great choice and it’s a great ticket. I’d hate to be the Republican that McCain chooses to go up against him.
Both members of this ticket voted for cloture on the FISA Amendment Act of 2008.
One member of the ticket endorsed a total ban on semi-automatic firearms. The other is on record as saying “Banning guns is an idea whose time has come.”
I can’t imagine being less enthusiastic about the Democratic ticket. I guess I’ll still vote for these guys, as they’re probably a lesser evil than the Republicans. I just hope I’m not so drunk that I fill in the wrong oval.
Having read your Election ‘08 commentary all along, it’s fascinating to watch the right lever be checked with you — click! You are now on board. I wonder, reading the other comments over on BlogHer 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?
No effect. Clinton would have had an effect – probably positive, but maybe negative. Is the old “do no harm pick.”
I am just glad it is over.
I’m relieved at the Biden pick, but I’m not voting for the Obama-Biden ticket. Over the last several hours, the TV news media has done a good job comparing these two to each other, and the contrast makes Obama look all the worse. The ticket only works if Obama defers to Biden on foreign policy.
Thank you Lisa for asking that – you never let us ride!
For the benefit of others, here’s the answer I posted at BlogHer:
You have to ask the hardest questions, now,
don’t you!?
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.
How’d I do?
Here is my take on Biden after much thought; he is the maverick who went to Washington and did what John McCain only sometimes did…he stayed focused on the civility needed to work change because he really is of that era that embraced working with Republicans. This is a microcosm of what needs to happen on the Internat’l level and the two of them are sympatico on this (well at least the record Obama has so far shows he has done it and Joe’s extensive record proves he does it consistently. I really think the Obama campaign needs to focus on the idea that Biden is a tried and true maverick who wants to try ideas and get bipartisan suppport and that experience enhances the ticket and is in line with Obama’s values and direction.
Barack Obama, btw, pretty much came up with 57 reasons to support Biden
I appreciated you reprinting your BlogHer comments and they are very cool and give me an insight into (more than before) how you think. So I guess I have to make it clear that I am not really a democrat. I don’t like being one now but if we can get back to bipartisan workmanship I might not mind. Ohio makes me register in order to vote in the primaries so I am registered as a dem currently. For half of the prez elections I’ve voted in I have not voted for either party (that was not an option this year it’s too important). Ok Im done lol
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