It is clear from the rumor mill that Delaware Sen. Joe Biden is the insider's choice to be Barack Obama's VP. And what do I mean by that?
Well, if you've been listening to the talking head pundits during the past few weeks, Biden has emerged as the acceptable candidate of the Beltway media insiders. On "Meet the Press" this week, to a fault, all the roundtable guests said the blow up in the Georgia/Russia conflict put Biden in the front passenger seat.
But, you know, the majority of ordinary Americans don't care about foreign policy. The media likes to tell them to think about it. But they don't. They don't care about the Georgia/Russia conflict, or missiles fired by Iran, or protecting Israel from annihilation. No, ho-hum. The majority of ordinary Americans don't care about any of those things. They care about the economy, health care, and how they are going to make ends meet and make their children's lives better than their own, while many of them are already living pretty well.
So, why would the mainstream punditry be pushing someone like Biden? Well, they like him. They feel comfortable with him. He talks to them and is ingratiating. He is the consummate cocktail party crowd guy. And that's what they want.
If John McCain picks Mitt Romney, he at least is looking for someone who can attempt to bring hope on the economic side. Sure, the reality is that Romney made is hundreds of millions putting slews of people out of work and making money for Wall Street, not Main Street.
But most folks won't hear that. They'll hear "prosperity" and "freedom" and "opportunity" and they'll get glassy-eyed with delight, almost as if they were John Kerry at a Nantucket drinking party with a bunch of cute college hotties.
When the flags start waving, we all start to feel a little lump in our throats. But one will have to wonder if that will be enough for the Republicans this time.
What Obama needs is someone who can bring economic populism to the ticket. He truly needs someone who has fought for workers and will fight again. Someone who will end the days when the Democrats give the middle class folks the raw deal. It's terrible what is going on overseas. But we have people who are starving and dying right here at home.
Dick Gephardt would be such a candidate who could bring that to the Democratic ticket. Rep. Marcy Kaptur would be too. John Edwards would have brought that to the ticket and could have in 2004 had he not been handcuffed by Kerry's clueless campaign manipulators.
Imagine for a second, Kaptur or Gephardt campaigning at every closed factory across Ohio and Michigan, talking about jobs, jobs, jobs ... talking about how the future is to combat globalism with new technologies and investments and Main Street not Wall Street. None of the people on the short list - Bayh, Biden, Clinton, Kaine, etc. - can bring that spunk of Americanism to the Democrats.
Update: Here are poll results from Daily Kos:
Here they are from Drudge:
{{{{DRUDGE POLL}}}}WHO WILL BE OBAMA'S VP?
Bayh
Biden
Clinton
Kaine
Kerry
Nunn
A Wildcard
Total Votes: 42,786
Well, if you've been listening to the talking head pundits during the past few weeks, Biden has emerged as the acceptable candidate of the Beltway media insiders. On "Meet the Press" this week, to a fault, all the roundtable guests said the blow up in the Georgia/Russia conflict put Biden in the front passenger seat.
But, you know, the majority of ordinary Americans don't care about foreign policy. The media likes to tell them to think about it. But they don't. They don't care about the Georgia/Russia conflict, or missiles fired by Iran, or protecting Israel from annihilation. No, ho-hum. The majority of ordinary Americans don't care about any of those things. They care about the economy, health care, and how they are going to make ends meet and make their children's lives better than their own, while many of them are already living pretty well.
So, why would the mainstream punditry be pushing someone like Biden? Well, they like him. They feel comfortable with him. He talks to them and is ingratiating. He is the consummate cocktail party crowd guy. And that's what they want.
If John McCain picks Mitt Romney, he at least is looking for someone who can attempt to bring hope on the economic side. Sure, the reality is that Romney made is hundreds of millions putting slews of people out of work and making money for Wall Street, not Main Street.
But most folks won't hear that. They'll hear "prosperity" and "freedom" and "opportunity" and they'll get glassy-eyed with delight, almost as if they were John Kerry at a Nantucket drinking party with a bunch of cute college hotties.
When the flags start waving, we all start to feel a little lump in our throats. But one will have to wonder if that will be enough for the Republicans this time.
What Obama needs is someone who can bring economic populism to the ticket. He truly needs someone who has fought for workers and will fight again. Someone who will end the days when the Democrats give the middle class folks the raw deal. It's terrible what is going on overseas. But we have people who are starving and dying right here at home.
Dick Gephardt would be such a candidate who could bring that to the Democratic ticket. Rep. Marcy Kaptur would be too. John Edwards would have brought that to the ticket and could have in 2004 had he not been handcuffed by Kerry's clueless campaign manipulators.
Imagine for a second, Kaptur or Gephardt campaigning at every closed factory across Ohio and Michigan, talking about jobs, jobs, jobs ... talking about how the future is to combat globalism with new technologies and investments and Main Street not Wall Street. None of the people on the short list - Bayh, Biden, Clinton, Kaine, etc. - can bring that spunk of Americanism to the Democrats.
Update: Here are poll results from Daily Kos:
Here they are from Drudge:
{{{{DRUDGE POLL}}}}WHO WILL BE OBAMA'S VP?
Bayh
| 12% | 4,939 |
| 24% | 10,305 |
| 10% | 4,231 |
| 6% | 2,708 |
| 7% | 2,921 |
| 3% | 1,467 |
| 38% | 16,215 |
Total Votes: 42,786
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