What happened to Hope and Change?

I'm inclined to agree. Biden is clearly the conservative political move. A Sebelius pick would have emphasized change. The Biden move is sort of hypocritical. I'm unimpressed.

Incidentally, someone made the point yesterday that it would probably make sense for McCain to pick a female running mate. I think I agree. Apart from looking more "alternative" than the Obama ticket on the surface, it might make it more difficult for Biden to deploy his big guns in a debate. Rightly or wrongly, what might look amusing and sharp if deployed against Romney might well come over as bullying and pompous if deployed against someone like Palin.

Not WRIGHT for America has a hilarious spoof post about Obama debating Biden instead of McCain. http://www.notwrightforamerica.com. That sums up the problems with the Biden pick.

I'd say this is pretty shrewd. That said:

- Aren't Catholics trending Democrat anyway?
- I've already read a couple of comments from the Right along the lines that there'll be a push to try to get Biden denied communion in order to embarrass him, as happened with Kerry.

I mean, it's not like vice president candidates actually affect elections. Has there been anyone besides LBJ in the past 100 years?

But for those determined to derive campaign meaning from the selection, then I would suggest that Biden's most important attribute by a great deal is that he's catholic.

Think what you want about Biden, and I think that given Obama's stubborn and wrongheaded unwillingness to pick Hillary Clinton and put a lock on the election, Biden was the best choice politically that Obama was willing to make (imagine the political disaster if he had picked Sebelius). But the rollout of Biden was disastrously bad, unless the idea is to make sure as few people know as possible. Half of the country will not know until Monday when the Convention starts. Obama should have announced Biden last Monday. An F for the Obama campaign on the mechanics of the rollout.

So James, will Biden make you more likely to support Obama come November?

I'm a committed voter and not the target audience. It's the mushy undecideds that the campaigns are after, as well as trying to energize their bases.

Now, if Biden were on top of the ticket against, say, Mike Huckabee, then I'd likely be up for grabs. But I'm not sure McCain could make a VP choice bad enough to make me seriously consider voting for Obama.

Barry Obama Says “No More Mister Nice Guy” By Naming World-Famous Hatchet-Guy And Zinger-Slinger Joseph Biden For Running Mate
First things first — my apologies to our devoted readers for getting the Obama veep pick wrong not just onc...

I wonder how he will deal with the current McCain ad in which it depicts Biden ripping on Obama and praising McCain