Issue date: 8/26/08 Section: The Roundtable

The long-awaited announcement of Sen. Barack Obama's running mate was made this weekend. And while I wasn't among the ones waiting with bated breath for a text message from his campaign headquarters, I was curious about who he would choose, and if I would agree with the choice.

At first I didn't. I didn't think Obama could have picked a worse veep if he tried, and wasn't sure that Biden would help catapult Obama into office. Especially considering his propensity to stick his foot in his mouth.

For example, last spring Biden found himself deferring a controversial description of Obama. Biden said Obama was "the first mainstream African American [presidential candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Also a too liberal candidacy is not going to sway the needed Republicans, and since the National Journal voted Obama as the most liberal senator and Biden came in third, it's pretty much the most liberal hat that the Democrats have ever thrown into the ring.

But, that in itself, can be a selling point.

Biden has some good points, the best being just how long he's been in Washington. After 35 years he's practically Mr. Establishment of the Senate. Biden's been a senator since Obama was 11 years old, and that helps balance out Obama's so-called inexperience. Entrusting the presidency to a 47-year-old - who four years ago today wasn't even a senator - might just be a little bit easier if there's a seasoned political vet standing in the wings.

Biden's also Roman Catholic, he's the son of a salesman and the father of a National Guard captain scheduled for deployment to Iraq. All this gives Biden "street cred" with the lunch-bucket Democrats who preferred Hillary Clinton over Obama in the primaries.

That can't hurt.

My original problem with Biden was that I was a big Obama-Clinton fan. I figured Clinton would be the grease to send Obama sliding into office. But while Democratic zealots may want the mold broken, Obama-Clinton probably wouldn't fly with the undecided voters who aren't looking for novelty in their next president.

So I've come to the conclusion that Biden is the ticket for Obama. Biden fills the foreign policy slot, not just with his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but also because of his support for political reconciliation in Iraq. He'll be able to help Obama in the area of foreign policy. He's also perhaps the only potential veep who could immediately and credibly go toe-to-toe with McCain on Iraq, terrorism, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But all this experience can be bad, too. It's not going to be easy for Obama to convince voters of his message for change, with a seasoned Washington politician by his side.

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Contact Corrine at corrine.asbell@gmail.com

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