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Thursday, September 11, 2008
Did Obama blow it in picking Biden?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Barack Obama blew it when he opted not to pick Hillary as his vice president, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday. “She would have unified the party in one evening…and they would have been almost unbeatable,” he argued.
Furthermore, he said, with Hillary on the Democratic ticket, John McCain would not have chosen Gov. Sarah Palin.
The question of the day is this: Did Obama blow it in picking Joe Biden? My first reaction was that Biden was not a terrible choice. He did, indeed, offer some reassurance to those who are uncomfortable with the prospect that an inexperienced guy the nation doesn’t really know has his finger on the nuclear trigger.
But in the days after Palin’s selection and after watching her at the convention, I’m convinced that Gingrich is right. Hillary would have been a better choice, though it would have been hard to keep her from overshadowing Obama, even in the White House. If not Hillary, a woman from outside Washington who could excite Democrats.
The Obama campaign, recognizing that Georgia is unwinnable, is pulling staff from the state. In recent days I’ve been in the part of the state south of the gnat line and I can tell you that people have taken notice of Palin and like what they see. She’s sparked the energy Republicans needed and, according to a poll of Independents, she and McCain are moving those numbers as well. A new Fox News poll has McCain leading Obama 46-31 among Independents. A month ago, Obama led by one point.
The good Biden will do the ticket has been done. His pick told the nation that an experienced foreign policy guy would be at the table when important national security decisions are being made. Beyond that, he doesn’t help. Palin does.
I was dining a few months ago with a group that including a young man who didn’t particularly like the menu selection he’d made. Mine, he thought, was better.
“You out-ordered me,” he said.
There’s no question McCain “out-veeped” Obama.
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