Biden: His Time?

By Jonathan Allen | August 19, 2008 9:02 PM | | Comments (0)

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden could not be any hotter.

Howard Fineman cited two other finalists pointing to Biden in an analysis for MSNBC today.

Biden told reporters "I'm not the guy." But that doesn't mean he won't become "the guy" by tomorrow or the next day.

Here's are some quick pros:
  1. Biden's experience with international affairs is heralded with his title, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  2. Biden knows how to play the important vice presidential role of attack dog, as he did during the debate over Supreme Court nominees Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork.
  3. He could help shore up a couple of important constituencies for Obama: white Catholics and Latinos. Obama struggled with both groups in the Democratic primary. Biden's working-class Catholic background could help with that set of voters, and both his faith and his support for more liberal immigration laws might appeal to Latinos.
  4. Biden is more moderate than most people think. His high-profile role in judicial nominations gives him a liberal image, but he is a centrist on many issues both foreign and domestic.
And a few cons:
  1. Biden could say anything at any time -- ranging from the incisive to the insightful to the funny to the offensive to the weird. Reporters love it; presidential campaign aides not so much.
  2. The Experience Trap: Biden's long foreign policy resume and facility with international affairs could draw even more attention to the thinner record of Obama, who is a junior member of Biden's committee. If Obama is seen as the least ready of the four presidential and vice presidential nominees between the two parties, it could be harmful to him. Then again, picking a running mate with little or no foreign policy or national security experience might be worse.
  3. It is also a pro, but Biden is more moderate than most people think. He has parted with liberal Democratic orthodoxy on any number of issues, including -- but not limited to -- his support for a ban on late-term (or partial birth) abortions, free trade, tax cuts for married couples, and -- way back when -- legislation intended to prevent the busing of students to achieve desegregation of schools.

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