My Man Biden

There are lots of reasons why Joe Biden is a great pick for VP, but one of the best reasons is that several of his purported weaknesses as an insider or egotist actually work to his and Obama's advantage. If we've learned one thing from the past eight years it's that a rogue VP let off the leash can do a lot of damage. Unlike Cheney, Biden splits the difference between team player and independent, and his presence in the White House would be more productive than destructive. He'll get things done, but on Obama's terms.

It is intriguing, however, that one of the main legacies of President Job will likely be that the VP slot will finally mean something concrete, that now and in the future the VP pick will mean adding another active power player to the ticket rather than just a bland meet-and-greet cuckold who bakes cookies or pretends to care when a busy president doesn't have the time to hang out at elementary schools reading books to kids.

In fact, Biden is every bit the "maverick" that people still stubbornly, stupidly claim McCain to be, except his idea of compromise doesn't compromise his own ideals for personal gain. And more importantly, unlike McCain, I bet Biden knows how many homes he owns.

I Can't Wait

1) I can't for all of McCain's baggage to be laid bare, now that Clinton is out of the picture and the lazy press moves on to the main event. It's hard to believe, but some people actually think he's not a right wing nutjob! Maybe said lazy press will stop taking it easy on this easy, easy target.

2) I can't wait to see Clinton, her husband, and all she stands for stamped and stowed away for good as products of the past rather than hope for the future.

3) I can't wait to see Barack Obama at least take a stab at fulfilling all the promises he's made. But the biggest promise he's made so far has been less specific than symbolic: he's promised to point America back in the right direction. Sure, lots of politicians make that promise, but few follow so many years of things in this country being so wrong.

4) I can't wait for President Job to fade (even further!) in estimation and esteem like a lesser Nixon. I predict he'll live out many of his last years in isolation, surrounded by the few friends and loyalists not totally humiliated or appalled by further revelations of his legacy, even as other friends and loyalists continue to leave his leper colony of a destructive dumb-dumb cabal.

What Goes Around

When Hillary Clinton brought up Tony Rezco's loose association with Barack Obama, photos circulated of the alleged real estate scofflaw posing with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Controversy neutralized. When Hillary Clinton put the spotlight squarely on Obama's ex-preacher, photos circulated of that same ex-preachers holding court at a private function hosted by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Add to that Obama's historic speech on race in America, and the controversy was contained. Again and again, Hillary attacked Obama, again and again Obama thwarted or withstood those attacks.

Hillary's recent regular allusions to the 2000 Florida vote is another matter entirely. Considering 2000 remains an open wound, a sore point among all democrats, bringing it up is a lot like opening Pandora's Box: shoving those bad feelings back inside is pretty much impossible once they're unleashed. When they're out, they're out, like a roving storm cloud hanging over the party, constantly threatening rain.

I used to think this would hurt the democrats, but not anymore. I used to think this would hurt Barack Obama, but not any more. I'm still pretty confident he'll win in November. No, I think the person who will be hurt most by this nonsense is Hillary Clinton herself. In light of her semi-scorched earth campaign, cynicism and selfishness, I predict we'll see the grassroots left turn on Clinton, as they turned on proud spanner in the works Ralph Nader and turncoat Joe Lieberman (among others of the old guard). I predict, come the next NY senate race, that if she insists on not playing nice, an alternative candidate to Clinton will be put forth.

After all, why would one elect a senator all but certain to jump ship to some higher office at the earliest convenience? One who puts personal gain over party unity? One whose very name will come to stand for the same kind of stubbornness and divisiveness that's marked the Bush administration?

Maybe this is all an exaggeration, but I'm not so sure. The Clinton supporters threatening to stay home in November or even to vote for McCain seem like fair-weather friends. How could any democrat, let alone feminist, vote republican in good conscience? They can go. This group will fade in fervor and force. But the grassroots left holds grudges. That may appear to go against party unity, but I think putting smug, self-satisfied, egomaniacal pols like the Clintons out to pasture will go further toward achieving that than most people realize.

Barack Obama, as quoted in Men's Vogue, 2006

"My attitude about something like the presidency is that you don't want to just be the president. You want to change the country. You want to make a unique contribution. You want to be a great president."


Time flies, but the guy has been nothing if not consistent.

End It

Peggy Noonan is a political hack like all the rest, but she's been writing some perceptive, compelling columns about Hillary Clinton this past election cycle. This one is a doozy. Doesn't it mean something when even a Republican mouthpiece starts making sense and accusing Clinton of racially polarizing, destructive behavior? If a candidate (Clinton) literally has no way of legitimately winning, isn't her persistence the very epitome of patronizing and entitled? What, she's going to keep campaigning until she can find some way to destroy Barack Obama? And then what? Having destroying the vessel of change, the real alternative to the previous boomer generation of mechanical politics, what will she - and by extension, we - be left with? Demoralizing tatters of a future that once nearly was but suddenly seems farther away than ever before.

If Clinton doesn't end this - and she's the only one who can end this, really - she's going to find herself a pariah that makes Ralph Nader look reasonable.