Latest Under The Bus - The Promise Of Change

The central message of Obama's campaign is that he will bring some undefined, utopian "change" to Washington and the business of politics as usual. Over the past year, he has justified voting for him because of the "fierce urgency of now," a phrase used by MLK to tell America that it could wait no longer to respond to the civil rights problems that dominated the 1960's. Obama used MLK's phrase to claim that America could not afford to wait for him to gain the experience necessary to be commander in chief - change was needed now.

It appears that the "fierce urgency of now" has been replaced of the fierce urgency of taking the focus off of Obama's inexperience and his reoccuring foreign policy gaffes, the latest of which was his weak response to the Russian invasion of Georgia. The Hope and Changemonger in Chief has, by choosing Sen Joe Biden as his VP, tossed the mantle of "change" under the bus. You can't get more of a Washington insider than Biden, a man who has spent almost 35 years in Congress. Even the AP is sputtering over this one.

Update: And even Kos agrees that Obama's choise of Biden tosses the mantle of change under the bus and only serves to highlight Obama's gaping weaknesses.
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This from the AP's Ron Fournier:

. . . In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness — inexperience in office and on foreign policy — rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.

He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate — the ultimate insider — rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't even make his short list.

The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack.

. . . A senior Obama adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his boss has expressed impatience with what he calls a "reverence" inside his campaign for his message of change and new politics. In other words, Obama is willing — even eager — to risk what got him this far if it gets him to the White House.

. . . So the question is whether Biden's depth counters Obama's inexperience — or highlights it?

After all, Biden is anything but a change agent, having been in office longer than half of all Americans have been alive. Longer than McCain.

And he talks too much.

. . . And there's the 2007 ABC interview in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.

It seems Obama is worried that some voters are starting to agree.

Read the entire article. And there is this from Kos:

I wrote a a month ago:

we really, really don't want to pick someone who plugs a supposed gap in Obama's armor. You pick Wes Clark, and people won't see "phew, national security is covered!". Nope, they'll see, "Obama is trying to compensate for his lack of national security creds!" And whether it's Sam Nunn, or Joe Biden, or anyone else who supposedly patches up a weakness, the end result would be what Gore had to endure in 2000 -- "He picked Joe Lieberman to compensate for Gore's 'Bill Clinton' problem."

So now Biden is Obama's pick, and he's clearly not a reinforcing one. If Obama's core message is "change" and "judgment" based on his prescience on the Iraq War vote, well then, Biden is the exact opposite of those things. And the media has reacted accordingly. NY Times:

...Mr. Obama’s choice of Mr. Biden suggested some of the weaknesses the Obama campaign is trying to address at a time when at a time when national polls suggest that his race with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is tightening.

At the Wasington Post homepage, the blurb teasing their Biden story says:

In a move aimed at shoring up his foreign policy credentials, Barack Obama will share Democratic ticket with Delaware Senator Joseph R. Biden.

McCain's mole at the Associated Press, Ron Fournier, is gleefully at it as well. . . .

Not surprisingly, the times that I agree with Kos can be counted on one hand, even if I'm wearing a mitten. But I think he is right on this one. People are going to vote for or against Obama, irrespective of Biden. Biden comes with his own ton of baggage and he represents such a change from Obama that he will only serve to highlight Obama's weaknesses. Indeed, the McCain campaign is already busy pointing that out:

Today, McCain spokesman Ben Porritt issued the following statement on Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate:

“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden. Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be President.”

People who are paniced and desperate make poor decisions. Obama's choice to start attacking McCain's character and associations is his first huge mistake. Choosing Biden as VP is his second.

(H/T Gateway Pundit)