Politics

The long anticipated democratic VP selection has been made as Obama chooses Washington insider, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, over others who could have echoed his message of change. Of course, Biden, a 30-year senator and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, will give Obama some foreign policy clout in the election. Still, I think in selecting Biden, Obama is admitting that he lacks the experience he needs to be president. The McCain campaign has already pounced on this idea in the following statement:

“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.”

And what does Joe Biden think of his new “boss”? During his failed presidential bid last year, Biden described Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Notwithstanding the racial slam, he basically says that Obama is all form and no substance, which is just the argument McCain is making against Obama.

So, what impact will the Biden selection have on the upcoming election? According to WaPo, not much:

Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate is unlikely to shake-up the presidential horse race. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll completed last night, three-quarters of voters said picking Biden would not sway their votes one way or the other. And about as many said they would be more apt to support Obama with Biden on the ticket as said the choice would make them less likely to vote Democratic on Election Day (13 to 10 percent).” (emphasis mine)

The bottom line is you can’t tout a message of change while sticking with the status quo.

MORE: Michelle Malkin; Hot Air: here and some interesting info on Biden’s ties to lobbyists here; The American Pundit; Webloggin; Flopping Aces; RedState

Imagine BHO on Fox’s Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? …

Jeff Foxworthy: “So, Mr. Obama, you’ve chosen 1st Grade Geography as your category and here’s your question: How many states are there in the continental United States?”

Barack Obama: “Well, Jeff, I’ve visited 57 states with one more to go, so that means there are 58 continental United States.”

Jeff Foxworthy: “Wow! You really aren’t smarter than a 5th grader!”

Funny, certainly, if it wasn’t true!

Campaigning in Oregon yesterday, Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, claimed:

“Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it.”

(there’s nothing more I can add to that)

MORE: Hot Air; Webloggin; Power Line; American Pundit; Stop the ACLU; Flopping Aces.

Senator Barack Obama, campaigning for President in Levittown, PA, claims his foreign policy credentials stem from “real-life” experiences abroad. Apparently growing up in Indonesia, spending three weeks in Pakistan with a side trip to India and having ties to relatives in Kenya gives one the requisite foreign policy experience to be President of the United States. It’s laughable!

Senator Obama and I are roughly the same age. In the last twenty years or so, I’ve visited or lived in Portugal (and the Azores), Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Guam and Mexico; I’ve also lived in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Colorado and New Mexico; and I’ve visited most of the remaining United States. Therefore based on my broad foreign policy (and domestic!) “real-life” experience, I am hereby announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America!

Unlike Senator Obama, I tout my experience tongue-in-cheek and recognize it for what it is and more importantly what it is not: qualifying experience to be President. Furthermore, unlike Obama, I will not even attempt to equate my experiences with those of Senator John McCain. As Mark Salter, a McCain senior adviser points out:

“When John McCain travels on official business, he meets with presidents, prime ministers, foreign and defense ministers, members of parliament, human rights leaders, N.G.O.’s, business leaders and journalists so that he acquires a full understanding of the country he visits and the issues at stake in our relations” … “Oh, and as Senator Obama may know, he has actually spent some time living abroad as well.”

Senator Obama: You do not have the first-hand foreign-policy experience of Senator McCain; stop pushing your childhood and backpacking college days as an equivalent. A mark of good leadership is to recognize one’s limitations and legitimately work to overcome them. Spinning your limited credentials in this area into something more than they are demonstrates that you recognize those shortcomings; stop making excuses and trying to veil those shortcomings in rhetoric–if you want to be President, try being honest with the American people!

MORE:

Pejman Yousefzadeh at RedState is also announcing his candidacy based on “extensive” travels abroad.

The Confederate Yankee responds to a Huffington Post article that essentially claims Obama is a foreign policy expert. Great read!

After cautioning against any sweeping government housing-crisis bailout, Presidential-hopeful John McCain proposes a–well, how would you describe it?–a sweeping government housing-crisis bailout. McCain’s plan would cost taxpayers $3 to $10 billion and “would allow certain homeowners whose houses are worth less than their mortgages to apply for assistance.” In addition, “their lenders would agree to write off part of the loan. In return, the Federal Housing Administration would guarantee the new loan.” McCain estimates his plan will help 200,000 to 400,000 “deserving homeowners” whose adjustable rate mortgages are resetting at unaffordable levels.

Whatever happened to individual responsibility? After all, just a couple weeks ago Senator McCain said,

“I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”

Alas, the man who said he “will not play election year politics with the housing crisis” is doing just that: giving in to political expediency. Disappointing, indeed.

MORE:

Michelle Malkin weighs in and has some commentary on the “subprime boondoggle” the Senate passed this afternoon.