Nope you're completely right. It is damned if you do and damned if you don't. Obama could choose anyone and McCain and the republicans would go after the pick. That's just the way it is. Had he chosen Hillary, McCain would of came out with the exact same statement but saying Hillary instead of Obama. Obama’s lack of a experience If he went with Tom Kaine it’d be lack of experience. Sam Nunn would upset the left and I think a lot of Hillary supporters would go after him even more. Plus Georgia is probably wishful thinking. Evan Bayh is boring and would get hammered in the debate. The thing Biden gives Obama is he helps him with Pennsylvania and Obama has to win that. He helps him with experience and he helps him with let’s face it white older guys. Biden is also a great debater and if McCain goes Romney like I think a lot of people are pushing him, McCain cannot paint Obama/Biden as two guys who disagree with one another or don’t get along because McCain and Romeny flat out don’t like each other. McCain pretty nasty towards Romeny in the primaries. As for Bill Richardson. If Obama is elected he'll be on his short list for secretary of state. I actually kind of wish Obama would be bold and come out and name some cabinet members before he gets elected. Saying if I win here is who would get this job. He could also spin that with change..
Apparently Obama's campaign is saying a part of the reason they chose Biden is to have someone who's going to challenge Obama and isn't a "yes man" like Bush surrounded himself with. Still probably going to hurt him at Biden was trashing him but I guess the idea is to tell the people "look this old bastard was critical of Obama too but he still thinks hes teh roxxors".
Since Bill Clinton, the Dems have made some questionable VP picks. Lieberman was a horrible selection, Edwards did nothing for Kerry, and in my opinion, Biden will have little to no impact for Obama.
This ticket reminds me of GW Bush's choice to have Dick Cheney as his running mate back in 2000. GW's only political job prior to becoming President was Governor of Texas for the previous 5 years. That's it. Cheney, on the other hand, had years of service in government, starting back in 1975. One could say that Cheney was the "insider" when comparing the two, having been part of Gerald Ford and Bush Sr.'s cabinet. Lets not forget he spent 10 years in the House of Representatives and later became Minority Whip.
I just watched her answer some questions on TV. Someone asked her if/how she would support Obama. She said, "we already have been....my opponent..." Why now is she still calling Obama "my opponent"? She lost! It's over for her this year, yet she still refers to him that way. What a bitch!
Cheney was Ford's chief of staff, basically the guy who really ran things. However, the similarities are pretty strong. Both he and Biden picked with a candidate perceived as weak on foreign policy issues, both he and Biden with strong military credentials.
Obama had two "safe" choices - Hillary and Richardson. The parallel to his situation was 1960, when the inexperienced John Kennedy and super-experienced LBJ fought a tough campaign. The party was split in a similar manner, and JFK reached out to LBJ and took him on as VP. The election turned out to be a squeaker, and if Nixon had gone the Gore route - suing in states the election was close - he might have won.
