So, It’s MBNA Joe - and I’m Underwhelmed
Joe Biden has been selected as Barack Obama’s running mate. Please excuse me if my enthusiasm level for the presidential race has dropped a notch further than it already was. While Obama has moved toward the political center in the past few months, MBNA Joe was already there long ago on most issues.
I’m not quite sure what to say, other than I’m underwhelmed.
Joe Biden (D-MBNA) was always Barack Obama’s “safe choice” for the Democratic Party VP nomination, and if nothing else, Obama had to select a running mate who was:
- A fairly reliable establishment Dem
- A Caucasian American
- A Penile American
Let’s take a read-back to the other day, when Obama described some of the criteria regarding his VP choice:
Obama said he wanted somebody who is “prepared to be president” and who will be “a partner with me in strengthening this economy for the middle class and working families.”
He said he was looking for not just a partner but a sparring partner. “I want somebody who’s independent, somebody who can push against my preconceived notions and challenge me so we have got a robust debate in the White House.”
And now, let’s quickly take Obama’s criteria apart, attribute by attribute, with respect to Joe Biden:
- Prepared to be president:
Joe Biden’s been around in politics for a long time. Basically, he’s a career politician from a small state in the Philadelphia media market. There’s no question that he cuts a fairly strong presence in one-on-one interviews, both in print and on the tube (Biden seems to thrive on the Sunday talkies). Having run for the office twice, he’s certainly developed the presence to be president. And, I guess to the legacy media, Biden also brings a certain illusion of gravitas to the ticket.
- A partner in strengthening this economy for the middle class and working families:
In early 2005, when Biden signaled his intent to run for president during this election cycle, I opined:
There are times for politics and there are times for doing the right thing. If Biden and the other Vichy Dems could not make that distinction when it counted, then they don’t deserve my support.
This is one of Biden’s attributes with which I’m having the most difficulty. In the Senate, he was a leader of the pro-MBNA Democratic Party contingent during the debate (and eventual passage) of the odious Indentured Servitude Act of 2005. In 2007, near the outset of the housing / mortgage / foreclosure crisis, I wrote:
In all of the hand wringing about the sub-prime mortgage market implosion negatively impacting financial markets in general (and homeowners tied to those mortgages, in particular) , not one pundit has mentioned the delayed impact of the bankruptcy bill.
My words still stand today; perhaps even more so than when I first wrote the above. The 2005 bankruptcy bill was the most blatantly anti-family, anti-working class piece of legislation that has been passed in the course of my lifetime. Yet a significant number of Democrats, led by Joe Biden, lined up behind the corporate interests and passed the bill when they had the opportunity to kill it in cloture.
The bottom line: I’m very uncomfortable that Obama feels Biden has any cred at all in strengthening the economy for working class proles such as myself.
- Somebody who’s independent, somebody who can push against my preconceived notions and challenge me so we have got a robust debate in the White House…
Joe Biden is a decent debater, articulate, and (when necessary) passionate. But I don’t know that any VP in history, other than perhaps Dick Cheney, pushed back terribly hard against the president they served. And it’s pretty clear that Biden, for all of his occasional pit bull sounding rhetoric against the Bush administration, isn’t a real boat-rocker, and knows the side on which his corporate bread is buttered.
The bottom line: Could Obama have picked a better candidate? Yes, but probably no one with the national profile of Joe Biden. The name recognition already exists, and over the years, Biden has successfully cast himself as one of the elder statesman of foreign affairs in the Democratic Party. And gawd knows that the U.S. of A. is going to need a lot of statesmanship on the global stage to repair the damage wrought by the Bush regime.
I’m very unsettled by Obama’s choice of a running mate, but then again, I’m not sure that any of the short listed, vetted, and publicly considered VP contenders would have actually moved me to feel any more enthusiastic about Obama or his chances in November. But that might just be me. Your personal mileage (and tolerance for past political sins) may vary.
Here’s a link to Joe Biden’s recent voting record in the Senate.
Sean Mullen, who has known Biden for a long time, has a different take.
Biden, a bought and paid for tool of banks and credit lenders, was practically single handedly responsible for the Bankruptcy “Reform’ Act otherwise known as the turn overburdened americans into fucking serfs and debt slaves act.
He can go to hell with Obama and McShame
Imma stay home election night and watch Mr. Smith goes to Washington.
Ditto… very underwhelmed (and surprised!) by this selection. Of course Biden can look quite good on paper, but I fear he brings a lot of negatives to a national campaign ticket. Even his nomination at the Convention may be contentious, with Hillary backers putting her name into contention for the 2nd slot, creating a floor fight. I hope Obama’s judgment is validated and this works out well, but for now I’m nervous.
Has Joe Biden ever been talked about in depth? No.
Joe Biden (U. of Delaware, Syracuse Law): Biden, 65, the longest-serving U.S. senator in Delaware history, practiced law briefly in Wilmington before a stint in local politics led to Biden, at age 29, becoming one of the youngest U.S. senators in history.
Isn’t it strange that 50% of the stocks listed are incorporated in Delaware Joe Biden’s state? 60% of these corporations are fortune five hundred companies.
Here is a good one
Why incorporate in Delaware? Delaware has a separate Court of Chancery, a business court. The Court does not use juries and the judges are appointed on merit, not elected. Because there are no juries, decisions from the Chancery Court are issued as written opinions. Because of that, Delaware has a large body of written legal precedent to rely upon.
Delaware’s General Corporation Laws make it the friendliest state in America for corporations.
Wow, America there is some thing way out of balance here. What the heck is a Chancery Court?
Some said that Biden is not the status quo heck this guy highly and likely has been supporting corporate America for decades. Sorry but here is one nice talking guy has a nice family and son about to serve in Iraq but for this very superficial and simple dynamical back ground check by Joe six pack, this Joe Biden is appearing as one cool grease ball. Something the electorate might not want. Hell, this guy seems to be involved in his Delaware corporate stuff for decades. A life time under the Mainstream Media protection or Obama is going to determine how to dismantle a hardwired system installed for decades with little vented Court systems that don’t use Juries. Honestly I never knew this before and it stinks, especially if Obama is embracing this non jury justice system. Its no wonder our country is screwed up.
Oh, yeah, stay home, don’t vote–wonderful strategy for changing the way things have been going for the last eight years (at least).
I don’t like Obama all that much and Biden has never been high on my list of people I would like to see “One pretzel away from the presidency” but. wtf? Being upset is natural, not voting IS voting against your interests.
Suit yourself, but if McDivotface get’s elected, I’m thanking you in advance.
To those who voted for change in ‘06:
How well did it turn out?
Yeah, you’re right. Gawd knows that we need to wait for a combination of Buddha/Christ with a little bit of Chairman Mao thrown in. We need someone utterly enlightened who can walk on water and will be able to finally incite the Revolution.
Let’s all stay home and not vote. That way our country can totally go into the toilet. What we need are bread lines! Perpetual war and three new conservative Supreme Court Justices! That’ll show those moderates! Yeah!
anyone who believes that the Republic will be saved by the same corrupt political process that fucked it uo is delusional.
Do your bit for the planet and stay home eleciton night and save the gas. The election results are preordained by diebold anyway 51/49. All the phony polls citing a “close” race are bullshit as the vast majority of Americans are LONGING for a new direciton and McPOW promises only more of the same.
They are already preparing you for what will be yet another in a now well established series of stolen elections
What the REpublic needs is a whole new direction. If you think Mr. FISA turncoat and Mr. MBNA are gonna do it for you you’re off your chumps.