Barack Obama is now stuck with Joe Biden for better or more likely for worse.
With all of the recent gaffs by Joe Biden a lot of discussion on the talk radio circuit centered on whether or not the Democrat machine could dump him in favor of someone else. Secretary of State Clinton was the most frequently mentioned possible replacement. But Ms. Clinton delcined according to reports leaving Mr. Obama with his running mate from four years ago who was subsequently dispachted to a time out to consider his public implication that the Republican Party intended to re-institute slavery.
Biden supposedly should know better. Yet somehow he cant seem to decide whether he is a village idiot or court jester with the result that his gaffs just keep on coming. The more he speaks in public the more fuel he provides for the Republican electoral effort. And the question that just has to be asked is how did we end up with this guy?
There are probably a lot of answers that will make the rounds if it is truly made the subject of debate. At the risk of commiting heresy this writer would like to suggest one that is unlikely to get much attention elsewhere; that Obama picked Biden precisely because he is a buffoon and Obamas image benefits from the contrast.
Consider: Just about everyone seems to believe that Obama is a highly intelligent person and his rapid political rise seems to bear this out. But consider; the ability to get oneself elected to office may be more a reflection of salesmanship and glibness than intellect. Some folks talk about his brilliance as an orator but it appears that his ability manifests only when he is equipped with a teleprompter and whenever he goes on his own he proceeds to stick his foot in his mouth. Compare this with Ronald Reagan who used nothing more than a set of index cards with topic headings on them or Newt Gingrich who writes a few notes on a napkin just before taking the podium. And somehow they still manage to go without making foolish statements. Obama in contrast proceeds to say things such as you didnt build that business you own. His speeches are largely composed of platitudes and castles in the air. Hardly something as memorable as say Lincolns Gettysburg Address or some of Churchills wartime exhortations to the British people.
Further Obama has surrounded himself with other lightweights and people without distinguished careers. Hillary Clinton was the lone exception and she was hustled off to the State Dept. where she could labor in obscurity. Obama thus could have the spotlight all to himself. This is something that his insecure personality demands and Biden isnt one to get in the way despite his self-important attitude.
What some of us intelligently curious people have been wondering over the last several years is what is being hidden in Obamas college records? Speculation often tends to focus on the possibility that he had obtained admission as a foreign student. But Wayne Allen Root recently suggested that Obama was an invisible student at Columbia; both attended that university at the same time and in the same major. No one seems to remember him there. This leads to the suggestion that Obama didnt attend classes or was at best a marginal student which is something he would certainly want to keep hidden.
Meanwhile Joe Biden the court jester is the perfect running mate for a candidate who is glib but undistinguished intellectually. He is no competition which is exactly what Obama wants. It has become obvious that his political style is to attempt to eliminate the competition. In Chicago he did it by obtaining sealed court records on his opponents or getting them kicked off the ballot. John McCain simply refused to compete. But Obama is now faced with the Romney and Ryan ticket - two guys who are for all practical purposes ultimate Boy Scouts. There really isnt any dirt to be found on them and to make matters worse for Obama they are going on offense and controlling the fight thereby. Obama is stuck with the one ally he had from before; an ally who has become a major liability and the public is seeing it in a big way. Thus another crack develops in the foundation of the worst administration in American history. An administration that should soon be over to the benefit of all Americans