TheBlackberryAlarmclock.com

Thingish Things

Biden Time?

Written By: William F. B. O'Reilly - Jul• 05•11

 

photo from mtv.com

I don’t think Andrew Cuomo is going be Barack Obama’s next running mate. He is too smart to board a sinking ship.

But speculation about Joe Biden being replaced in the vice-presidential slot makes a whole lot of sense.  I wrote about the possibility in March.

It’s not that Biden has done anything wrong.  The VP’s gaffes, AKA “Bidenisms” are benign, charming even.  The reason Biden might be replaced is that he doesn’t add anything to the electoral math.

Biden was chosen because he was a well-known gray-hair in the Senate.  It was exactly what the young and largely unknown black senator, Barack Obama, needed to reassure an electorate.  Biden was an insurance policy on a risky bet.

President Obama doesn’t need that anymore.  He is a known quantity now, with gray hairs of his own.  What does Biden bring to the ticket?  His home state of Delaware is 100% assured.  What else does he bring?

Biden would be safe if President Obama’s approval rating was comfortably over 50%.  But it is at 47%, and falling.  The President’s team has to be considering shaking things up on the running-mate equation.  They have to be looking for popular Democrats in states – unlike New York – that could swing either way in November 2012.

The question, again, for Team Obama, though, is whether changing the ticket will appear as a sign of weakness or panic. That may be enough of a consideration to make them double-down on what they have, especially if all the speculation on Biden continues.  But no one should think Obama’s handlers aren’t privately talking about this.

President Obama’s ship is in trouble, and Vice President Biden no longer provides him ballast.  What to do?

 

 UPDATE: So much for that.  Fox News is reporting that President Obama will be sticking with Biden as VP. 

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.