Posted by Tina
BAGHDAD – Senator Joe Biden may be one of the only U.S. politicians that can get Iraq’s feuding Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish politicians to agree. But not in a good way. *** Across racial and religious boundaries, Iraqi politicians on Saturday bemoaned Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama’s choice of running mate, known in Iraq as the author of a 2006 plan to divide the country into ethnic and sectarian enclaves. *** “This choice of Biden is disappointing, because he is the creator of the idea of dividing Iraq,” Salih al-Mutlaq, head of National Dialogue, one of the main Sunni Arab blocs in parliament, told Reuters. *** “We rejected his proposal when he announced it, and we still reject it. Dividing the communities and land in such a way would only lead to new fighting between people over resources and borders. Iraq cannot survive unless it is unified, and dividing it would keep the problems alive for a long time.” – REUTERS
DENVER – The candidate of change went with the status quo. In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weaknessinexperience in office and on foreign policyrather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions. *** The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn’t beat Republican John McCain… – AP
To wrap things up, heres a line from Mr. Obamas introduction: I know that Joe Biden will give us some real straight talk. In those few words, he expressed the hope of the Democrats that they can take this fight to the Republicans, and thats what Mr. Biden represents. It helps, of course, that he has foreign policy credentials and is an easy-going, blue-collar kind of guy, not to mention Catholic… – NYT
Sen. Barack Obama’s selection of Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate gives Obama immediate foreign-policy gravitas with a dependable party stalwart. But picking Biden, D-Del., also sends a stark signal that the Obama campaign is worried that the presidential nominee is in danger of flunking the commander-in-chief test. Rather than helping with the electoral map… – ABC News
When it came to choosing a running-mate, Barack Obama turned out to be one of those experience-conscious 3 a.m. voters who tended to support Hillary Clinton in the primaries. He went with the long-serving senator with the most foreign-policy experience he could find, Joe Biden, who has been marinating in the Senate for no less than 35 years. – National Review
You may remember Delaware Senator Joe Biden from political blockbusters of the past such as, The Clarence Thomas Hearings, the 1988 Presidential Campaign, or The Clean And The Articulate. Now hes back for his greatest role as Barack Obamas vice presidential running mate. *** Obamas decision to select a politician who has served in the United States Senate for 35 years to be his vice presidential running mate shows just how dramatically the political ground has shifted in the two short months since the Illinois senator wrapped up the Democratic nomination based on a message of changing the way politics works in Washington. The change candidate has found the need for some inside the Beltway experience after all. – CBS News
The vice presidential candidate currently chairs the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, a post that Obama hopes will compensate for his own lack of experience in the global realm. *** Biden is a firm supporter of Israel, but the way he sees the U.S.’s role in the Middle East doesn’t necessarily reflect Jerusalem’s ideal of the ideal “American partner.” *** When it comes to the Iranian threat, it is not clear that the Obama-Biden combo will raise smiles in Jerusalem. Biden’s past remarks have sparked criticism and have been described as “inconsistent.” Biden has said more than once that he does not think that isolating Iran is the most efficient way to combat the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions, and he has even urged sensitivity to Iran’s needs. He met with a senior Iranian official in Davos, which led his detractors to say that he was willing to negotiate with an extremist regime that supports terrorism. On the other hand, Biden has proclaimed that a nuclear Iran was “unacceptable.” –
Haaretz (Israel)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was quick to praise the newly minted Democratic vice presidential running mate today, issuing a glowing statement of support for his Democratic colleague. Joe Biden has been fighting his entire career for the change that Sen. Obama champions, Reid said. – Politico
Gee, “fighting his entire career” for the change Obama champions…doesn’t that make him (and all them Dems) ineffectual, incompetent or just plain wrong? Hey, I didn’t say it, Harry Reid said it.
Just goes to show that the change we’ve all been waIting for is just more of the same.
There’s a mighty good chance that over the next few weeks the media will make these two their darlings. I hope you will remember all of what they had to say day…and please, vote wisely in November.