Monday, September 15, 2008

Biden as a "Governing Pick"   [Jonah Goldberg]

From Jake Tapper's piece on how the press doesn't care about Joe Biden:

    Almost as soon as word leaked on Friday morning that the little-known Alaska governor had been picked as Republican nominee Sen. John McCain's number two, the attention paid to Biden quickly vanished into the Mile High air.

Since the Delaware senator left Obama's side and ventured out on his own on Labor Day, he has hardly garnered any national media interest at all.

His plane, a blue chartered 737, now crosses the country with about three-quarters of its seats empty, rows and rows with nary a warm body to be found.

Biden's supporters maintain that he is connecting with voters and garnering positive media interest on a local level. They also say that Biden is a "governing" pick, not a "political" pick, unlike Palin. That is, Biden will actually be able to help Obama govern; he's not just a cynical selection to help his boss win the election.

Either way, as Air Joe flew from Wilmington to Charlotte Sunday, the only reporters onboard were off-air reporters from the five television networks and correspondents from NBC and Politico. There was only one camera crew. The back of the plane, reserved for press, sat totally deserted.

Me: I really wish the press held Obama just a bit more accountable for this "governing pick" thing like, say, 1/100th as much as they've been grilling McCain about his pick. Just a few facts:

• Obama justified his entire bid against Hillary Clinton on the grounds that he had shown superior judgment by opposing the Iraq war.

• Obama said over and over that we can't have the same people in different chairs if we want real reform.

• His ad mocking McCain makes much hay of the fact that McCain came to Washington in 1982. 

Well: Biden supported the Iraq war, he's even more of Washington insider than McCain (his heroic Amtrak commute notwithstanding) and he was well into his second six year term in the Senate when McCain was first elected to the House in 1982. Now either Obama's campaign rhetoric is a lie, or Biden isn't a good governing pick by Obama's own standards. 

09/15 12:53 PMShare