Nathan Wuretenberg
Staff Reporter
Change. Barack Obama stands for change. At least, that is what everyone and everything, including his various campaign slogans, assures me. However, Obama’s campaign was recently faced with a choice: Obama could remain the candidate for change and face merciless attacks that he stood for nothing, that he had little political experience, foreign or domestic, and that he was nothing more than a media sensation, or he could become a candidate that stood for something more substantial than promises and that, even if he did not possess political experience himself, could boast the support and advice of someone who did. Obama chose the latter option with the selection of Joseph Biden, the ultimate insider, as his running mate.
Unfortunately, a running mate who has spent the past 35 years in the same position is not the best symbol for change, and Obama’s Republican opponent was quick to snatch up what Obama left behind. John McCain chose as his running mate a female governor from Alaska who fought corruption in the oil industry in her state. This not only allows McCain to claim a candidacy for change but offers a haven for any wavering Clinton supporters who were alienated by Obama’s treatment of their candidate during the Democratic primaries.
Biden provides Obama’s candidacy with the necessary political experience, of which Biden possesses an abundance. However, it remains to be seen whether the advantage Biden’s experience can supply to Obama’s campaign will be able to outweigh the inevitable gaffes Biden is bound to make, just as he has in the past. While it should be said that Biden has never proven himself to be a racist, he does frequently make insensitive, politically stupid remarks. Biden unfortunately suffers from what, in political circles, is known as diarrhea of the mouth, which most often in his case presents itself in the form of the racially insensitive comments that serve as nutritious political fodder for his opponents.
Biden’s remarks have covered topics ranging far and wide, from the number of Indians who grace the counters of 7-11’s and gas stations across the nation, to the luck of the African American race in finally finding an articulate representative in Barack Obama. It will also be interesting to see whether Biden, with his wealth of experience and, unfortunately, arrogance, can refrain from patronizing and insulting McCain’s relatively inexperienced running mate in the upcoming vice-presidential debates. Biden, I am sure, is bound to make plenty of quasi-sexist comments, further shepherding the female demographic toward McCain’s campaign.
For the moment, however, Biden can be seen only as a blessing. He lends Obama’s campaign the image of political credibility it so desperately needed. Biden, despite his unfortunate habit of offending minorities, has spent years in the Senate just as John McCain has, ferociously pursuing corruption within government echelons and breaking through party lines to do so. If Biden was suddenly struck with an inability to speak, his actions would speak for him and Obama’s campaign, and would do Obama a world of good. But, since such an occurrence will in all likelihood never happen, we won’t be sure what effect Biden’s selection will have on Obama’s campaign until the very end. To say the least, it will be entertaining to watch.