Good Pick! I don't agree with Bidden on everything, but I think that's the point. Obama wanted someone who would cause debate in the White House, a refreshing change from the fall-in-line White House of George W Bush.

...On a side note, it will be nice to see someone with more foreign experience than John McCain barking durring the campaign about how McCain is wrong on all of the major issues.

If this is correct, it is a little sad, given how disciplined the campaign has been on this issue, that it slipped out at the last minute. Nonetheless,

Word of Mr. Obama’s decision leaked out hours before his campaign was scheduled to inform supporters via text and e-mail messages, and hours after informing two other top contenders for the vice presidential nomination – Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia – that they had not been chosen.

Is this the only thing their basing their assertion on? That can't be right, because we've known all day Kaine and Bayh claimed to be out.

I'm a big fan of Biden, and I think he'll fill out the ticket quite well, if it turns out to be correct: his command of policy and foreign affairs is excellent, he has "experience" galore, he'll be the kind of attack dog who can be vigorous but still come off as respectful and serious, and he's not a drama queen and won't upstage Barack. If he can just keep in check that tendency toward garrulity, we should be great!

yep it's official according to obama's website. He is the smart choice in regards to foreign policy though.

I doubt Biden will deliver any states for Obama that he doesn't already get, but he's an excellent choice for the real business of governing if Obama is elected.

Biden is a good choice. He's tough, smart, and a formidable media presence.

Obama can continue waxing philosophically while his VEEP candidate can knock heads and explain all the details in plain language.

Biden has always been a lousy presidential candidate, but as a second banana he will be superb.

I wonder how the Hillary supporters are swallowing this.

the 3am call to Biden is a direct slap in the face to Hillary and all her supporters.

He just handed the election to McCain.

I love Biden, so I am happy, although i was secretly hoping for some really stunningly unexpected choice. Sort of leak Biden and then have it be someone else, Colin Powell or maybe Hillary.

Biden is good cause he is pretty funny, likeable and frankly much more experienced than Hillary Clinton.

Solid choice. I hope this helps counterbalance some of the voters' fears. The youth and lack of experience seems to be what people are most comfortable complaining about with Obama.

Biden has a voting record of which Progressives can be proud, and he'll take it to the Republicans. Going to be an exciting fall.

James Fallows has an excellent YouTube clip of Biden statements on his site and transcripts that include some of sanest statements regarding Iran I've heard from any candidate.

some comforting biden debate moments below http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=xuOkXgZqofA

may be only the good bits from the debate but i like the answer about the iran nuclear one, but will the country listen.

Franky,

Let's imagine for just a second that YOU are elected president. You choose as your vice president Hillary and that means her husband is hanging around the Old Executive Building most of the time.

In that case, would YOU be more effective as the CENTRAL authority in the United States or would you be less effective?

Remember, YOU could still ask Bill to work for you doing X, Y or Z, if you needed him, like Bush did.

But would that one thing make you a better or worse president?

Hell, I loved Bill, loved voting for him twice, but he can't even say to the media that Obama is qualified to be president AFTER Obama has the nominating votes?!?! Would YOU want that guy mucking up the works.

Biden is a solid choice. I have nothing against Hillary or her supporters, but you have to let a guy choose his own office workers, man.

A serious question: if Obama gets assassinated, does that mean that Biden gets the nomination or does Hillary? Until he is in office, I worry about the man. JFK and RFK were both shot while campaigning to be president, ya know. And both deaths had more bullet holes than the weapons could hold.

Just sayin... :(

Change you can believe in?

"Biden is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and sharply criticized other Democrats who were less supportive or opposed. More recently he has called for "decentralizing" Iraq, a plan that he says would give of its major ethnic groups semi-autonomy, and called for more of a US military presence there. He voted for the PATRIOT Act in 2001, then argued against renewing it in 2005, before voting for legislation that generally renewed the PATRIOT Act's powers in 2006.

For decades Biden has been at the forefront of the war on drugs, supporting new prohibitions against methamphetamine, Ecstasy, steroids used by athletes, and other new drugs as they became popular. Biden wrote the legislation that created the position of a national "Drug Czar", and his Anti-Drug Proliferation Act provides 20-year prison sentences for club owners, concert promoters, and people who throw parties in their home, if "drug use" takes place in such settings.

He wholeheartedly supported the actions of federal agents in the Waco standoff, and visibly sneered at witnesses in Senate hearings who questioned agents' acts. He was a key proponent of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, which banned some kinds of semiautomatic rifles, with a sunset provision that allowed these weapons to become legal again ten years later. The law also allocated substantial funds for construction of new prisons, established boot camps for delinquent minors, and brought the death penalty for crimes related to drug dealing, civil-rights related murders, murder of a Federal officer, and acts classified as terrorism.

Over his long career in politics, Biden's biggest financial supporter has been the giant credit card company MBNA, which was also one of George W. Bush's biggest donors in 2000 and 2004. He was a proponent of the 2005 charges to bankruptcy law which made filing bankruptcy much more difficult. His son, Hunter Biden, was hired as a management trainee at MBNA straight out of law school, and was quickly promoted to executive vice president. The younger Biden has since left MBNA to establish his own lawyer-and-lobbying firm, but still receives a $100,000 per year consulting fee from the bank, which has since been swallowed by Bank of America. In 2006, Hunter Biden was appointed by President Bush to a five-year term on the Amtrak Reform Board."

http://www.nndb.com/people/023/000027939/

Tim, thanks for the clip. I think it's especially foresighted, given recent developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

I've been digging for a clip where Biden bluntly dismisses as obviously ridiculous the idea that the Republicans have any serious claim to being better at national security. Sadly, I can't find it on youtube, but I found this clip of Biden absolutely hilarious, and it's a great illustration of just how endearing he can be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Y8AFctpjo

I still can't find the youtube clip, but here's the Biden quote:

"I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history — maybe ever. ... Every single thing they’ve touched has been a near-disaster."

Even if Barack could be that blunt, coming out the Biden's mouth it has authority--he doesn't just talk to foreign leaders, they call him.

The more I think about this pick, the more I like it.

Yeah I love the pick of Biden...but did anyone else notice how Obama Cringed lightly when Biden said,"Barack-America!" No one in the media picked up on that, but I sure did.

I think he is a bit worried about Biden's one questionable downside, his uncanny ability to put his foot in his mouth. I am a HUGE Biden supporter, but you KNOW this was totally on Obama's mind when he made the decision.

Years ago, Dave Chappelle did a stand-up routine about being the first black President. His plan to avoid assassination? A latino VP.

Joking aside, part of me was expecting Richardson for exactly this reason. But Biden makes sense; white, old, lifetime of political experience- the anti-Obama in many ways.

Zaphod,

But of course - Bush's life/impeachment insurance: Dick Cheney.

But of course - Bush's life/impeachment insurance: Dick Cheney.

And the reason Republican's would never agree to impeach both at once - Nancy Pelosi, followed by Robert Byrd.

Adam, thanks for the youtube link (and the quote). The expression on Biden's face at the end of the quote is priceless.