THE BIDEN ERA?  NOT

Posted at Posted at 11:36 p.m. ET

We've now had almost a full day of Joe Biden.  Had enough?

Jay Nordlinger, at National Review Online, certainly has.  While there are both good and bad things to say about Biden, Nordlinger believes that, for Obama, Biden was a poor choice:

I am quite surprised — nearly shocked — at the pick of Biden. I believe Obama has made an error — not just hope so, believe. And he had so many good options for the veep slot (unlike John McCain). He could have gone Kaine, Bayh, Sebelius, Boren, Edwards (Chet) — he had many good options. It was practically impossible to screw up.

But, in Nordlinger's mind, Obama did the impossible.

I believe that Barack Obama will not wear well. Indeed, I think his act has been wearing thin for weeks. And I think that his vice-presidential nominee will wear even worse. I’m not sure why he went with Biden — maybe he likes him, personally, which is not the worst thing in the world. It’s helpful if a president likes his vice president (or at least doesn’t dislike him). But I don’t see what Biden gains him. Biden is a slightly risible figure, what with his hair plugs (or whatever) and his many, many examples of public obnoxiousness.

All politicians have sizable egos, but this may be the most self-loving ticket ever. There’s an old saying, “He’ll die in his own arms” — that can apply to both of them. (I’ve thought of it in connection with McCain, too.) And Obama and Biden are two of the gassiest politicians in all the land — they are rhetorically impossible.

The verbiage ticket, this is, and the arrogance ticket, and the emptiness ticket. McCain and his running-mate-to-be should really take them. Don’t you think?

I think yes, but it will be a difficult fight, and there are the problems of press bias and possible widespread voter fraud in big cities.  No one should be confident.

August 23, 2008.