I received the news unexpectedly on Saturday morning around 3:45 am via text message. The text was sent from Obama’s campaign announcing that Presidential candidate Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate.
On a personal level, Senator Joe Biden is a 65 year old, giving him nearly 20 years more in age than Obama. Senator Biden is currently serving his sixth term in the senate, making him Delaware’s longest serving senator. He was born and raised in the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania to a working class family where he was raised Roman Catholic, all before moving to Delaware, where he currently resides. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Delaware and went on to receive his Juris Doctor (JD) from Syracuse University College of Law. Tragically, in 1972, his first wife and infant daughter were killed in an automobile accident. At the time he was running for senate, and he almost decided to not take a seat so he could care for his two sons who were also injured in the accident. He was persuaded to still take a seat in the senate and was sworn in at their bedside. He also suffered from a brain aneurysm and nearly lost his life.
Personally, I was ecstatic because I knew that this choice was a positive move for Obama, considering Biden's working class roots and his foreign policy experience. Senator Joe Biden is a congressional veteran whose strengths will counterbalance the lack of experience that critics say Obama does not have. Mr. Biden's strengths include his familiarity with foreign policy and national security issues, which were highlighted a few weeks ago by an invitation he received from embattled President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, to visit Georgia in the midst of its tense face-off with Russia. He is the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee, which brings even more credibility and strength to the campaign.
The only major drawback noted of Biden is his notorious “off the cuff” speaking that has often led him to making troublesome statements. Originally, he was running his own campaign for Presidency in 2007 when he declared that Obama was "not yet ready" for the presidency. These are among other, harsher remarks he spoke of Obama prior to being chosen as his running mate and has received criticism for.
In selecting Senator Biden, Obama did pass over other highly regarded and credentialed options to be his running mate. The most noted of these was former rival Hillary Clinton. Many have viewed his decision to not choose her as both very strategic and just plain ignorant. Either way you choose to look the handling of Clinton, his decision to choose Biden has given the party the depth it needed in the areas that the GOP had previously argued it was weakest in. And to top it all off, Obama’s top advisers believe that he appears by every measure prepared to take over as President, which is a reassuring element to the American people as second in line to Commander in Chief.
On a personal level, Senator Joe Biden is a 65 year old, giving him nearly 20 years more in age than Obama. Senator Biden is currently serving his sixth term in the senate, making him Delaware’s longest serving senator. He was born and raised in the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania to a working class family where he was raised Roman Catholic, all before moving to Delaware, where he currently resides. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Delaware and went on to receive his Juris Doctor (JD) from Syracuse University College of Law. Tragically, in 1972, his first wife and infant daughter were killed in an automobile accident. At the time he was running for senate, and he almost decided to not take a seat so he could care for his two sons who were also injured in the accident. He was persuaded to still take a seat in the senate and was sworn in at their bedside. He also suffered from a brain aneurysm and nearly lost his life.
Personally, I was ecstatic because I knew that this choice was a positive move for Obama, considering Biden's working class roots and his foreign policy experience. Senator Joe Biden is a congressional veteran whose strengths will counterbalance the lack of experience that critics say Obama does not have. Mr. Biden's strengths include his familiarity with foreign policy and national security issues, which were highlighted a few weeks ago by an invitation he received from embattled President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, to visit Georgia in the midst of its tense face-off with Russia. He is the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee, which brings even more credibility and strength to the campaign.
The only major drawback noted of Biden is his notorious “off the cuff” speaking that has often led him to making troublesome statements. Originally, he was running his own campaign for Presidency in 2007 when he declared that Obama was "not yet ready" for the presidency. These are among other, harsher remarks he spoke of Obama prior to being chosen as his running mate and has received criticism for.
In selecting Senator Biden, Obama did pass over other highly regarded and credentialed options to be his running mate. The most noted of these was former rival Hillary Clinton. Many have viewed his decision to not choose her as both very strategic and just plain ignorant. Either way you choose to look the handling of Clinton, his decision to choose Biden has given the party the depth it needed in the areas that the GOP had previously argued it was weakest in. And to top it all off, Obama’s top advisers believe that he appears by every measure prepared to take over as President, which is a reassuring element to the American people as second in line to Commander in Chief.
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