Biden Not Obama’s First Choice???
In a moment of candor, known in politics as a gaffe, an Obama staffer admitted that Sen. Biden wasn’t Sen. Obama’s first choice. I kinda suspected that but now it’s confirmed:
In selecting Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, Sen. Barack Obama may have selected the safe pick, but according to several campaign insiders, Biden wasn’t necessarily his first or even his personal choice.
“He really wanted [Kansas Gov. Kathleen] Sebelius,” says one Obama insider with knowledge of the Democrat candidate’s vetting process. “And if our European tour had played better here at home, she might have been the pick.”
But, says the insider, the campaign’s internal polling indicated what the public polling indicated, that Obama failed in his European sojourn to build out his foreign policy credentials. “We needed the foreign policy on the bottom of the ticket more than we want to admit,” says the insider.
All the talk about how presidential Sen. Obama looked, during his speech in Berlin, his meeting with President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown, meant nothing to heartland voters. Sen. Obama’s lofty rhetoric was squishy more than meaty, more Euopean than substantive. When President Bush made his case for democracies, there was substance there, human rights principles that were inarguable.
Had Sen. Obama been a substantive candidate, Sebelius would’ve been a great pick. He isn’t a substantive candidate, which is why he was forced to pick Sen. Biden. This quote speaks volumes:
“We needed the foreign policy on the bottom of the ticket more than we want to admit,” says the insider.
I think they just admitted it. If this “insider’s” identity gets discovered, then that insider has worked their last day for the Obama campaign. The last thing Sen. Obama wants out as public knowledge is that he settled for second best.
The other thing that this does is that the convention starts with a negative news story. Let’s not underestimate this. Conventions are about putting your best foot forward. That the media is gathered in one place won’t help. This is just the type of thing that some media outlets salivate over. At best, the first day’s buzz will be mixed.
This paragraph is also telling:
But beyond his failure to create the impression that he had any foreign policy experience, Obama’s polling also indicated that Sebelius’s presence on the ticket probably further damaged his relationship with Hillary Clinton supporters. “We have enough problems with them as it is. Putting Sebelius on the bottom of the ticket would have been another stick in the eye,” says another adviser.
More than any other factor, Sen. Obama’s dissing Hillary will hurt him most, far more than William Ayers, Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright combined. Personally, I think he still should’ve picked Gov. Sebelius. The truth is that he’s lost Hillary’s most loyal supporters. They aren’t coming back. Picking Sebelius might’ve helped bring some of Hillary’s softer supporters back.
Having this story hit the airwaves is hardly the way to get this week started. It sets a bad tone, one which Sen. Obama can hardly afford.
Technorati Tags: Joe Biden, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama, Veepstakes, Hillary, Party Unity, National Security, European Trip, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog