Well, he's articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy - as long as he can keep his toes away from his tonsils he'll be an asset to Barack Obama and the nation as a whole.

The Underground Railroad

there's a lot of ink being spilt on his foreign policy acumen, but his other strong suit is his extensive experience as a member, and chairman of the judiciary committee...clarence thomas notwithstanding.

given that it's very likely we'll see at least 2 supreme court vacancies in the not too distant future, l take this as a definite plus.

given what's at stake, l'm pleased with him as vp...and l really like his in your face aggressiveness and snarky sense of humor.... we need someone like that right now.

a democrat who fights back...what a concept.

the revolution will not be televised...

I think he'll help the ticket in a big way with senior citizens as well. Many of them have doubts about Obama. My dad did. Now that Biden's on the ticket, dad's totally comfortable.

Dad's a lifelong Republican who has grown thoroughly disgusted with the Bush/Rove era. He supported Maverick McCain until he saw McCain use that same playbook. (The Britney/Paris celebrity ad did it for him.) He actually made a point of re-registering as a Democrat a few weeks ago.

Biden isn't my ideal -- too "centrist", too cozy with the money establishment, but I've felt all along that there's a chemistry with Obama that makes him perfect for the campaign. The interaction between them will demonstrate every day that Obama connects totally with real people -- something he's had a hard time showing by himself. Biden will derail McCain's only shot: that Obama's some kind of elitist. Nobody else on the shortlist could have done that. Biden has exactly the the rough charisma that McCain has, but he's sharp and he is what he is, in contrast. I think his presence on the ticket will do much to destroy McCain's strange folksy "straight-shooter/maverick" image.

I'm not sure I'd like to see Biden as prez, and I'm kind of sorry it's not a woman, but in hindsight Biden seems like the obvious and perfect choice. In the Oval Office he'll be a worthy sparring partner and a powerful communicator who allows Obama to let out his inner intellectual. As far as ideology, most of the shortlisters would have been significantly worse. I'm much happier than I expected to be. It's going to be a good campaign and could be a great administration, after all.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

There does seem to be a lot to like with Joe. Here's some recent voting history from On The Issues and their overall political profile.

"I never trust people who don't laugh." Maya Angelou, March 5, 2009

The chart that shows Biden in the left quadrant is what people don't appreciate about him.  In the case of the media and GOP cross-over voters, that's a good thing.  He has been a reliable liberal for thirty years, with a sterling record on civil rights and the environment, as well as his foreign policy expertise.  He voted against the FISA legislation, against Kyl-Lieberman, and authored the Violence Against Women Act.  I supported him in the caucuses for these reasons, among others, and seeing the candidates up close I concluded he is more liberal than Obama, Clinton, or Edwards.

I agree with your point about the DC media's love affair with Biden. You could take a slam on McCain, put it in the mouth of Joe Biden and Wes Clark, and the reaction would be night and day.

The media dislikes Clark, he would be slammed. But the media likes Biden, so at worst they would smile and say "there he goes again".

Agreed.  Not a spectacular pick, not a bad pick.  He's a solid B/B+ pick, in my opinion.

I think it's simple: Tell Biden not to say anything too stupid, tell him his mission is to just savage the Republicans, and turn him loose.  Send him to places like Ohio and Michigan and Florida to do his outrageously blunt talk (which I think will be much appreciated in those key Rust Belt states), and have him ridicule McCain and the GOP veep.

A little risky, but I think there's a good bit more upside.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to you country.

Clean Joe vs Dirty John

But I like it!

He's gonna shine.

And I really like the way the names sound: Obama/Biden!

The more control, the more that requires control. This is the road to chaos. -Frank Herbert, The Dosadi Experiment

Good news if you like corporate polices, insider politics, business-as-usual and endless war. A disastrous choice that confirms beyond any doubt that Obama is totally out of touch with what this country needs and is not only not going to "change" anything, he's going to make it worse. He's shaping up as one of the most standard corporate candidates this country has ever seen. He'll be Bush's third term, no question about it now.

ok, so if biden goes all the way through to november without saying

"... a noun, a verb and pee-oh-dubya!"

to mccain's face, then i'm sorry, i gotta call this pick a failure.

/snark

i'm glad you asked

My theory is that BooMan's supposition that Michelle Obama drew the line at Hillary Clinton and told her husband "No" is more true than any of us know.

Biden thus ended up as Obama's second choice.

Honestly, from a completely Rovian point of view, there's nothing that Biden brings to the ticket that Hillary doesn't have.  As nasty as the Clintons were to Obama, Biden's criticism was the more biting and effective at times...and the more ham-handed and stupid with that whole "clean and articulate" thing.

But there's one big problem that Hillary has that Obama was talked into saying no to:

Bill.

So when the Hillary folks ask WHY NOT HER, point to Bubba.

More at Zandar vs. The Stupid.

He's a standard issue Mid-Atlantic loudmouth asshole. I appreciate that. Policy wise, he's really sucked on a lot of issues. Getting him in as VP gets him out of the Senate and into an office where he probably can't do much harm. That's a good thing. Also, my wife and mother both seem to like the guy. I'm not sure if that counts for anything, but it's a random observation I made while eating lunch at the Reading Terminal.

I heard his Springfield speech on C-SPAN. Dynamite. And he came out punching at McCain on all the right issues using McCain's own words, i.e. "No one has supported George Bush more than me".

Who is the next most senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee?

classic hard cop soft cop choice.

obama can be the soft cop and talk all the Change Talk and Hope Talk (registered trademarks)

and like one of the commentors here said above, biden can go off to florida, appalachia and ohio and loudmouth his way through a bunch of righteous verbal assaults on mccain and bush. he's the hard cop. of all the candidates during the primaries, too, i think biden said some of the frankest, wittiest and most newsworthy quotes aka 'memes'

i say - HAMMER! hammer away, joe, hammer!!