Sen. Joe Biden's a perfectly appropriate vice presidential running-mate for Sen. Barack Obama. He's got 36 years of Senate experience, is a true intellect, a foreign policy expert, and a genuinely nice guy. But ever since Sen. John McCain added plucky Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to his ticket, the old adage nice guys finish last is beginning to take on new meaning in this year's presidential contest. It's time to dump Biden and replace him with Sen. Hillary Clinton. I don't care how it's done. Campaign chief David Axelrod can figure that out. And the sooner the better. Because I'm starting to think that if Team-Obama doesn't do something dramatic fast, it's gonna lose this election. There's a worrisome shift in momentum and in the polls. The Palin phenomenon, while truly unfathomable to Democrats, has energized McCain's campaign and allowed him like Houdini to snatch Obama's "change" theme right out from under him. It's time to snatch it back.
So Ostroy admits that the all-wise Lightworker was fooled by McCain. It sure doesn't say much for his political judgement. However, Ostroy figures it is worth the risk of making Obama look like a total flip-flopper:
Conventional wisdom says replacing Biden with Clinton can't be done. That it's too late. That it'll make Obama appear indecisive, impulsive and lacking good judgement. Many Democrats believe this would cause irreparable harm to the campaign, ringing Obama's death knell. But this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it'd be a freakin' coup for Obama, and would instantly melt Palin's undeserving outsize political ice cap.
It's not just conventional wisdom that says dumping Biden might be too late. There is also the practical problem of replacing the name "Biden" with "Clinton" on all 50 (or 57) state ballots. But let us not stop Ostroy while he is on a comedy roll:
To be sure, a Biden-Clinton switch would cause quite a stir in the media. They'd accuse him of all sorts of things, from being politically expedient and flip-flopping to being irrational and ill-equipped to be president. The talking heads on CNN, Fox and MSNBC would be locked in a non-stop frenzied orgy of derisive rhetoric. But we also know that it would make about 18-million Hillary voters ecstatic at the same time. So, honestly, who really cares what Joe Scarborough, Keith Olbermann, Wolf Blitzer or Brit Hume thinks? These pundits don't constitute an appreciable voting block. What they think and feel would be utterly dwarfed by the euphoria from Clinton's faithful supporters. It's a pretty safe bet that an Obama/Clinton ticket would capture virtually all of these loyal Clintonistas. It's also a safe bet that many of those highly coveted 18-49-year-old women who polls show migrated to McPalin this past week would drop the spunky little hockey mom in a heartbeat for Hillary. Lastly, it's an even safer bet that Obama's current voters would stick with him as well. So, where's the downside? Show me a Democrat, today, who'd dump Obama for McCain if Biden was replaced with Clinton? They don't exist.
Obama should do what the Republicans would do in this situation. In fact, he should do exactly what his opponent did. Shake things up. Be unconventional. Roll the dice. Out-McCain McCain. Who cares how it looks. Who cares what the media thinks. One thing's certain: there's an 18-million deep pot of gold out there waiting to be mined. An Obama/Clinton ticket would slam the door shut on this election.
Ostroy wants Obama, having failed to make a wise running mate choice the first time around, to perform a do-over by imitating McCain. Again not saying much for Obama's judgement if he just imitates his opponent. The Huffington Post comments below Ostroy's desperate plea shows that most think his idea of emergency running mate transplant surgery stinks bigtime:
If Obama changed his VP pick now, it would be DISASTROUS!!!
Think! How would it look toyou if McCain came out now and said, "Oh, I'm going to pick someone else now." The whole country would be like, "Oh, he didn't get it right the first time." His campaign would die.
The same would happen to Obama. "He screwed up his first decision...see?"
You are dreaming. Obama cannot dump Biden and go with Hillary now because it would appear to be exactly what it was, an act of desperation.
This is a monumentally stupid idea. Changing your VP pick because of polls would, despite the author's assurances, mean doom for Dems.
The ironic thing here is that just a couple of weeks ago, many liberals in the media were proclaiming that McCain would have to dump Sarah Palin. As CNN's Jack Cafferty stated then about Palin: "This could be ballgame over." Instead, Sarah Palin has completely turned the tables and proved to be the most helpful running mate in political history in terms of poll numbers while many liberals, such as Andy Ostroy, are now desperately trying to proclaim "ballgame over" for Joe Biden.
