Obama / Biden 2008 or is it 1988 all over again?

Are you kidding me? Is this the fourth installment of the “Back to the Future” movie franchise? How did Joe Biden get into the picture to be tapped by Barack Obama for V.P.? Over the last forty-eight hours, I have read dozens of stories of how Biden’s foreign policy experience will help Barack Obama overcome the national security deficit he faces against John McCain. The point is not without merit but in the rush to protect Obama’s flank, the cure is worse than the disease. Simply put, Joe Biden will not help Barack Obama win in November. In fact, if one takes a look at recent presidential history, the choice of Biden will ensure Obama’s defeat.

How? Does anyone remember 1988? Michael Dukakis, the Democratic nominee with little to no foreign policy experience picked Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate. Bentsen, elected to the U.S. Senate in 1970, had won re-election two times and had run unsuccessfully for the Presidency in 1976. The Dukakis / Bentsen ticket only won 111 electoral votes and even lost Bentsen’s home state of Texas.  

Obama’s consideration of Joe Biden is questionable, at best. His home state, Delaware, is solidly in Obama’s electoral column as well as most of the northeastern and middle Atlantic states. The geographic and electoral arguments for Biden’s inclusion on the ticket do not make any practical sense, so the only reason for the nod would be for his experience. Unfortunately, there is just one problem; Joe Biden’s sub-par experience as a presidential candidate.

In 1988, Joe Biden made his first run for the Presidency and dropped out of the race before any of the primaries because of a speech that was thought to be plagiarized from a British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. In 2008, Joe Biden was a candidate for the Democratic nomination this year but won less than 2% of the votes in the Iowa caucuses. In my opinion, the choice of Joe Biden will be as disastrous for Barack Obama as Lloyd Bentsen was for Michael Dukakis. Joe Biden is running for re-election to the United States Senate, and therefore, has nothing to lose. It is a win-win for Joe Biden; he is assured of re-election to the U.S. Senate from Delaware or he can become the 47^th Vice-President of the United States.  Lloyd Bentsen did the same thing in 1988…that did not work out so well for Michael Dukakis.