OK...so I had this interesting call with my 76 year old dad this afternoon. My parents retired to Arizona (like all good Chicagoans do at some point) and I called him to see if he had watched the speeches in Springfield and what he thought about Biden as VP.
Join me below the flip to see why Obama really hit it out of the park by selecting Biden.
My family has always been very active politically, very open with each other, and very left of center. Early on in the primaries my mom, dad, and sister all settled on Obama though each with differing intensity. I was all-in for Obama early on. So was my sister. My mom liked Obama but with a little less verve. My dad liked Obama but also really liked Dodd and Biden. They all hated Hillary though I never did understand why. Hillary was never my favorite but I did spend some time during the primary defending her.
Before Obama made his VP choice my dad kept on saying that he really liked Sam Nunn. I just could never see what some older-been-out-of-politics-too-long would bring to the table but my dad liked his experience and his gravitas. For what it's worth I was pulling for Bill Richardson or John Edwards (before the affair) and I also really liked Kathleen Sebelius. I was never all that excited about Biden.
When I called my dad to find out what he thought of the Biden pick he was really excited. He thought Obama had hit it out of the park. He went on and on about how smart Biden was and how he really added a sense of depth and wisdom to the ticket. We had both watched the speeches in Springfield and my dad just loved Biden, his toughness, his energy, and his smarts.
After the call it kind of struck me...that's what the oldies like my dad need from Obama; Some sense of reassurance about experience and some sense of more on-display toughness or fight. Biden will go a long way to shoring up support for Obama among older, white voters and older white men in particular. They relate to Biden much more so than to Obama and they will feel reassured by his presence on the ticket. I never needed the VP selection to do that for me. I was allready all-in for Obama. But I think that Biden will help with folks like my dad.
Now, of course, we were pretty much going to vote for whoever won the Dem priamry anyway. But I think this is a choice that will really help Obama where he needs it most.
By the way, I watched Biden's speech today and thought he did a great job too. I was not too excited by Biden at first but I liked his attack lines and energy. I really hope McCain chooses Rommney. This could get fun.
It's bad to post a diary at 12am PST...but here goes anyway.