I Was Afraid Of This

So it's Joe Biden.

* sigh *

CONS

Biden's mouth. The guy is a loose cannon in love with the sound of his own voice.

36 years in the Senate. Not exactly what people think of when the word "change" is used. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, he is the quintessential Washington insider.


PROS

Biden's mouth. Because he has a reputation as a loose cannon, Obama will have plausable deniability for anything the guy says. If he can be controlled and "programmed", he could be the perfect attack dog.

36 years in the Senate. His experience counter balances Obama's percieved inexperience. His knowledge of Foreign Relations is second to none. Foreign leaders know who he is. He will bring gravitas to the ticket.

I really don't have anything against Biden. He certainly has the qualifications. My biggest fear is that if they can't control the words that come out of Biden's mouth, he could be a major distraction and liability during the campaign and for the next eight years.

There WILL be gafs. Guaranteed. The only real question is how serious and damaging they will be.

But, the decision is made. They didn't ask my opinion.

Now I would really, really like to see him announce that Bill Richardson will be his Secretary of State. In that position Bill Richardson should start a world tour the day after Obama is inaugurated. He should visit every single country on this planet, hold talks with the leaders of those countries, and begin repairing the damage that has been done by the current administration.

I also want President Obama to shut down every single secret prison, bring the so-called non-legal combatants into mainstream, due process, legal system. Tell the world who they are and the charges against them. Put them on trial and move them through the legal system as quickly as possible and make it all transparent to scrutiny by the rest of the world.

I think any instances where the United States has tortured detainees should be investigated and made public. Anyone involved needs to be held accountable. The United States needs to publically apologize to the world for all such instances and pledge that we will never, ever again treat anyone in our custody in such a manner.

The United States needs to hold itself to a higher moral standard than the people who want to attack us.