As everybody and their mother now knows, Obama’s Vice Presidential running mate will be Senator Joesph Biden of Delaware. Very clever of Obama to wait the whole week, gathering the cell phone numbers of thousands of potential supporters wanting to be the “first to know” via text message (well eat it guys because this post is up even before you got your lousy text message…at ~3:30 a.m. EST). His campaign now has the ability to send get-out-the-vote texts to thousands of young and new voters, many of them who don’t even keep land lines and are traditionally hard to reach on election day. Anyways, we here at Sepia Mutiny have of course written about Joe Biden’s predilection for verbal gaffes before (see Donutgate here and here), which is probably his greatest weakness. However, it is no doubt his considerable strengths that led Obama to choose him as the running mate. Here Obama, in his own words, describes what he was looking for:
“Obviously, the most important question is, is this person prepared to be president? Second-most-important question, from my perspective, is: Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally? And the third criteria for me, I think, was independence. I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a yes-person when it comes to policymaking…” [Link]
 |
|
Biden walking with Kerry and Nawaz Sharif near Lahore earlier this year |
Arguably, the most dangerous waters to be waded through internationally in the next few years will be the tribal areas of Pakistan and it’s border with Afghanistan. There is probably no one in the Senate who knows more about these issue than Biden. In fact, remember this article I blogged about last November:
President Pervez Musharraf and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto each placed telephone calls from Pakistan to Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to discuss the country’s crisis before either talked to President George W. Bush.
On Saturday, Bhutto stressed to Biden the need for parliamentary elections in January with Gen. Musharraf remaining as president but leaving the army. Musharraf called Biden Tuesday and asked that their conversation be kept confidential. Biden got the impression Musharraf could accept January elections although he had triggered the crisis by suspending the constitution. [Link]
Obama could definitely use Biden’s counsel on Pakistan given his own awkward statements earlier in the political season. Even the pundit class (on Face the Nation in the clip below) gives Biden his due when it comes to his foreign policy chops:
Don’t misunderstand me, there is lots to like about Biden as a potential VP as David Brooks pointed out on Friday in the NYTimes, but it is his deep knowledge of Pakistan and the problems the United States faces going forward in that region that drove this pick in my opinion. In fact, just three days ago Biden had this to say:
“I congratulate the people of Pakistan on the peaceful resolution of their political crisis, and I applaud the decision of President Musharraf to give up his office for the good of his nation.
“The two major parties in the governing coalition - the PPP and the PML-N - worked together to bring about a change in government through constitutional and nonviolent means. This transition represents the first time in Pakistani history in which a president installed by the military has been removed by constitutional political action.
“I urge Pakistan’s leaders to focus now on the pressing challenges of the future and resist the temptation to settle scores of the past. President Musharraf made the right choice in stepping down. I hope his resignation marks the end of the political turmoil that has immobilized the Pakistani government in recent months…” [Link]
Also, in July Obama joined Biden and Republican Dick Lugar in announcing a bill to increase aid to Pakistan:
Barack Obama will announce today that he is co-sponsoring legislation with Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that would triple non-military U.S. aid to Pakistan.
Obama will highlight his support for the bill, which will be unveiled this morning, in a speech today on national security.
“We must expect more of the Pakistani government, but we must offer more than a blank check to a General who has lost the confidence of his people,” Obama states in excerpts pre-released by the campaign. “It’s time to strengthen stability by standing up for the aspirations of the Pakistani people. That’s why I’m cosponsoring a bill with Joe Biden and Richard Lugar to triple non-military aid to the Pakistani people.”
Biden and Lugar will unveil their bill at a news conference this morning. It would authorize $7.5 billion to Pakistan over five years to be used for development purposes such as building schools, roads, and medical clinics. It also calls for “greater accountability on security assistance,” according to Biden’s office, pushing Pakistan to step up its counterterrorism efforts against al Qaeda and the Taliban. [Link]
If he wins the election Obama will have lots of advisors, including governors, to help him try and revive the U.S. economy, the most important issue to voters. Over the last eight years however, our nation has learned that you need critical thinking, independent minds inside the White House when it comes to our foreign policy. Have no doubt that the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan will drive a significant chunk of our foreign policy, and thus Obama decided that Biden was his man.
