My Running Mate is Better than Yours

8 Thoughts About the Last Debate #5

The prom queen is a reformer! Thanks for that piercing observation into your running mate Mr. McCain. I know that I'm all the better for it.

You see, ultimately, Washington doesn't need a simple reforming if that reform doesn't include a significant change in policy. Let's make a dramatic leap and assume that a McCain/Palin administration would operate in a more open fashion, with less cronyism and outright law breaking than the Bush administration. Would it really matter if they still support the same failed, conservative policies that have made the last eight years such a mess in the first place?

Ultimately, I wasn't particularly interested in what McCain has to say about the prom queen anyway. I've learned enough about her to know that she's more than just unqualified; she's dangerous. What I was glad to hear was Obama's spirited endorsement of Joe Biden as his running mate. An Obama/Biden administration has so much promise.

OBAMA: Well, Joe Biden, I think, is one of the finest public servants that has served in this country. It's not just that he has some of the best foreign policy credentials of anybody. And Democrats and Republicans alike, I think, acknowledge his expertise there.

But it's also that his entire life he has never forgotten where he came from, coming from Scranton, fighting on behalf of working families, remembering what it's like to see his father lose his job and go through a downward spiral economically.

And, as a consequence, his consistent pattern throughout his career is to fight for the little guy. That's what he's done when it comes to economic policies that will help working families get a leg up.

That's what he's done when it comes to, for example, passing the landmark 1994 crime bill, the Violence Against Women's Act. Joe has always made sure that he is fighting on behalf of working families, and I think he shares my core values and my sense of where the country needs to go.

Because after eight years of failed policies, he and I both agree that what we're going to have to do is to reprioritize, make sure that we're investing in the American people, give tax cuts not to the wealthiest corporations, but give them to small businesses and give them to individuals who are struggling right now, make sure that we finally get serious about energy independence, something that has been languishing in Washington for 30 years, and make sure that our kids get a great education and can afford to go to college.

So, on the key issues that are of importance to American families, Joe Biden's always been on the right side, and I think he will make an outstanding president if, heaven forbid, something happened to me.