Biden or Obama

Over at "The Plank" the question is asked: Where is Barack Obama?

I think it is a pretty worthy one. How the Democrat's failed to get this guy on the Senate Judiciary Committee speaks of an enormous failure on the part of Harry Reid and the Democratic senior leadership in the Senate.

Let's look at Obama's credentials: He graduated from Harvard Law School, as the President of the Law Review. He then went on to be a lecturer of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Tell me, how does that not get you on the judiciary committee? But on top of that, the guy is charismatic as all hell, he is the type of person Democrats need to get out there and what better way to show him off (and also show the country that he has a deep understanding of government and the law, something he'll have to battle if he runs for President in 2008).

The matter becomes even more urgent when the Democrats seem to only be putting their worst foot forward. Two years ago, Joe Biden seemed like a smart guy. Then I heard him talk. Over at the Washington Post, Richard Cohen updates us on what you may have missed:

during Biden's round of questioning, he "spoke about his own Irish American roots, his 'Grandfather Finnegan,' his son's application to Princeton (he attended the University of Pennsylvania instead, Biden said), a speech the senator gave on the Princeton campus, the fact that Biden is 'not a Princeton fan,' and his views on the eyeglasses of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)."

The tragedy is that Biden, who is running for president, is a much better man and senator than these accounts would suggest. But his tendency, his compulsion, his manic-obsessive running of the mouth has become the functional equivalent of womanizing or some other character weakness that disqualifies a man for the presidency.

Ouch.

But seriously, if Democrats are going to continue to avoid having any quick and appealing political philosophy, then they have to at least start putting the more charismatic leaders out there. Watching Senators like Biden so transparently pandering to every possible voting block seems like a repeat of the 2004 Democratic Primary. Democrats need to at least get a guy who can pander well enough to veil the parties gaping ideological problems. Bill Clinton was someone who could pull it off, maybe Obama can, but it is pretty clear that Biden, Kerry, Gore, etc. sure as hell can't.

-Mr. Alec

PS The further question can be asked, why is Ted Kennedy still thrust into the national spotlight by Democrats? Shouldn't he be the guy that Democrats secretly like but reprimand anyways when he goes nuts with some sensational soundbyte, much like Republicans do with people like Bill O'Reilly, Pat Robertson, or Rush Limbaugh.