What's So Funny About Celebrity?

Finally! News! Obama picks Biden!

The question is what Obama gets for his ticket, and the answer is that he found a way to get Hillary Clinton's advantages, without the baggage charges on Midway, or the extra seat cost for Bill Clinton's burger-enhanced butt. Catholic, moderately liberal Biden adds overlap from Delaware, in the Philadelphia market, into southern New Jersey, where most of his fight would be in the Garden State.

Biden's blue-collar credibility is a plus in central Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. As the Latino communities in the southwest have been quick to embrace the Obama candidacy, Governor Richardson became redundant. One suspects that Richardson may find himself in the role of Secretary of State in an Obama administration, a task for which he is thoroughly qualified, and likely better equipped than Ms. Rice.

How credible is Senator Biden as blue collar? The man's net worth is lower than that of your Wandering Gentile, a humble trucker from Georgia. He commuted on Amtrak between Wilmington and Washington. For those in the Republican party who feel that it is the role of Government to dictate behavior to citizens, one who leads by example speaks more to the idea of behavior modification.

Taking the train to work like an ordinary guy speaks volumes about the man. Primarily, it says that he was in a position to work on Senate-related tasks as opposed to adding to the horrendous traffic on I-95, a sacrifice that many commercial drivers should appreciate. For those who have spent eternities at the toll plazas lining I-95 between Baltimore and Wilmington, as well as in the fright show of Washington traffic, profound gratitude is expressed.

Biden is the anti-celebrity, politically wedded to a figure deemed as the "...biggest celebrity in the world." Excuse me?

Yeah, there is a presidential precedent. What exactly would one call the President of the Screen Actor's Guild, and a top box-office draw? Oh, that's right, a CELEBRITY. The news flash for the GOP is this, when Ronald Reagan was an actor and broadcast personality before he was in politics, there is not a whole lot of room to talk about someone being a celebrity.

This is an example of the Rovian divisiveness that has consumed the Republican party over the last fifteen years. No characterizations will be offered here; they are gratuitous. Rove's tactics worked effectively with the rather uncompelling offerings that the Democrats presented in Gore and Kerry.

Four years ago, the Yankees were ahead of Tampa Bay, too. Add a few years of setbacks and change the cast of characters, and now Tampa Bay is on top of the American League East, which if not proof of Hell freezing over, is proof that there were low temperatures in the mid-thirties.

Returning to message, Rove tactics are not a match for a compelling candidate with talent and a motivated body of supporters. (Big Transparency Revelation, your Wandering Gentile has contributed to the Obama campaign.)

Stated simply, any voter who is likely to believe some of the more egregious exaggerations about Senator Obama, such as those concerning his religion, his patriotism, his experience, or his citizenship, was unlikely to vote Democratic in the first place. Even the reasonable Republicans who do not agree with Senator Obama on matters of accomplishing governance will admit that the Democrats are smart enough to make sure that their candidate is a United States Citizen, as prescribed in the Constitution.

The number of those who are apprehensive about Obama's non-traditional condition are overwhelmingly concentrated in a demographic that includes rural whites between fifty and dead. Of those, having Biden on the ticket is a comfort for many.

Obama is going to get a big share of people who buy Swedish cars, but he's not going to do well with Buick and Mercury owners. The fight is going to be among those who had Japanese pickups in the seventies, bought Caravans in the eighties, moved up to a Grand Cherokee in the nineties, and found themselves nostalgic for the Datsun's economy when gas hit four bucks a gallon.

In other words, the fight will go to people who might be open to an introduction from a Joe Biden. This is not a population which is intolerant or hateful, but they are quiet and thoughtful, and extremely reserved when it comes to matters of political expression. This is the group of what one guesses to be about fifteen or twenty percent of all voters.

Until now, they have been waiting for a good reason to embrace the candidate that their children have spoken highly of. The voter Biden can speak to knew of John Kennedy in his time, embraced Reagan's enthusiasm and optimism, and accepted that while Bill Clinton was less than ethical or forthcoming in his personal matters, he was an effective and competent President.

As Rove's playbook has been employed with the usual appeal to fear of the unknown, something has happened that has not happened before: the opponent has fought back. As much as many progressives like Gore and Kerry, they were products of an environment that discouraged competitive behavior and dissuaded retaliation or retribution.

The old joke is about a liberal being someone who would not take his own side in a conflict. The Obama/Biden campaign is different. There is a huge difference in acting in one's own interest, while behaving in an appropriate fashion, and being a blamed doormat. Senator Obama is no doormat, and Senator Biden is a nice aluminum baseball bat beside the bed waiting for someone who chooses to bring an uninvited conflict into a place of privacy and sanctuary.

For those who would dismiss Obama on grounds of inexperience, a hearty so what? is offered. The last that one noticed, eight years of experience have not improved the performance of President Bush, and may have made him less capable. While one may disagree appropriately with Obama's emphasis upon social activism within his Christian faith, one must not be persuaded that the Senator is anything but a Christian.

As far as challenging Obama's patriotism, the person who is most aware that his unique circumstances and diverse background would have been a greater obstacle in any country besides the United States is Obama himself. The man's gratitude is apparent, and devotion to his country is beyond question.

A message of optimism is refreshing. Change, particularly with regard to the atmosphere of paranoia and xenophobia in Washington at the moment, is not only necessary but demanded by all persons of decency and good will.

Welcome, Senator Biden. A few of us got that articulate and clean are compliments in the first place.