Obama Picks Biden

I didn't do too bad. I ranked Joe Biden fifth out of Obama's top ten veep choices back in June, but I rated him most highly of the three contenders receiving the most coverage as of late (Biden, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine).

And of those three, not only did I think it most likely Obama would choose Biden, but I also personally liked Biden the most. Unlike the bland Evan Bayh, Biden is a dynamic politician who has spent over 30 years in the Senate and can serve as an adept attack dog against John McCain. And unlike Governor Kaine, Biden, currently the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will add experience to the argument that Obama is better on foreign policy. And now the silly, rampant media speculation can end.

The only problem is Biden's comments before the primaries, saying that Obama was too inexperienced. The McCain campaign has already put up an ad to that effect:

But I'm sure McCain won't show you Biden's more recent comments on Obama...

...and on McCain:

Biden called me in June to express his amazement that McCain continued to insist that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the leader of Iran, even after I pointed out--during a press conference--that the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei controlled Iran's foreign policy and nuclear program. McCain's response was that the "average American" thought Ahmadinejad was Iran's leader...and Biden proceeded to jump all over that in a subsequent interview with Think Progress:

I don’t want an average American as president. I have great respect for average — average Americans don’t want an average American president of the United States of America. I want someone above average. I want someone who knows what they’re dealing with. And it surprises me that John didn’t understand the complexities of the power struggle going on in Iran right now.

Biden told me that he was amazed and disappointed by the changes in McCain during the course of the campaign. "I just don't recognize the guy anymore," he said. "It's a shame."

Obama and Biden appeared for the first time together in Springfield, Illinois, today. You can read the transcript of Obama's speech here.