Barack Obama's VP Selection

Joe Biden seems like a nice guy. When I was a college student at the University of Delaware I wrote in to both his office and Tom Carper's office (the other Delaware senator) for a signed picture. Carper's office ignored me while Biden's office had the picture sent to me within 4 days. I thought that was pretty cool.

I really have to disagree with the choice that Obama made here. For all the hoopla and grandiose plans for his V.P. choice to finish up with Joe Biden is just...uninteresting. I also want to say how infuriated I am, that after trusting Obama's team with my cell phone number, he wakes me up at three in the morning to let me know about his mediocre selection.

Joe Biden is going to bring experience to the ticket but like I have said before, Biden is one misplaced comment away from destroying the campaign. If Obama can control him to some degree and keep him succinct at debates and other gatherings, he should be fine. John McCain also has plenty of ammunition to use against Obama as Biden has tons of sound bites, voting records, and skeletons left to dissect.

EDIT (An earlier writing on Biden, 7/10/08):

He has a lot of Chris Dodd characteristics in terms of age and excitement potential (save Delaware). He has good foreign policy experience and would provide an experience boost to the campaign however he is one or two sound-bites away from a campaign blow up. In my head I am seeing Kerry say "I was for the war, before I was against it" all over again. Biden is scary because he could destroy the campaign just by opening his mouth during a candid moment.

EDIT #2:

Even though I'm not sure it was the best pick for Obama, I'm excited about what it does for Delaware. I attended the University of Delaware for four years and I know this must be huge news all over Delaware and especially in New Castle county. Joe Biden is well-liked in Delaware and will be missed if he makes it to higher office. I'm happy for Joe because he is certainly somebody who has the resume to deserve a position like this.

Obama's Veep Choice

If I was advising Barack Obama, who has fallen behind John McCain in recent polling, I would advise him to pick the only person who can guarantee him the election. That person is none other than Hillary Clinton. Before you jump all over me saying its not going to happen and accusing me of being cronies with Ralph Nader, lets think about this for a second.

We all know the negatives that Hillary brings. Critics say that you would be getting a 1992-esque two vice-presidents for one! This implies Bill Clinton would constantly be in the backdrop and lurking in the shadows. The solution: make him a UN ambassador or send him out on goodwill missions 24/7, if he is out of picture Obama can have room to breathe. It is also been shouted out from the rooftops that Hillary is unpopular with independents. No big deal, you need to excite your base first and independents will not chose you based solely on your VP choice. Obama's campaign has been built on liberal enthusiasm from day one, could any other VP choice bring that much enthusiasm with them? I think not.

Say what you want about Hillary, but she is actually a very smart and interesting person. Many people hate her just because they think they should hate her. The media did not do her any favors in the 1990's but if you look past that you don't see any ego on her part and her choice not to use Mark Penn's strategy against Obama or let slip John Edwards' martial woes is honorable in the least.

Clinton at this point has to be the nominee if Obama is going to win. Remember back to President Bush in '00 and '04 with Dick Cheney as the VP nominee. Cheney has never been popular with independents and may be even more unpopular than the president but George Bush did fine with him and convinced his base he was a traditional republican.

The Puppet Master

If you're one of the few people who still thinks Dmitri Medvedev is calling the shots in Russia, you'd better think again. When Russia invaded Georgia, President Bush (and rightfully so) issued the United States' response to the move, calling it "unacceptable". Condi Rice has played her role as Secretary of State (almost like a prime minister) by doing most of the "behind the scenes" work during the negotiations.

When Russia gives its response to the United States, Vladimir Putin of all people is the one to give it. He criticized the United States for portraying Georgia as the victim and for airlifting Georginan troops from Iraq. Shouldn't Medvedev have given that response? A prime minister in a secondary leadership role giving the official public response to the leader of another nation? Sounds fishy to me.

Europe and the United States need to learn that Russia's steady ascent to increased aggression over the last decade is due solely to Putin, an old school KGB man. Putin in some regards is a full blown dictator without an official title. As the world is prepared to give Russia a good 'ole slap on the wrist, this just seems a little too 1939ish for me.

Adultery In The Living Room

With the recent news about John Edwards' affair, I've decided I'm fed up with hearing about politician's affairs. I just don't want to hear about it any more! I don't care if it's Larry Craig, John Edwards, David Vitter or Elliot Spitzer. I really don't want to hear about a person's private issues that should be dealt with in the privacy of the home.

It has long been rumored that many prominent people in the U.S. media knew John F. Kennedy had been having activity outside of his marriage both before and during his presidency. While this obviously unknown and can never be verified, it does ask another question. Why didn't the press release the information they had found? Many believed it was because the U.S. public just didn't want to hear about it. They didn't want to know Kennedy's accused personal failures because it wasn't considered proper "news".

Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton had affairs and are generally regarded by most Americans as having successful presidencies. Personally, I feel they are lousy human beings and don't deserve their partner's love. With that said, I would rather have a capable adulterer in the White House than a pious simpleton. In short, keep the tabloid tidbits out of the news and the meat of their policies in it.

The Best Video Game Ever?

I was surfin' the good old internets (as Senator Ted Stevens would call it) the other day when I came across a poll for the best video game ever. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw "The Sims" leading the voting. Not only is this not the best video game ever but not even close. I mean were WOW, Unreal Tournament, Halo, Doom, SimCity, and Roller Coaster Tycoon all on vacation?

If I had to pick one video game to bring with me on a deserted island (assuming this deserted island had internet of course), I would pick Blizzard's Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. This video game is the best I have played for many reasons. For starters, the game can be beaten but doesn't end once this occurs. With many video games, once you beat the game, the game ends and your only option is to start all over again. Diablo can be beaten but once you have beaten the game you can continue playing but just don't accumulate any game bonuses.

Diablo is also great because it can be played both single-player and multi-player (using the internet). Thus if you want to play by yourself/you are anti-social, you can enjoy the game. You can also play with friends or strangers online. The game is very addicting and very interesting and is poised to be added upon with Diablo 3, being released in two years time.

Socialites Around The Horn

Over the past week I have become very impressed with Paris Hilton. Long an afterthought in my mind due to her lack of contribution to society and generally adolescent behavior, she has injected herself into the presidential race like no socialite ever before. In reality it was really John McCain who dragged her into the race but instead of ignoring it or giving irrelevant and un-educated sound bites about it, she has fired back.

In a quirky and intelligent (gasp) ad, she discusses (jokingly of course) how she is now running for president and that she is a celebrity too. Bashing against the "white-haired guy" and the guy for change, she talks about her own hybrid energy plan which really was very interesting.

I never knew she had it in her and my opinion of her has definitely increased. One can only hope Britney Spears will issue a similar ad and give us her positions on health care or terrorism.

EDIT: Seems like CNN agrees as they totally just stole my phrase calling Hilton's ad: "quirky". I made that phrase up, not you CNN!

Generic Products

I have found for the most part that generic "non-name" brand products usually fall short of their pricier counterparts. I was thinking today how I can't really think of more than five generic products which are equal or better than the products they imitate. I think you really do get what you pay for and my run-ins with generic products would back that up.

My experience with generic peanut butter was by far the worst out of any. I decided to purchase a "Sam's Club" jar of peanut butter in order to save about 39 cents from the regular "Jiff" that I normally purchase. In case you have never had it, "Jiff" is a perfect concoction of peanut butter, sugar and hydrogenated oils. "Sam's Club" unfortunately is a watery, bitter tasting, poor facsimile of that previous description. When opening up a "Sam's Club" jar it is not uncommon for one to have to drain the excess fluid from the top before beginning to scoop out the butter. Clearly disgusting and not worth the 39 cents of aggravation.

Another example of this is generic electronics. I recently purchased a USB hub so that I could have four additional USB ports. In order to save five dollars I chose to use a brand I have never heard of instead of Microsoft. In hindsight, a very poor decision. Not only did the USB hub not work properly (provided power to objects but not data transfer), the cable hookup to the computer was only 4 inches long. Now what the heck am I supposed to do with a 4 inch USB cable? I use floss longer than that.

The next time you feel the urge to save a few dollars (or in most cases, a few cents) on a generic brand product, unless it is store brand cereal...don't. You'll thank me.