Over the weekend, Michael Goldfarb suggested that the 3 A.M. Saturday morning text message announcing Obama’s selection of Joe Biden as his running mate was a dig at Hillary and her 3 A.M. phone call ad. Jonah Goldberg and Allahpundit were skeptical that Obama would do something so stupid. But based on this report from the Washington Post‘s Trail blog, it seems that the 3 A.M. timing was intentional:
If the Obama campaign was scrambling to respond to news reports that Biden was the VP nominee, it doesn’t make any sense why the text didn’t go out at 1 A.M. or even 11 P.M., when Jake Tapper reported that the Secret Service had been dispatched to protect Biden. From a logistical standpoint, it made sense to wait as long as possible to send out the text in order to get as many people to sign up as possible. Come November those cell phone numbers are going to a very effective means to get out the (lazy and forgetful) youth vote. And then, Team Obama thinks, why not make a symbolic statement that Joe Biden is ready to lead by sending it out at 3 A.M.? For anyone doubting that the Obama campaign could be so oblivious about how Hillary supporters would interpret the 3 A.M. text, remember this is the campaign that made it’s own presidential seal, and, when Obama couldn’t speak at the Brandenburg Gate, the venue they settled on was a monument dedicated to Prussian militarism and Nazism.
