Rumors that President Barack Obama might be considering switching out Vice President Joe Biden for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dominated the blogosphere this morning, with conservatives arguing that the President would be better off without gaffetastic Biden on the presidential ticket.
Duh.
Of course Obama would have had an easier time getting reelected if he had replaced Biden on the ticket with someone as smart and exciting as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), Mitt Romney’s running mate. But the Obama campaign advisers were clearly too inept to figure that out when the President began running for reelection earlier this year, and they’re not going to switch it up now. As Breitbart’s Dana Loesch correctly pointed out this afternoon on twitter, that would be the ultimate sign of panic among the Democrats if Biden were given the boot. (Which is why they’re not going to do it, as Commentary’s Bethany Mandel, aka Bethany Shondark, said in reply.)
The Obama campaign is keenly aware of Biden’s deficiencies. Several of Biden’s most offensive remarks were made before he was ever selected as Obama’s running mate the first time around in 2008. If the Obama campaign were concerned that Biden would be a drag on the presidential ticket, he would never even have been vetted for VP in ’08.
Likewise, bumbling Biden is a Godsend to the GOP. His often off-color gaffes reinforce the fact that Romney running mate Paul Ryan would be exponentially more qualified to be President on ‘day one’ than Biden.
While the theory holds that VP candidates don’t usually affect the outcome of presidential elections, and neither the addition of Ryan to the Romney ticket or the continued presence of Biden on the Obama ticket will make or break the November election, the VP picks will play a role in the 2012 election, albeit a a relatively small one compared to jobs and the economy.
Today White House Press Secretary Jay Carney made it clear Biden would remain vice president if Obama is reelected. So I say to Republicans, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth – let Biden be Biden.
