Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama yesterday named veteran Senate colleague Joseph Biden as his vice presidential running mate, adding foreign policy heft — but also a loose tongue — to his ticket for November’s election against Republican John McCain.
After hours of media leaks, the 47-year-old Democratic White House hopeful confirmed that he was picking the Delaware senator, 65, in an early-hours e-mail and text message sent out to millions of signed-up supporters.
“I’ve chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate,” Obama said in the e-mail. “I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.”
PHOTO: AFP
The new running mates were expected to appear together for their first rally after 3pm in Springfield, Illinois, president Abraham Lincoln’s hometown where Obama began his White House quest in February last year.
Biden was then likely to join Obama on a tour of four states to the west before ending up in Denver, Colorado, for the coming week’s Democratic convention. He will speak on Wednesday, followed by Obama on Thursday.
The official campaign Web site already read “Obama-Biden” and it invited supporters to send a welcome note to Biden, who is a hugely experienced Washington insider, having entered Congress at the age of 29 in 1972.
The chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee has twice run for the presidency himself, including a shot at the Democratic nomination this time around when he had some unflattering things to say about Obama’s inexperience.
“There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,” McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement.
“Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing — that Barack Obama is not ready to be president,” he said.
But in turning to the loquacious and pugnacious Biden, Obama is banking that the veteran’s expertise on national security will blunt McCain’s attacks and that his personal background will keep wavering Democrats in the fold.
A Catholic native of Pennsylvania, Biden brings appeal to the kind of working-class voters with whom the African-American Obama has struggled to connect and who backed his primary rival Hillary Clinton.
In snubbing Clinton for the VP slot, Obama has calculated that Biden can do as much to reach out to those voters without the need to bring the political baggage of the former first lady and her husband Bill on board his campaign.
Obama had said last week that he was looking for a principled running mate who was unafraid to speak his mind and tell his boss if policy was veering off-track. Biden fits that bill.
But Biden’s length of experience could also detract from Obama’s promise to sweep away the Washington old guard and Biden has a long record of verbal missteps.
Launching his ill-fated shot at the Democratic nomination last year, he said of Obama: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned