If it's Biden, this may explain Obama waiting so long to make the VP announcement

If it's Biden, this may explain Obama waiting so long to make the VP announcement

By Paul Goldman

Following-up on this morning's earlier analysis, never in the history of modern presidential campaigning during this primary-dominated era has someone who fared so poorly as did Senator Biden this year been chosen for the Vice-Presidency over someone who did so well such as Senator Hillary Clinton.

Indeed, never before as a better performing candidate been rejected for a worse performing candidate, not to mention in this case a near winner being rejected for a huge loser, indeed someone who has now been forced to twice withdraw from the presidential contest after his campaign did so poorly.

If it's Biden, my gut says: The Obama high command was worried about a potential backlash from Clinton supporters for several reasons, not the least is the fact that the Clinton campaign made her gender such a big part of her strategy, and now, here again, we see the woman rejected for a man who she crushed in the primaries.

By keeping the Biden thing under wraps until the weekend before the Democratic Convention, when key Clinton operatives and feminist activists will be otherwise somewhat distracted by the need to be traveling to Denver, this makes any such big backlash being part of the narrative a lot less possible.

Once folks get to Denver, with Senator Clinton due to speak on Tuesday night, this calendar maneuver I think is calculated to reduce any possible " once again, the woman plays by the rules, beats the man, but he gets the job anyway" type of backlash in the media against Biden's nomination.

Think about it: The polls show that most of the Hillary constituency wants her to run for VEEP. They think she earned it.

She crushed Biden, who while a super-guy and a solid Democrat, still lost badly. He didn't have the money nor the opportunity to show what he could do, that's true, and he has a solid record in office.

But the operative issue is simply that he got beat, by her, and badly.

So, again we thinking out loud in terms of the average Clinton backer, why is that Hillary, the woman, loses to Biden, the man, for the VP prize?

As people know, I have addressed the issues of gender, race, and the like in several articles in the past in major dailies, I wrote some new one's this year, but the news media has chosen this time to review them, and in the end not to publish them.

In my view, the Obama team has been worried about a possible backlash being played out in the 24/7 media political echo chamber - not on the Convention floor - so they have reduced the time available for it.

For Senator Clinton's 18 million I think it is voters, and millions more, especially women who she targeted with her campaign strategy, the sense of hurt and rejection is a fair concern for Democratic leaders to have. Joe Biden has a solid Democratic record. But again, he got beat big time by Hillary Clinton.

Senator Clinton will be addressing it in her Convention speech, you can bet on that. So will her husband.

So if it is Biden, don't be surprised if the GOP tries to play some political games here.

Senator Bayh, a Clinton backer, would not have the Biden circumstance, the same for Governor Kaine, since he backed Obama, and in that regard, it is understandable that he would be more likely to be chosen than Senator Clinton.

Biden didn't back Obama, he ran against Hillary, he got beat big time.

Yet he ends up with the prize.

That is going to be the view of a lot of Clinton supporters in middle America.