Biden choice could be the solution — or bring a host of new problems

Someone once said that there’s a solution to every problem that’s simple, obvious — and wrong. The selection of Joe Biden as running mate by Barack Obama could be just such a solution.

Biden is a lot better than Hillary Clinton, the bitterness of whose supporters could not be cured by the No 2 spot on the ticket. Old political campaigners see Biden’s selection as smart, altogether. Strategic, don’t you know. Sound in its geography. Wise in its age contrast. Broad in its appeal, since Biden comes of Catholic working people who went down the coalmines of Pennsylvania, yet now has loads of money. Adds a touch of pathos, because of Biden’s overcoming of the childhood stutter that got him cruelly nicknamed “Joe B-B-B-Biden” and his raising of his family after the car crash that killed his wife and daughter. Balances the ticket, providing the international policy expertise and experience Obama’s perceived to be just a mite thin on.

Nobody’s saying “And white, too.” Nobody’s saying “You need a bit of down-and-dirty political nous to balance all that idealistic stuff Obama talks.” But that’s the subtext.