Summer readings and the Veepstakes

So, over the last month and a half I got all up in Frank Herbert’s amazing Dune series. All up. During this spring, for the longest time I’d been looking forward to the end of the semester when I could double down with a good book and chill in the quad at UNC after having finished my big research papers.
And when I walked over to the Ram Bookstore on the day of my last deadline I literally did not know what to get, but for some time I’d been thinking about reading Frank Herbert’s Dune – the most critically acclaimed and biggest selling science fiction work of all time. The desert planet Arrakis somehow appealed to me in the late spring Carolina heat, can’t imagine why. I still remember sitting out on the grass with Patricia, Gabi and Daniel and flipping over the first few pages. Life is often very, very good to me.

And I don’t know exactly why I wanted to read it really either. I’m not a big sci-fi guy, the David Lynch movie adaption of Dune was….let’s say spotty at best, though visually stunning. Maybe it was the constant Dune-references over at the awesome indie comic Questionable Content (www.questionablecontent.com). Either way I started reading and was spellbound, I zoomed through five books in about a month and half.

But I forgot to buy the sixth and final installment “Chapterhouse: Dune” when I was at Borders so now while I’m waiting a week for Amazon to get their shit together I grabbed “Promises To Keep”, Joe Biden’s autobiography that’s been sitting on the shelf for a few months and dove head-first into it. Joe Biden is one of my (and everyone’s!) favorite Senators and definitely my second-favorite Democratic Presidential candidate, until he dropped out after Iowa.

Last semester I wrote a paper in a polisci class on Biden, and to be honest I chose the Senator from Delaware (does that make him a Delawarian???) mainly to have a reason to read his book. As it turns out I read everything about Biden EXCEPT his book. You know, the best laid plans of mice and men. Anyway.

Joseph Biden’s book is fantastic. Joseph Biden is fantastic. Joseph Biden should be Vice President.

If you know Joe Biden in the least you know this, Joe Biden is of a rare-breed. Are you expecting a 29 year-old to be elected to the US Senate anytime soon? Technically he was not even old enough to hold that job until he turned 30, he had to wait a few weeks to be sworn in. Talk about being younh and un-tested, good thing he didn’t run against Senator McCain.

So, why should Joseph Robinette Biden of Delaware be Senator Obama’s running mate?

Pro’s:

He has more foreign policy experience then pretty much anyone in the Democratic field. He has been the chairman of BOTH the Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees, he brokered SALT II and pioneered American intervention in the Balkans in the 90’s (America’s last successful military campaign?).

He has a compelling life story; being knocked down and bouncing up again (death of his wife and daughter, having to drop out in the ‘88 Presidential primary after allegations of plagiarism).

He is a great campaigner, vigor coming out his ears. He has been a Senator for 36 years for chrissakes.

He is a notorious straight talker (often to his detriment).

Con’s:

He is a notorious straight talker (often to his detriment).

He is not from a swing state, Delaware is safely blue.

Just the other day Biden was on Meet The Press and talked with refreshing candor about the Veepstakes. Everyone else on the imaginary short-list is dancing around the issue like a burning pile of deliciously enticing candybars laced with manure but Biden was up front about it: he doesn’t want it, doesn’t want Senator Obama to ask him to be VP, but if asked he would of course serve.
On a sidenote Meet The Press was temporarily chaired by Brian Williams this Sunday, the same day NBC announced that Tom Brokaw would take Tim Russert’s seat for the remainder of the year while the network search for a permanent replacement to Russert. My (less than) educated guess for Russert’s permanent replacement is NBC Chief White House correspondent David Gregory. I would, obviously, love to see Chris Matthews in the big seat….but he’s just too much fun.

As for Senator Biden…I don’t see his becoming the VP. He is certainly on the short-list and at the top of many pundits’ lists of possible what-if’s, but I would bet my money (if I had any…) on someone like Jim Webb or Mark Warner (both from the crucial could-be swing state of Virginia) or maybe Ted Strickland from Ohio. In my dream world (and I’m not lying, I actually dream about this shit), Joseph Biden would be Secretary of State in the Obama cabinet.

Take those two predictions to the bank and cash ‘em, yo!

Now watching: The Wire, Season 1
Now listening to: “Late for the Sky” Jackson Browne