Posted 4:36 PM by steve

Yes, Joe Biden's comments that (a newly elected President) Obama might fumble when he is inevitably tested by the 'world' is worth a few chuckles, but it is NOT the silver bullet with which the McCain can kill Obama's hopes of winning the Presidency*.... as there just aren't that many, if in fact any, voters who care about foreign policy and haven't yet made up their minds.

And why do I say that? Because the people who know enough and care enough to rank foreign affairs as one of their top concerns have been paying attention to the two candidates and have long had enough information with which to decide. To the extent that they prefer an experienced, steady hand, they've long cast their lot with McCain. And to the extent that these voters broke for Obama, they have factored in - and somehow gotten comfortable with - his youth, inexperience and naivete. And Biden's comments do nothing to alter that assessment, it's not as if he was bringing up something that these voters wouldn't have already considered.

There are a lot more undecided voters who will decide based on economic issues, social policy or something quite quirky, such as whether they watch Gossip Girl or like or dislike hockey. And to the extent that these voters are still undecided, they'll use another domestic issue and not foreign policy as their tie breaker.

You know, if I were the cynical type, I might think that Biden's comments today were not a gaffe, but rather were a quite intentional and well-designed tactical ploy of the Obama campaign to feed the McCain campaign an issue that the McCain campaign would think was manna from heaven but in reality was nothing more than a waste of another day of precious campaign time. Just as the McCain camp has spent days and dollars trying - and failing - to make hay out of the Obama-Ayers relationship, they're likely to jump on this... and with the same unproductive results. I'm not going to vote for Obama (duh!) but I do give his campaign credit, they're running circles around the McCain camp (yes, I know it doesn't hurt when the media is running interference for you, but let's give Obama's advisers some credit).

* To any Secret Service agents running a Google search of "Obama" AND "Kill" AND "Bullet", I am using those words figuratively and not literally. And to anybody who wants to argue that I'm irresponsible and playing with fire using those words within twenty posts of one another, go away, you're stupid, ridiculous, paranoid and in some serious need of sedation.