Obama’s choice

Re “Biden’s the pick, sources confirm,” Aug. 23

In choosing Joe Biden as his running mate, Obama proves what I have always thought -- namely, that his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was just clever opportunism.

Biden represents everything Obama opposed and attacked during the primaries when it came to Hillary Clinton. Biden voted for the resolution to use force against Iraq, and he has been entrenched in Washington politics for three decades.

There’s only one word that aptly describes Obama for choosing Biden as vice president: hypocrite. In Obama’s circle of eloquence, “change” speaks with a forked tongue.

Lucia M. Conforti

San Pedro

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Biden was my guy going into the Democratic primary, so I believe that Obama could not have picked a better running mate. Biden is the real deal, a politician of impeccable integrity and a great guy. Not only President Obama but the American people will be able to rely on Vice President Joe Biden to deliver when the chips are down.

Not a phony bone in his body; you can bet your last dollar that he will deliver the kind of service to this country that will make every citizen proud to be an American once again.

Don Mac Brown

Beverly Hills

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Although Obama made a sound choice in picking Biden as his running mate, the selection, perhaps, finally puts to rest the comparisons to John F. Kennedy. JFK had the courage, confidence and political wisdom to select the Hillary Clinton of his day, Lyndon Johnson, as his running mate.

In spite of their personal animus, JFK realized that unifying the party by choosing LBJ was his party’s best path to victory in November. Clinton received 18 million primary votes. Biden received a little more than 9,000 primary votes before withdrawing.

I remember JFK, I respected JFK and I miss JFK. You, Sen. Obama, are no JFK.

Stephen Wagner

Valencia

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Re “Biden quick to enter the fray,” Aug. 24

Thank goodness, the Democrats have done something right for the first time in eight years. The Republicans do more than fight without gloves on; they practice mixed martial arts. They kick, tear, punch, whip and rip their opponents even as they lay bleeding on the mat.

Forget the Foreign Affairs Committee and all that jazz. What Democrats need is a pit bull. What we have in Biden, the brilliant, fearless senator, is exactly that.

Go get ‘em Joe!

Pepper Edmiston

Pacific Palisades

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Where does The Times get the evidence for its skeptical analysis, in your news pages at that, of Obama’s unwonted “stagecraft” in the VP announcement, and potential catastrophes surrounding the coming stadium acceptance speech?

Yes, the Biden announcement could have fallen flat -- but it didn’t. Yes, it might rain on the big speech, or the acoustics might not work, or the lighting might be poor. Or, I might add, a comet might obliterate Colorado that night.

The suggestion is that Obama is recklessly walking a tight-wire, looking presumptive again as well as too theatrical and shallow, and is also, by the way, tricking his supporters by collecting their e-mail addresses.

Only two people are quoted, both at length, both Democrats from other campaigns, both of them very sour about the Obama campaign. Is this analysis?

Michael Murray

Sherman Oaks