John McCain should be the heavy favorite to be next
President of the
I’ve never said that before. If “Barack
chose Hillary Clinton as his running mate, Obama would and should remain as the
favorite for the White House. In fact, the political betting
odds would likely have gone up.
Am I oblivious to history which states emphatically that
voters chose between presidential candidates and not the entire ticket? No.
The American public is not going to vote for or against
Biden or the eventual McCain running mate choice. But Biden is on record
forcefully questioning Obama’s qualifications for president and praising
McCain’s. Barack Obama’s highly
questionable VP decision gives those soon-to-be-fatal comments a stronger
voice.
When asked by George Stephanopoulos on the ABC program This Week about questioning Obama’s lack
of experience, the verbose Biden gave a terse, “I stand by my statement.”
The American public is fair. They generally distinguish
when a candidate is distorting his opponent’s words. One look at Biden’s
criticism of Obama and praise of McCain will make it virtually impossible for
Biden to claim he was taken out of context. Biden left nothing to misinterpretation
or misrepresentation.
While Barack
still has the ability to win over the Hillary Clinton base that he
disenfranchised, the fact he bypassed the person the polls and primary
electorate clearly preferred as veep opens the door for a powerful question.
A big selling point by Obama was that he was willing to
meet face-to-face with the vilest enemies of the country his wishes to
represent. Yet the undecided may ask why he is so eager to find common ground
with sworn enemies of the
yet he couldn’t even achieve accord with Hillary Clinton?
Just as Obama started to put the Jeremiah Wright
controversy behind him, Barack’s choice was another gift horse.
Surely Republican partisans are looking to piggy back
Wright’s racist and anti-American comments, Michael Pfleger’s inflammatory
bigoted ranks and perhaps Michele Obama’s ill-fated “first time in my adult
life I’m proud to be an American” with Biden’s shocking “In Delaware, the
largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot
go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
Perhaps the most devastating words followed, “I’m not joking.”
Hurry bet John McCain now as the big underdog (political betting
odds) at one of the sportsbooks
that have not adjusted to the fact the Joe Biden makes McCain the “Wright”
favorite.
The author, Grandmaster sports handicapper Joe Duffy is not
only the top sports betting expert in the world, but a widely accepted
authority in political handicapping. He can be reached at joeduffy@joeduffy.net