Incipient Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's selection of Joseph Biden as his running mate constitues a stunning betrayal of the anti-war constituency who made possible his hard-fought victory in the Democratic primaries and caucuses.
The veteran Delaware senator has been one of the leading congressional supporters of U.S. militarization of the Middle East and Eastern Europe, of strict economic sanctions against Cuba and of Israeli occupation policies.
Most signigicantly, however, Biden, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the lead-up to the Iraq War during the latter half of 2002, was perhaps the single most important congressional backer of the Bush administration's decision to invade that oil-rich country.
Peacenik has returned from the news-free wilderness and has quickly made himself queasy by watching CNN's coverage of the Democratic convention. They have Glen Beck on as a special commentator forchrissakes.....and every story so far is about disunity at the convention. Every right wing mouthpiece will no doubt get a good workout on CNN this week. Peacenik had to boat to a newsbox to get a paper to find out who Obama picked as his running mate. Given the options, Peacenik was initally relieved that Biden was the pick, although Jack McCafferty, on CNN, is right now discussing how picking Biden might cost Obama the election. While Peacenik contemplated how peaceful and relaxing the wilderness was, reading this article by Stephen Zunes quickly jarred him back to reality. Peacenik wonders if this election will make any difference.
