By AFP,
Springfield, Illinois : Barack Obama Saturday unveiled veteran Senate colleague Joseph Biden as his running mate for the White House, calling him an all-American leader as Biden lost no time in furiously baiting their Republican adversary John McCain.
On a sweltering day, Obama returned to the same spot in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown where he launched his White House quest to present Biden as his vice presidential pick before a rapturous crowd of 35,000.
Biden , 65, received effusive praise from Democratic leaders including Obama’s vanquished nominating rival Hillary Clinton, who called the vice-presidential candidate “an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant.”
Republican contender McCain argued the choice of Biden underlined Obama’s own lack of experience, as their White House race accelerated into a new phase with the approach of the Democratic nominating convention next week.
The Delaware senator said he was “proud to stand firm with the next president of the United States of America, Barack Obama” and said both shared a uniquely American story in their rise from humble roots.
Despite calling McCain an “old friend” and Senate colleague, Biden went immediately on the offensive after the Republican senator from Arizona confessed to not knowing how many houses he and his wealthy wife Cindy own.
“If your kitchen table is like mine, you sit there at night after you put the kids to bed and you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you are worried about being able to pay the bills,” he said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a worry John McCain has to worry about. It’s a pretty hard experience. He’ll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at,” he said, setting the stage for a bruising two months of campaigning for the November 4 election as McCain prepared to announce his own VP pick at the end of next week.
Hours after a post-midnight text message confirmed the hotly debated identity of his VP pick, the 47-year-old Obama said he had spent months searching for a leader who shared his passion to remake the United States.
“Above all, I searched for a leader who is ready to step in and be president,” the Illinois senator said.
“Today, I have come back to Springfield to tell you that I’ve found that leader, a man with a distinguished record and a fundamental decency, Joe Biden,” he said on the steps of the old state capitol here.
“Joe Biden is what so many others pretend to be — a statesman with sound judgment who doesn’t have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong,” he said in a clear attack on McCain as well as President George W. Bush.
Obama recalled the launch of his own presidential candidacy from the same steps 19 months ago, and painted Biden, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, as an experienced but non-conventional politician.
“He’s an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class,” he said.
“He has stared down dictators and spoken out for America’s cops and firefighters. He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track.”
With the temperature nudging 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the blistering sun, Obama inadvertently introduced Biden as the “next president” before correcting it to vice president.
The McCain camp did not miss the slip. “Barack Obama sounded as though he turned over the top spot on the ticket today to his new mentor, when he introduced Joe Biden as the next president,” McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said.
“The reality is that nothing has changed since Joe Biden first made his assessment that Barack Obama is not ready to lead. He wasn’t ready then and he isn’t ready now,” he said.
Biden has twice run for the presidency himself, including a shot at the Democratic nomination this time around when he had some unflattering things to say about Obama’s inexperience.
But any differences were buried as Obama reached out to a Catholic working-class son of Pennsylvania who can help him woo the kinds of blue-collar workers who so ardently rallied to Clinton during the primaries.
Aides said Obama offered him the job in a telephone call on Thursday evening, but triggered a day-long frenzy of media speculation by sitting on the announcement before it eventually leaked late Friday.
Biden emerged on top after reports said Obama had broken the news to two other leading contenders — Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine — that they were no longer under consideration.
Biden, jacketless with shirt sleeves rolled up, jogged across the stage and wrapped his arm around Obama as the pair basked in the adulation of the enormous Springfield crowd.
The gaffe-prone Biden gave a stirring address but still managed to mangle his new boss’s name as “Barack America,” triggering corrective chants of “Obama” from the crowd.