Op-Ed Submission to the Omaha World Herald

Notwithstanding the historic nature of Thursday night’s debate not much occurred outside the norm of the bellum verborum for prospective vice-presidents. Much to the chagrin of political ambulance chasers desiring to pronounce the premature death of the political career of Governor Palin, she exited the debate hall having achieved the desired end for the apotheosis of presidential surrogates. She held the line against the shoddily structured format from moderator and (sycophantic author) Gwen Ifill, and refused the attempt of Senator Biden to dictate the terms and boundaries around which the debate would be centered. Though there were times she could have landed that ever so evasive oratorical uppercut to the chin, she exceedingly surpassed the cynical expectations of detractors and partisans alike.

So what now? With polls gaining apparent stability, we must patiently anticipate the next two debates between the respective lead candidates, and wonder if they or any other catalyst will impact the current electoral standing from now until the only poll that truly matters: the one on November 4th.

What is glaringly obvious is the early Christmas gift delivered to the McCain-Palin camp from the unwitting (or should I say desperate?) hands of Senator Biden. He found himself at times cornered on Thursday night, and in process of escaping his predicament, committed a handful of whoppers measurable only on a 1990's scale. His capricious revelation on the beatific expedience of clean coal technology is either the most violent positional tergiversation in recent history or is indeed the boldest example of shameless lies told during a political campaign. The McCain campaign exploited almost immediately the gaffes committed by the would-be vice-president, juxtaposing, in advertisement form, his campaign trail positions to those he assumed during his serial epiphany during the debate. There was also the embarrassing video in which the senior Senator rebuked the Senatorial Neophyte, et al, for their votes to withhold funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, labeling it, accurately so, as a politically influenced vote that would have resulted in undue loss of American lives.

Even prior to the debate, there was Senator Biden’s disapproval of his boss’s approval of the campaign ad portraying John McCain as “out of touch” since he cannot operate a keyboard due to war injuries. The in-house dispute was tempered and Senator Biden, as cited by Lisa Wangsness of the Boston Globe, had to admit he never saw the advertisement.

Then there was the now infamous incident in which the Senator displayed his grasp on history when he informed the nation that FDR, as president, in 1929, calmed the nation’s fears post-Stock Market crash by appearing on television and talking to the citizenry.

Immediately following the debate Thursday night, on ABC World News’ version of “fact check”, it was pointed out that Senator Biden fallaciously accused John McCain of voting, like Barack Obama, to raise taxes on households annually earning as little as $42,000. It turned out that Senator McCain was in Pennsylvania when the final vote was held.

The question now stands as to whether or not Senator Biden’s value to the campaign outweighs his detraction. Undoubtedly, the gravitas (and non-Clintonian surname) with which he supposedly equips the Obama campaign was the most attractive quality that propelled Senator Biden to the apogee of the vice-presidential short-list, but perhaps he has mislabeled his trademark logorrhea as an asset, when in reality, it might be more precisely labeled as a liability. His belligerence has proven to contain a professionally destructive quality in the past, but unlike judicial nominees and political opponents, in this instance, the victim of the Senator’s wrath, insofar as careers are concerned, may in fact be the Senator himself.