They Just Look Right Together

Ok, so I watched a lot of news today. What with the announcement of Biden as Obama's running mate and all. And at some point in the pre-appearance-of-the-two-annointed-ones-together stuff, Chris Matthews (I know, I know) made a big deal about how the two of them look good together. You know, they're both these tall, fit men, with lots of energy, blah blah blah. He and the pundits then considered how McCain's cause will look if he chooses Romney, who towers over him, and who wouldn't "look as good" standing next to him.

I paraphrase, but yes, this went on for about five minutes. And then they noted that Obama and Biden would be appearing with their wives, and they noted their attractiveness and stylishness.

And all I could think was, if this is the logic, a woman will never "look good" on a presidential ticket, because, you know, she'd either look like a battle-ax or she'd look like a wife. She'd always be too short or too tall or too old or too young or just, you know, too female to look right.

I wasn't surprised by the Biden choice. He's a career politician, a Washington insider, and his strengths compliment Obama's weaknesses. Any politician would have chosen Biden. So really all this choice did for me was to confirm that Obama is a politician's politician. Not a bad thing, and I'll vote for him and hope he wins, but it did feel an awful lot like business - or politics - as usual.