Barack Obama announced today that Joe Biden will be his Vice President.
The ever-changing political landscape made his choice for V.P. a critical decision for Obama.
Pundits on NPR last night went so far as to describe this as, "a glimpse into Barack Obama's very soul." . . . Will he chose someone just for electability? How will this choice reflect his governing style? Does he want a "Yes" man? Is he afraid of people smarter than himself? What vulnerabilities will his choice acknowledge?
And of course, perhaps most importantly, will the Democratic ticket have the right ring to it?
Before we're through (with lunch), we'll probably have heard everything there is to know about Joe Biden. Here's what I know about Joe Biden: He gave a great speech in Iowa at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner back in November.
He began with some jokes about the Obama backers ("Hello Chicago!"), the Republicans all being converts and how he single-handedly tanked Rudi Guilliani's campaign with the truism, "every sentence out of his mouth has three things" (a noun, a verb, and 9/11).
He then got serious about the moment the U.S. and World find itself in. He maintained an optimistic, opportunistic, attitude.
Then he underscored everything with the classic close-with-a-quote. The stanza came from a poem he and Bill Clinton love, written by Irish Nobel Prize winning poet, Seamus Heaney:
"History says, Don't hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme."
(I immediately went and found the rest of the poem. And in the weeks that followed, began giving away copies to family and friends and posting it here on this blog.)
That in mind, one can only say that it looks like Joe Biden's wave has risen. And the pundits will tell you (basically... but in 87 different ways) that Joe Biden is the "history" to Barack Obama's "hope".
And yet, the word "hope" and the word "history" don't rhyme, do they? Is that a bad sign?
In a chapter titled "The Play of Language" in her book Poems, Poets, Poetry, Helen Vendler wrote,
"Readers are conscious of a sound effect when they hear two end-words rhyme; but poets are conscious of all the sounds in their lines, just as they are of the rhythms of a line. Poets "bind" words together in a line by having them share sounds, whether consonants (alliteration, as in "broken bread") or vowels (assonance, as in "when ... sessions". This makes the words sound as if they "belong" together by natural affinity."
jOe-Biden. O-Bama.
Say it with me. The effect is not conscious (until now), but with a poets awareness of sound, assonance and alliteration, it does indeed appear as though they belong together by some natural affinity.
Hope, History and Obama, Biden do rhyme. Literally.
And as the wave rises, the further shore looks reachable from here.
The ever-changing political landscape made his choice for V.P. a critical decision for Obama.
Pundits on NPR last night went so far as to describe this as, "a glimpse into Barack Obama's very soul." . . . Will he chose someone just for electability? How will this choice reflect his governing style? Does he want a "Yes" man? Is he afraid of people smarter than himself? What vulnerabilities will his choice acknowledge?
And of course, perhaps most importantly, will the Democratic ticket have the right ring to it?
Before we're through (with lunch), we'll probably have heard everything there is to know about Joe Biden. Here's what I know about Joe Biden: He gave a great speech in Iowa at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner back in November.
He began with some jokes about the Obama backers ("Hello Chicago!"), the Republicans all being converts and how he single-handedly tanked Rudi Guilliani's campaign with the truism, "every sentence out of his mouth has three things" (a noun, a verb, and 9/11).
He then got serious about the moment the U.S. and World find itself in. He maintained an optimistic, opportunistic, attitude.
Then he underscored everything with the classic close-with-a-quote. The stanza came from a poem he and Bill Clinton love, written by Irish Nobel Prize winning poet, Seamus Heaney:
"History says, Don't hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme."
(I immediately went and found the rest of the poem. And in the weeks that followed, began giving away copies to family and friends and posting it here on this blog.)
That in mind, one can only say that it looks like Joe Biden's wave has risen. And the pundits will tell you (basically... but in 87 different ways) that Joe Biden is the "history" to Barack Obama's "hope".
And yet, the word "hope" and the word "history" don't rhyme, do they? Is that a bad sign?
In a chapter titled "The Play of Language" in her book Poems, Poets, Poetry, Helen Vendler wrote,
"Readers are conscious of a sound effect when they hear two end-words rhyme; but poets are conscious of all the sounds in their lines, just as they are of the rhythms of a line. Poets "bind" words together in a line by having them share sounds, whether consonants (alliteration, as in "broken bread") or vowels (assonance, as in "when ... sessions". This makes the words sound as if they "belong" together by natural affinity."
jOe-Biden. O-Bama.
Say it with me. The effect is not conscious (until now), but with a poets awareness of sound, assonance and alliteration, it does indeed appear as though they belong together by some natural affinity.
Hope, History and Obama, Biden do rhyme. Literally.
And as the wave rises, the further shore looks reachable from here.
