Aside from almost every bit of dialogue being injected with a
stilted prescience you just know didn't exist at the time, my two
favorite parts of
this excerpt from David Plouffe's The Audacity to
Win both deal with the VP selection:
Later that night, we held a conference call with Obama to brief
him on our day. "Well, it sounds like you both are for Biden,
but barely," he said. "I really haven't settled this yet in my
own mind. It's a coin toss now between Bayh and Biden, but
Kaine is still a distinct possibility. I know the
experience attack people will make if we pick him. But if that
really concerned me, I wouldn't have run in the first
place. My sense is — and you tell me if the research
backs this up — that Barack Hussein Obama is change enough for
people.
For Biden--Barely sounds like a good slogan for Biden's
2016 run. Not as wordy as If Experience Concerned Me I
Wouldn't Have Run in the First Place, not as overcooked as
Yes We Can. Also, I don't know about Plouffe's
pre-election research, but my personal post-election research,
for what's its worth, says, 'Yessir, plenty change enough, thank
yew verry much."
...and then there's this:
The [first] meeting started with Biden launching into a nearly
20-minute monologue that ranged from the strength of our
campaign in Iowa ("I literally wouldn't have run if I knew the
steamroller you guys would put together"); to his evolving
views of Obama ("I wasn't sure about him in the
beginning of the campaign, but I am now") [I
bet!-ed]; why he didn't want to be VP ("The last thing I
should do is VP; after 36 years of being the top dog, it will
be hard to be No. 2"); why he was a good choice ("But I would
be a good soldier and could provide real value, domestically
and internationally"); and everything else under the sun. Ax
and I couldn't get a word in edgewise. It confirmed what
we suspected: this dog could not be taught new tricks.
Ha! Nice writing! You can almost feel Plouffe gasping for air as
the oxygen is sucked out of the room. Amway lost the best
regional manager it never had and we gained a vice president.
Good deal? Yet still these envoys of the future president dared
not deny the
Fifth Nag of the Apocalypse.
Nobody messes with Joe because no one can get him to shut up.