Bidenfreude (n.) The joy Republicans feel at Democratic despondency over Obama’s vice presidential choice.

The confidence among the True Believers encountered by Phil in the Hyatt Bar doesn’t mean Old Pluggy is a winner. It’s tautological that anything Obama does is automatically the right thing in the eyes of those who truly believe.

More important, perhaps, will be whether Biden’s choice produces the backlash I’ve predicted among Hillary voters who had been holding out hope for an Obama-Clinton “dream team.” CNN reports that some high-level Hillary supporters are outraged that she wasn’t even vetted for the running-mate spot.

Whether that outrage is reflected among the 18 million ordinary Democratic voters who supported Hillary in the primaries is the big question. Given that 18 percent of those voters were already saying they’d vote for John McCain instead of Obama, disgruntled Clinton supporters could be a serious factor in a close election.