The new ticket features a more-upbeat Biden.

The wait is finally over. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has chosen Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

Biden, the Senior Senator from Delaware, brings a solid foundation to a campaign that some see as ‘lofty’ and ‘idealistic’. His addition to the Democratic ticket addresses many of Obama’s weaknesses that have been attacked by Republicans, while projecting confidence onto the Democratic Party before the National Convention.

Obama and Biden make a very powerful team. What one is lacking, the other has. Obama is the man with a vision of hope and change, wielding the youthful excitement and inspiration needed to pack stadiums with supporters. Joe Biden is the political force Obama needs to make his dream a reality.

A main criticism of the Obama campaign has been his lack of experience in politics, especially with foreign policy. While he stresses this as a break from “Old Washington”, his lack of legislative know-how could be disastrous if elected. Senator Biden easily makes up for this deficit. He is currently serving his sixth term in the United States Senate, and is Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He has been instrumental in passing legislation ranging from the Violence Against Women Act to the Biden Crime Law, and in efforts to stop human rights violations in the Balkans during the Clinton Administration.

On an interesting side note, Biden first joined the U.S. Senate at the age of 30 with little prior political experience, showing that years are not everything in a political career.

While Obama has opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, Senator Biden actually originally voted for the Iraq War Resolution. He was a proponent of the Bush Administration’s War on Terror, but has since renounced his original beliefs based on Bush’s mismanagement of the war. It will be a powerful message for the campaign that Biden does support national security, but does not support the Bush administration’s handling of the present situation abroad. Biden recently authored a plan to end sectarian violence in Iraq while withdrawing most U.S. troops.

As demonstrated by the flag-pin fiasco during the primaries, Obama is often attacked for being ‘unpatriotic’. Obama is a different type of candidate, with a multi-cultural background, no military experience and a cool demeanor that can be mistaken as elitist. To counter this, Joe Biden brings the ever-important American aspect of being the ‘common man’. He was born in Scranton, PA to middle class parents, and soon moved to Delaware where his father was a car salesman. Shortly after his first election to the Senate, his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car crash. He also has a personal interest in the well being of our troops, as his son, Beau, is set to deploy for Iraq in 2008.

While Hillary supporters may still be fuming over a lost opportunity, Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden make a solid team for the Democratic Party come this November. Obama’s leadership and inspiration coupled with Biden’s experience and knowledge make a duo primed for a storming of the White House.