(psst. keep this on the down-low. i think someone kidnapped our very own markos and replaced him with someone who is doing the i-so-so-told-you-so jig right there on the front page:)
We really, really don't want to pick someone who plugs a supposed gap in Obama's armor. You pick Wes Clark, and people won't see "phew, national security is covered!". Nope, they'll see, "Obama is trying to compensate for his lack of national security creds!" And whether it's Sam Nunn, or Joe Biden, or anyone else who supposedly patches up a weakness, the end result would be what Gore had to endure in 2000 -- "He picked Joe Lieberman to compensate for Gore's 'Bill Clinton' problem."
see this can't be the REAL markos because the REAL markos knows ANY vice presidential candidate will be spun by those that need a 50.1/49.9 election as being about "trying to compensate" for something and therefore REAL markos could have prepared today's front page finger-wag WEEKS ago knowing he'd be right.
sebelius? obama's "trying to compensate" for the fact that he can't win the hillary vote. bahy? "trying to compensate" for being the most liberal senator in the history of senators who are liberal. kaine? trying to compensate for the fact that he can't win this constituency or that constituency or especially the "has to wear sun screen" constituency. powell? reed? edwards? n'other edwards? hillary? the-newest-freshest-most-interesting-who-changes-his-underwear-every-hour-on-the-hour? COMPENSATING!
when the REAL markos gets back, he'll remind us that beating the game is by not playing the game (he'll call it "crashing the gates") and not playing the game, in this case, is understanding that the media narrative is utterly impossible to control (and designed to create chaos and controversy) and you're damned if you do and damned if you don't and damned if you do and pretend that you don't (while really stiill doing).
did darth cheney reinforce little bush's carefully crafted "compassionate conservative" narative? well, to quote his vice-charmingness, "fuck no!".
did al gore reinforce bill clinton's? maybe, but as D Wreck discovers Gewn Ifil told us back then:
And Republican campaign officials quickly denounced Mr. Gore as a liberal and said the Clinton-Gore combination would be far out of the mainstream.
"We think it shows Clinton is operating from weakness," said Frederic V. Malek, the manager of the Bush campaign. "And he's chosen somebody to cover those weaknesses -- his lack of a military record, his association with liberal social values, and his need to strengthen himself in the South, his own home region.
how about mr. "potatoe" head to poppy bush? what was the reinforcement there? and yet, he still won.
i'm not saying the REAL markos has to LIKE the biden pick or to rubber-stamp everything obama does or be a cheerleader or even give his two hundred and thirty thousand pennies to the democratic candidate, but the REAL markos wouldn't spend his time furrowing his brow and wondering how we'll be TOLD it will look by those who need to make it look BOTH brilliant and, in the end, somehow, "good for John McCain".
when the REAL markos escapes his captors (who, no doubt, have him hog-tied and swinging over a pool filled with rabid, starving half-alligator/half pirana) he will rail against whomever wrote today's front-page post, reminding the fake dude that the perception game is designed to constantly tilt the scales back to even, in order to make the world believe that this election is VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY close and YOU'D BETTER NOT TURN OFF THAT TELEVISION OR THAT RADIO and the BEST POSSIBLE WAY TO DO THAT is by getting someone from the other side (in this case the Democrat's side) to break out of turn and suggest the pick of Biden ACTUALLY MEANS that Obamna is not strong or smart or, which is exactly why the DECIDEDLY RIGHT-LEANING Real Clear Politics has chosen to put a front page link to the article written by the guy CLAIMING to be the REAL markos.
but, do not fret, because when the REAL markos returns, he'll stop WORRYING about the perceptions of others and go back to CREATING those perceptions himself.