How Biden Will Sway My Vote

I was one of millions of Americans who woke up in the middle of the night on the sound of text message from Barack Obama’s campaign announcing his pick for the VP. At 3:29 AM EST, I woke up on the distinctive sound indicating a text message has arrived. I immediately reached to my cell phone and started reading the message “ Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee”.

I have to admit, it was quite an exciting experience, another sign of new things happening in the country which Mr. Obama has inspired during his campaign. As an undecided voter, the choice of Joe Biden was certainly reassuring to me as I try to make an informed decision in an election that will probably drastically change the direction of our country.
I was not particularly fan of Obama during the primaries. As a social conservative, Obama’s liberal and far to the left views especially on illegal immigration, gun control, gay marriages and the war on Iraq, were a turn off to me. Moreover, as an American Muslim I was also disappointed at Obama’s continuous attempts to distance himself from the Muslim community and his refusal to visit with Muslim leaders in mosques as his campaign did with Christian and Jewish leaders in churches and synagogues. A contradiction to his opposition to politics as usual and being an agent for change.

To me, Obama lacked the confidence to be our commander in chief. I was not particularly concerned about his lack of executive experience or the length of his presence in Washington, but I was more interested in his views and his agenda for the country. Above all, a president does not govern by himself but relies on an army of experts and consultants. Obama, however, did pull himself more to the center following his winning of the nomination. His vote on FISA and his approval of the Supreme Court decision on gun control were clear signs of that change.

Joe Biden is someone that I tremendously respect. I value his experience in foreign policy and I can trust his judgment. Biden is the kind of leader that makes you feel very comfortable just listening to him talking and debating. Biden’s senate hearings as chairman of the foreign relations committees were really informative and exciting to watch. Joe Biden is the main reason I might actually vote for the Obama-Biden ticket, I just hope it was Biden-Obama instead.