Today I watched Chris Matthews, and portions of ABC Sunday Morning and Meet the Press (come on, Channel 6 and 3, do some coordination other than when you are going to run ads so that the public can see all of these important shows) and Face the Nation.

Of course the shows were dominated by discussion of Obama's pick for VP of Sen. Biden. And, all in all, the mainstream pundits thought that it was a good, solid choice. I think the "Matthew's Meter," where he asks 12 of his panelists what they think on a particular question, sums up what the mainstream media thinks - 11 -1 that it was a good choice.

My email box, on the other hand, had a number of columns written from the left blasting the choice. And, from that perspective, which is more my perspective, it's just one more reason for the left of the spectrum to actually go ahead and abandon Obama, which is a really hard choice because we all know that another term of Republicans is going to ruin us totally. But people of conscience and a very strong sense of justice can't help but look at the totality of what someone says and does, and there is a lot of things on the record that Biden said and did that are...well...less than what an idealistic view of the Democratic party should be.

I don't think Obama's campaign cares that much that. I think he thinks that he can alienate the furthest of the left on the political spectrum and still win the election. And he may very well be right. But, if he pushes too far, he could eat too far into the left and it could hurt him. There are very good alternatives for the far left - primarily Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney, who has a record of standing up for progressive issues even when it wasn't in her political interest.

But, the mainstream pundits' blessing of Obama's choice of Biden is important in a certain way, and Obama passed that test. But of course, and it had to come up today, several times as a matter of fact in about every show, what do the Clintons think of it, and why didn't Obama pick Sen. Clinton. I, myself, had predicted that Obama, who wants to be seen as the pragmatic as well as the dreamer, would pick Clinton as his running mate because it would be obvious that he needed her. I think it is obvious that he needs her, but he is betting that he can win without her and push the Clintons out of the Democratic party leadership. I don't necessarily argue with the goal, because Bill Clinton did some horrible things as president, and then destroyed Al Gore's chances to be president by his indiscretions and lies. But, at this point in history, the country needs the executive branch wrestled away from the Republicans, and it is going to take a monumental effort to do it. I'm not sure Obama can do it without the Clintons as full partners. I guess we will see.

The mainstream pundits today said that a lot rides on what "Bill and Hillary" say in their speeches at the convention. But the fact that they report as if there is uncertainty as to their level of committment to Obama has to be troubling to the Obama campaign. Whether they will be "good democrats" or set the stage for a Hillary comback in 4 years is still up in the air. But, their legacy will be one of letting the country continue to go down the tubes while they wait for power, if they fail to support Obama fully, and that isn't necessarily the legacy they want. It's quite a tightrope for everyone, and who knows how it is going to come out? I still think Obama would have locked the election by picking Clinton as his running mate, but without knowing whether or not Clinton was asked, declined, put conditions on it that Obama couldn't meet, or whatever, it needs to all come out during the convention in a convincing way that will appease Clinton supporters and assure them that Hillary is OK with what is going on, or Obama is in trouble.

George Will gets the quote of the day. While this may or may not be an exact quote, he said something very close to, in response to a discussion about McCain's many houses which he can't remember, that we shouldn't be questioning whether or not the elite will rule, but only which one of the elite will rule. That's the kind of comment that makes me want the Illinois General Assembly to disown him officially as an Illinoisian, and ban him from entering the state! Well, OK, not ban him, but restrict him to two visits a year - Christmas and Easter!

The other bogus argument that I heard was on Stephanopolous. Some dude, who I didn't catch his name, said that Obama's ad knocking McCain on his not knowing how many houses he had, was the worst thing Obama could have done, and is a turning point in the election, because it allows McCain to bring up Rev. Wright, and Bill Ayers, blah blah blah. Even Stephanopolous had to say that he didn't understand the logic. I mean, McCain has already thrown everything he has at Obama.

I guess, for better or worse, barring any worse revelations about Biden, and if Biden doesn't shoot off his mouth and screw things up, the Biden pick plays OK with the mainstream, which means it has a chance to live on. In response, most of the pundits say that this forces McCain to pick Romney to try and pick up Michigan. If I was McCain, I'd pick a woman, but he's probably not that smart.