So much for change. That is, I think, how people will react to news that Obama picked Joe Biden to be his running mate. Biden has been in the United States Senate for 36 years - he was elected in 1972, the year Barack Obama turned eleven - making him, for better or worse, a quintessential Washington insider.

Going with Biden highlights the horns of the dilemma for Senator Obama. He wanted someone who could reinforce his message of change, but he needed someone with experience. Obama couldn't find anyone suitable who could satisfy both requirements (though I still think Wes Clark would have fit the bill), so he was forced into sacrificing one at the expense of the other.

The question is whether Biden's foreign policy credentials will help shore up Obama's perceived lack of experience in that department or, as some have suggested, merely highlight Obama's weakness by contrast. Some are equating the pick to Bush's selection of Dick Cheney in 2000. But again, Obama has spent the last 2 years discounting the experience of folks in the Bush administration, discounting the experience of Hillary Clinton, and now discounting the experience of John McCain by saying that what matters is judgment, not the number of years someone has spent in Washington. Obama's pick belies that notion, especially since the core of Obama's "judgment" argument centers on his opposing the Iraq war from the beginning. Joe Biden voted for the Iraq war.

Overall, given Senator Obama's options, Biden is a decent pick. He's likable, experienced, and will be a good attack dog on Obama's behalf - provided he doesn't say something stupid, which is a big question mark. At the very least, you can bet the press will be huddled around Biden for the rest of the campaign, hanging on his every word.