Barack Obama, freshman senator from Illinois, is a Washington outsider, if for no other reason because he hasn’t been here very long. Joe Biden, thus, makes sense as Obama’s vice presidential nominee. Loose Cannon believed Evan Bayh was a good choice, and made (I thought) a persuasive case for him. Alas, Barack must not read this blog. I will try and change that. In the meantime, a word or two about the senior senator from Delaware.

Joseph R. Biden Jr. is a windbag. He’s known for giving Fidel Castro-length speeches at the drop of a hat, in public and in private. At a small lunch a year ago with yours truly and a handful of others, Biden gave a 30-minute answer to the first question as his food was served, and then cooled in front of him without seeming to take a breath, let alone a bite of his meal. We were awed, actually. But in that torrent of verbiage that accompanies Biden wherever he goes are some words that are, well, something less than pearls of wisdom. These less-than-pearls includes the oddly out-of-fashion ethnic stereotype. It's almost refreshing—almost.

Joe Biden is also a charming man, who will look you in the eye, grab your shoulder while he talks to you; all energy and passion and humor, and old-fashioned patriotism. He’s indefatigable and hard-working, and manages to come across in person as being cerebral and emotional at the same time. In other words, his heart and his head don’t always agree—and neither ever seems to get the best of the other. He also has a political attack-dog side to him that I imagine Camp Obama will want to unleash, so as to keep The One above the fray. This is a well-traveled path for Veep candidates, so we shouldn’t act too shocked when Biden starts barking at the Republicans.

In 1988, the first Biden presidential campaign was derailed when it was revealed that his autobiographical stump speech had been appropriated, in some sections, word-for-word, from the main speech of Neil Kinnock, a Welsh politician in Britain’s Labour Party. This led to a media feeding frenzy showing that Biden had done the same thing with other politicians; and he was even accused of plagiarism while in law school. Biden dropped out of that race, but stayed in the Senate, and ran again, 20 years later. This time around, he ran a sober and thoughtful campaign, but in 2008 none of the rest of the Democratic field—a pretty solid bunch—had much of a chance against the dynamic duo of Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Yet Biden established himself in the many primary season debates as a serious thinker on foreign policy, which is historically a vulnerable zone for Democrats.

His famous mouth got him in trouble only once, ironically concerning Obama himself: “You got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden said in an interview. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” This comment induced a mini-furor from those who considered Biden’s choice of words racially insensitive. This was an unfair criticism, and to Obama’s credit, he didn’t jump on the scrum to bury Biden.

In hindsight, what Obama did say in response to Biden’s minor gaffe was instructive: “I didn’t take Senator Biden’s comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate,” said the O-man. “African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate.”

Obama didn’t feign offense for cheap political gain. But he did defend black presidential candidates who had  preceded him. Then he selected Biden as his running mate, Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside. All in all, a pretty impressive ticket. Now it’s your turn, Senator McCain.