On this Saturday morning I received my own 3:00 a.m. phone call, along with everyone else who had signed up for Barack Obama's text message that would officially announce his choice for VP: "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee..."

For die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters who had still hoped against the odds that Obama would choose her, it was like opening an old wound. Many have been busy in the blogosphere overnight, again threatening to shoot themselves (and the rest of us) in the foot by voting for McCain in protest. I hope they come to their senses between now and November. We cannot afford four more years with a Republican in the White House. And perhaps this can serve as a lesson: You can't launch the kinds of vicious attacks that Hillary threw at Barack during the primary season and then expect to be rewarded with the #2 job.

Yes, it would have been nice to have a woman on the ticket, but it would have had to be the right woman. And, with all the mud that the Republicans have already been slinging at Obama, he's better off with a running mate who carries a little less baggage.

Sure, Biden has had his gaffes and blunders, but so has everyone else in the world. On the positive side, Biden fills the biggest holes in Obama's resume: long-time experience in Washington along with expertise in foreign policy and national security.

Biden also has populist appeal, which could compensate for the right-wing accusations of Obama as "elitist". At least on paper, they appear to complement each other well. And the image of these two tall, strong, articulate men standing together to bring hope and change to Washington will be a formidable one for the McCain campaign to address, even if McCain were to select his own tall, strong, articulate running mate (for instance, Mitt Romney).

Furthermore, Biden isn't shy about fighting back against the competition. We all loved it last year when Biden described Rudy Giuliani's own short-lived presidential candidacy: "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb, and 9/11."

And now he'll be taking on the McCain machine: A noun, and a verb, and POW? That's too easy. But he'll think of something.

I don't think there could have been a "perfect" choice for Obama's VP slot, but then there never is. All things considered, I think Biden is probably the most solid choice we had this year.

And hopefully this strong ticket will be strong enough to withstand the attacks of the right-wing smear machine.

If not, this mess that our country is in will only get even worse.

Now repeat after me, everybody: "Yes we can!"