Obama and Biden team makes public debut

By Caren Bohan

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and newly minted running mate Joseph Biden made their debut on Saturday, with Biden declaring "it's our time" and quickly going on the attack against Republican John McCain.

Outside the Old State Capitol in Illinois where Obama launched his historic bid for the White House in February 2007, Obama said Biden "won't just make a good vice president, he will make a great vice president."

"He is that rare mix -- for decades, he has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn't changed him. He's an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class," Obama said.

Obama tapped the Delaware senator, a leading voice on international affairs, as his vice presidential running mate earlier on Saturday.

Biden, 65, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is one of the most knowledgeable Democrats on foreign policy -- an area where Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, has been criticized as inexperienced.

"This man is a clear-eyed pragmatist who will get the job done," Biden said of Obama.

He repeatedly linked McCain to President George W. Bush and said the Arizona senator would be more of the same in the White House. "The times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader," Biden said.

Obama ended days of speculation about his No. 2 with a middle-of-the-night announcement on his Web site, featuring a photo of the two, and his campaign sent a text message and e-mail to supporters.

Biden, a Roman Catholic originally from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, will bring not only foreign policy expertise to the ticket but strong working-class roots.

That could help Obama connect with the blue-collar voters he has failed to attract in the run-up to the November 4 election against McCain. Obama and McCain are neck and neck in opinion polls.

Biden's 2008 presidential bid fell flat but he was a forceful and aggressive debater, firing off some of the toughest criticisms of Bush.

The choice of Biden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972, indicates Obama was more interested in filling gaps in his foreign policy experience than in finding someone who could reinforce his message of bringing change to Washington.

Biden's record includes outspoken opposition to U.S. government support for South Africa's apartheid system in the 1980's, agitation from the Senate for stronger U.S. intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s and close involvement with U.S. policy on Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

Biden voted in 2002 for a resolution that authorized the invasion of Iraq after failing to secure support for another resolution to that would have allowed military action only after diplomatic efforts had been exhausted. Obama was not in the Senate then, but spoke out against the invasion.

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, beaten by Obama in a bitter struggle for the Democratic nomination, welcomed the selection of Biden, who she described as "an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant."