Everyone’s abuzz with the news that Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential candidate for his run at the White House. With his vast foreign relations experience and time spent on Capitol Hill, Biden may be a political asset, but is he as a communications asset?

Obama speaks glowingly about Biden’s experience, referring to the Delaware Senator as a fighter for the middle class and calling him a “scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds.”

So the reasoning behind the choice and the corresponding message to be communicated seems clear. The Obama camp will play up Biden’s experience as the yin to the young Barack’s yang and it will tout their tireless efforts for the middle class as their common ground. Seems logical enough.

The challenge is that the Republicans are already mobilized for attack on the experience front. Their first ad since Obama’s veep announcement uses Biden’s own words against him. While campaigning against Obama, Biden said he didn’t think Obama had the experience to be in the white house.  He also says that he would be honored to run with John McCain. Ouch. Your own running mate saying you’re inexperienced and how much he respects your opponent isn’t great.

So Biden may be a boost to Obama at some point in the race but a quick tally calls this one a double communications whammy. Come November no one may remember but right now Biden for VP smells like PU for Obama Communications.

Move over Jordan. Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” commercial from 1992 must just deserve a 21st century remix featuring Michael Phelps. Phelps secured his place in the record books this past week with more Olympic gold medals in a single Olympics and more overall gold medals than any other athlete in the history of the modern Olympics. Now, it seems, he’s poised to break another Olympic record: Phelps is expected to become the biggest money-making Olympian of all time.

Ok, so he’s no Jordan or Tiger, but he will be swimming in an estimated $100 million in endorsements over the course of his lifetime. Keep in mind he already claims the likes of Visa, Hilton, and Omega watches among his sponsors.

So what’s in store for Phelps in the next four years before his next appearance on a national stage? Will he become the poster boy for a burgeoning sport – splashed prominently across billboards, television screens, and the Web – or will he quietly settle back into relative anonymity, taxed by his daily five-hours-in-the-pool training regimen?

More channels and more media options are, basically, a good thing. More options means individuals are empowered. However, at the risk of being nostalgic, the downside is a loss of community. Back in the day when there were only three networks, there was a much greater communal experience – we all watched the same thing, then talked about the next day. Most people thought those days were gone forever. But then along came the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

And suddenly, inexplicably, everybody is watching. And talking about it. In the office, in the neighborhood, it’s the number one topic of conversation.

Is it just a collective fascination with Michael Phelps?

Did the overwhelmingly majestic Opening Ceremonies draw us all in (even if some of it was faked)?

NBC is doing a good, but not great, job of production – Bob Costas is still smug and condescending and swimming “sideline” reporter Andrea Kramer acts as if she’s never seen a pool. But, Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines are outstanding on swimming, Al Trautwig and the gymnastics announcing team are appropriately melodramatic and that Nancy Grace-sounding lady on diving really knows her stuff.

But I think the biggest reason we’re all sharing these Olympics is that NBC has successfully woven together broadcast and cable the Internet, traditional television broadcast, on-demand video, text messages, podcasts and RSS feeds.

In particular, the non-TV aspects of NBC’s presentation have been stellar – online, they are offering tons of video and highlights on demand. Every thing is streamed online as it occurs – NBC isn’t holding back so they can show everything in prime time, as they did in Olympics past when they introduced the absurd concept of “plausibly live.” The result is that they expect more than a billion web hits during these Games.

The network seems to have figured this out at the right time- the public’s access to broadband digital content is now at the point where we can fully enjoy what the network is capable of bringing to us. Finally, after a good solid decade of poor presentation of the Games, the network is on the same page as the audience.

The result is a spectacular multi-media presentation of the Olympics – one that record numbers are enjoying and talking about the next day at the water cooler. It’s like the Olympics used to be… only better.

Today’s front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer brings up an issue our agency has dubbed “The Articulation Crisis.” The reporter, Stacey Burling, refers to it as “supply-side jargonism,” the daunting process companies go through in trying to explain what they do to their consumer or client base.

It’s becoming increasingly common to see companies struggle to convey the work they do. Wordy, heavily jargoned phrases, which are understandable to only the most elite literati, are confusing rather than enticing to target audiences. The reasons for these complicated “messes” of messaging are actually pretty simple. Lots of companies fear pigeon-holing themselves, so they add every service, product line and offering they can fit into their introduction. And to appear intelligent and thorough, they then add every ambiguous, verbose, and multi-syllable word they can find.

We work with our clients to find the right words or phrases that explain what they do and then we put it to the dinner party test. That means is it immediately understandable to the average dinner party guest.

If someone asked what you do, would you really say that you are a “market-leading provider of technology-enabled process-optimization tools to reduce and right-size inventory, improve forecast accuracy and service, optimize production resources, and reduce cycle time across the supply chain” as Burling asks readers today to a friend or acquaintance? If you did you’d probably be talking to yourself pretty quickly. And that’s someone trying to make conversation. Now imagine your trying to sell to a business prospect…they’re likely not going to be as encouraging or forgiving of a boring, loquacious elevator speech.

A quick rule of thumb for articulation — short, sweet and simple messaging is the way to go.

Let’s look at what Google says. According to their mission statement, they “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Google, one of the most well known companies in the world – with a simple, articulate message aimed at their core audience.

Yeah, we know the KISS method – Keep It Simple Stupid – is a pretty elementary notion. But, hey, who’s smarter than a fifth grader?

Did you hear about Southwest’s latest nationwide customer contest? No, they’re not doing a national search to find the next great American pilot. Actually they are holding a contest from August 5 through August 31, to find one lucky customer who dreams of becoming the next Southwest Blog-O-spondent, aka, the company’s traveling blogger.

Here’s how the competition works. Customers can submit a one-minute audition video on the official contest site and fellow Southwest Customers will be able to view and vote for their favorite video submissions. On September 1, the three contestants with the most votes will be invited to this year’s BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas to compete in a final competition round, where they will be joined by Christi Day and the Southwest Blog Team. On the morning of Saturday, Sept. 20, the three finalists will meet at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where they will receive a video assignment that will serve as their final challenge. Each contestant’s final video submission will be posted on the contest site on Sept. 21, and customers will have another opportunity to vote for their favorite and help select the official Nuts About Southwest Blog-o-spondent. The final video submissions will be judged by current Blog-o-spondent Christi Day and a panel of Southwest Airlines Judges.