[wildemar]

I don't know. If it were phrased "would have been" (which is grammatically correct), it would imply a certainty that it didn't succeed. As in "it would have been a better choice, but I chose wrong."

On the other hand "would be the better choice" is just a report of what went through his head at the time, just like "and then I went and puked on his shoes" is a report of something that went through someone's head in a more literal sense. What's confusing here is that the simple past of the present tense modal verb "would be" is also "would be". I think. It's been years since my last English lesson, so I may be talking out of my derriere here.