• Home

Question of the Year: Who Will The Veeps Be?

Now that the nomination process is – finally – over on both sides, we have our candidates: Barack Obama and John McCain.

The next question on everyone’s minds, of course, is who they will pick as their vice presidential mates.

Pressure is likely to be intense on Obama to pick his stubborn, determined nomination opponent, Hillary Clinton. In fact, petitions are circulating with just that in mind, and an organization called “VoteBoth” has sprung up in hopes of combining the two into a “dream ticket.”

There are some definite advantages in considering such a ticket. Clinton brings considerable public force with her: she’s a known entity, and nearly secured the nomination for herself. Obama called her “as good a candidate as I have seen, politically.”

And all of those pouty folks who insisted they would not vote for Obama if Clinton was not the nominee might be mollified.

However, I doubt that major political decisions such as choosing a running mate are based on the wishes of a moody yet vocal minority who may or may not defect from their own party out of pique.

There are also some significant disadvantages to choosing Clinton as VP. As one blogger (jokingly?) put it, with ambitious Hillary in the number two spot, Obama would do well “to invest in some serious Kevlar-wear.” Jokes aside, the Clinton machine does not jive well with Obama’s message of change from the Washington status quo. If he’s really trying to move away from the past, then bringing along the Clinton name and all it entails may not be the way to go.

A Presidential candidate needs a strong VP, but not one who will overwhelm the ticket or hog the limelight, something we can all imagine Clinton doing. Who is it really going to be about if she campaigns for Obama?

There are other strong candidates being considered for the slot as well. John Edwards, who finally put his support behind Obama recently, might be a good choice. Popular, well-known to the public, Edwards could appeal to the Southern, working-class folks that Clinton kept claiming as her own. The drawbacks? One, Edwards has said recently he would not consider the position. Two, Obama doesn’t really need another young, charismatic man who makes good speeches. He would do better to choose someone unlike himself who might be able to make up for his perceived areas of weakness.

Which brings us to Wesley Clark. Older, experienced, with a strong, successful political and military background, Clark is also a Clinton supporter. This would allow Clintonites to feel that they have some say in the administration. He has also been opposed to the war in Iraq since the beginning, and has the military gravitas to back that up.

What about Bill Richardson? The Latino governor of New Mexico, Richardson could help bring the much-needed Latino vote and western states of New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada into blue-state territory come November. The drawback? Most voters in America are still white. Will a white majority be able to fully support a ticket where, for the first time ever, they do not see themselves personally represented? It’d be a very interesting social experiment, for sure. But is this the year Democrats really want to experiment?

There has also been buzz about Virginia senator Jim Webb. A southerner, he would carry with him that all-important electability factor (citing the fact that the only Democrats to win the Presidency in recent history were southerners themselves). Obama is not from the South, but if his VP is that could help him. Webb served as Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, he has experience, he is well-liked, and has a military background.

Obama announced this week the three-person committee who will be advising him on his vice-presidential picks. It includes Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of late President John F. Kennedy; former deputy Attorney General Eric Holder; and former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson, who also helped Walter Mondale and John Kerry find running mates (hopefully the third time’s the charm, for Obama’s sake).

On the Republican side, John McCain has certainly had enough time on his hands to mull over his VP choices.

He, too, needs to choose someone who will balance out his perceived deficits. McCain would do well to choose a younger VP, someone with a strong economic background, McCain’s admitted weakness.

Mike Huckabee is a possible choice. For one thing, he has said he would take the job. He is younger than McCain and more conservative, which could appeal to those suspicious of McCain’s “liberal” tendencies. But his weakness in economics, at least to financial conservatives, could be a deal-breaker.

The most buzz of late has been about Mitt Romney, who apparently spent an entire weekend with McCain at the latter’s weekend home, albeit with two other possible running mates, Florida governor Charlie Crist and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. Again, Romney is younger than McCain, and having successfully run corporations, would be a strong economic adviser for McCain. He is also conservative, a boon to those doubtful conservative Republicans. But his Mormon faith could prove to be a liability.

Some have suggested that the smartest thing McCain could do is pick a female running mate, especially if Obama does not choose Clinton. That way the McCain campaign could share some of the “history-making” buzz of this election year. Potential female candidates for the job include Condoleeza Rice (who has said she is not interested in running for office), and Alaska’s wildly popular governor Sarah Palin.

On paper, Palin does seem to be ideal. Young, at 44, she’s also enjoys the nation’s highest favorability rating among governors. She is fiscally conservative, strongly pro-life, and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. Her son is currently serving in the Army. Sounds perfect. Wait, maybe she should run for President herself.

All of this speculation is highly entertaining, and we all need something to occupy our election-obsessed minds with now that Hillary finally seems to have gotten the message that we all live in this universe, not hers. But experts caution that we could speculate to our hearts’ content, 24/7, and still not know who the VP picks will be.

We’ll spend far more time thinking about who it could be than talking about the eventual choices, then scratch our heads and say “Huh? Why did he pick him/her?”

Dan Coen, who is the brains behind the website vicepresidents.com, says that it doesn’t matter who we think they should pick, or who we think they might pick, because they usually don’t pick someone we’d expect. “The selection process is always more interesting than the choice,” said Coen to reporters.

Usually they pick someone nobody has heard of, and then we wonder what the heck they were thinking.

By Anastacia Mott Austin

By Buzzle Staff and Agencies Published: 6/9/2008 Sponsored by Just-Dogs.org

© 2008 - 2012  A Great President  All Rights Reserved - Powered By WordPress