Biden for vice president, yet again
Okey Iheduru
Biden for vice president, yet again
Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Cancer Moonshot Summit at Howard University in Washington last month. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)
In my circle, an expression I want to revive, Joe Biden is being mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate. Of course, Biden is already vice president, and my circle is not exactly Hillary Clinton’s, but more than any of the others mentioned, Biden would balance the ticket. He’s not black, and he’s not Hispanic, and he’s not a woman, but he is an open-handed, warm-hearted, old-fashioned pol. He’s the politician Clinton, try as she might, simply cannot be.
Alas, Biden might already have taken himself out of consideration. “I’m not interested in re-upping for VP,” he toldGeorge Stephanopoulos the other day. “I’ll do anything I can to help her [Hillary] win. And I think she’s going to win, but I have been proud to serve for eight years as vice president, and I think that’s enough.”
Statements such as this are the political equivalents of “the check is in the mail.” An expression of non-interest is traditional in these matters, politics being the last place where no does not mean no. Stay close to the phone, Joe.
Let us now look over the field. They are, of course, marvelous people, but this being presidential politics with ticket-balancing and all, they are also categories.
Two of them are black males — Sen. Cory Booker (D.-N.J.) and former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick (D). Three are Hispanics — Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez. They are good men all, even though all of them could pass through an airport with no one asking for a selfie.
Clinton is also said to be considering Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. They are the white guys, some from battleground states, but none of them have vaunted political organizations — not that anyone does anymore. Then comes former NATO commander James Stavridis, an admiral. The lone woman being mentioned is Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the only one who has managed to attract a national constituency of her own.
So, talking strictly categories, what do we have? The primaries showed beyond a doubt that Clinton is beloved by African Americans. Putting a black male on the ticket is not going to help any. Donald Trump, with his lazy denunciation of David Duke, has already seen to it that he is not going to draw more than half a dozen back votes.
Hispanics: Here again, Trump has a problem. He has so alienated the Hispanic community with his call for mass deportations and his characterization of Mexican immigrants as rapists, that if he gets more than 100 votes out of an estimated 55 million, it will be prima facie case of voter fraud.
A woman: There’s already one on the ticket, and Trump is glued to a passé, Sinatra-style sexism. He just loves the broads.
White males: This is Trump’s supposed fan base, but none of the white males being mentioned have what it takes to appeal to the Trump types. As for Stavridis, Clinton does not need her foreign policy credentials augmented. She’s a regular Bismarck. Besides, Stavridis is not a politician, and a presidential campaign is not for amateurs. One bush-league comment and there goes the news cycle.
So we come down to Biden. If anyone can appeal to Trump’s white voters, it’s Biden. He’s a great campaigner, a regular pol, who got elected to the Senate seven times. He is, in FDR’s phrase for Al Smith, a “happy warrior” who could bring some joy to what could be a dour ticket. Even better, he could be president in an instant, which is what the job is all about.
Reconsider, Joe. You won’t have to move (such a hassle), and Clinton could use you, and although the wits in the media will call you Vice President for Life, you’ll be out there taking on Trump. You were born for this fight. Uncle Sam needs you.
Mobolaji Aluko
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olaka...@aol.com
Bolaji:
I agree with your conclusion. A nation that looks backwards
and seeks her leadership cadre from among her oldest
generation at the expense of the youths is a nation that is
probably in decline,
As well qualified and well respected both at home in the USA
and abroad that Joe Biden is, there has to be at least
one equally or even more qualified younger white male leader
in the Democratic Party who can serve as Hillary Clinton's VP.
To assume the opposite is to suggest that the USA is so bereft
of leadership skills considering that the best the GOP could produce
is Donald Trump as their Presidential candidate and Hillary Clinton
would need to 'beg' Joe Biden, who will soon qualify as a geriatric
to become her running mate.
Apart from the above, I also question the author's assumptions about the
relative lack of support for Donald trump among African Americans and
the Hispanic population. While this may be true the influence of the lopsided support
Hillary Clinton might receive from these segments of the population might
be diluted when we factor the Electoral College into the statistics.
Democrats must be careful not to under estimate Trump's support among
African-Americans and Hispanics, just as they should also not underestimate
his support among women, notwithstanding all the negative things Trump has
said about these segments of the US population.
Trump's support among middle class and educated white American males
might also be higher than it appears, as many of these people might also be
closet Trump supporters--who are too ashamed to openly declare that they support
him.
The best asset Donald Trump might have in his quest for the Presidency might be
complacency among the democratic voters. What if they do not show up at the
polling stations to vote (in expected numbers) assuming that Hillary Clinton would win
with or without their votes?
It's not a done deal until it is over!
Bye,
Ola
Okey Iheduru
Mobolaji Aluko
"I agree with your [Bolaji Aluko's] conclusion. A nation that looks backwards and seeks her leadership cadre from among her oldest generation at the expense of the youths is a nation that is probably in decline," --- Ola Kassim.How convenient and hypocritical!!! Two of the loudest and most unabashed "INTELLECTUAL" advocates and supporters of a septuagenarian as Nigeria's savior now realize and preach the correlation between an exhausted "old generation" and the "decline" of nations. And we wonder why the Nigerian "intellectual" is so despised by the masses -- and even more brazenly by the political class they so readily legitimize with their sophistry.Peace as always!Okey
On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 10:22 AM, olakassimmd via OkonkwoNetworks <okonkwo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Bolaji:
I agree with your conclusion. A nation that looks backwards
and seeks her leadership cadre only from among her oldest
generations at the expense of the youths is a nation that is
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OkonkwoNetworks..........Building NIGERIA of our DREAM
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--Okey Iheduru, PhDYou can access some of my papers on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=2131462.
