The CW on choosing a vice president has always been, bring a state. Add something to the ticket. There is scant if any evidence that a veep has actually brought a state to a ticket. LBJ brought Texas to JFK but since then the CW has been more conventional than wisdom. Michael Dukakis attempted to recreate the Bos-Aus axis in 1988. And failed. In 1992 Bill Clinton, Arkansas, chose chemistry in Al Gore. A Little Rock-Rocky Top bulwark was affected but was hardly the point.
I learned today the maxim that is driving, painfully slowly, the Biden veep search: first of all do no harm. You’d perhaps expect me to pan such passive thinking but in this climate I think it is just right. No reaches, Geraldine Ferraro, Sarah Palin. A solid pick who will be ready on Day One.
But. However. That so far as stymied the Bidens. Senator Kamala Harris has been the presumptive favorite forevet but the campaign has not settled on the pick. They have floated other names, I have no idea how seriously, Keisha Lance-Bottoms of Atlanta, Stacey Abrams of Georgia, Liz Warren, Tammy Duckworth, to mention several. All of these leaked or planted stories have ended with Kamala-Harris-is-still-the-frontrunner. And there was another one today. Former Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd conferred with donors after interviewing Senator Harris and said that Harris “showed no remorse” for going after Biden on busing in the first debate. “It was just politics,” Harris explained, smiling. Now, it has been known since that debate that Joe and Jill Biden were particularly hurt and incensed at Haris’s debate remarks. It raised the issue of “trust”, can you trust Karma Chameleon. I am uneasy with Harris, she has no fixed identity, personal or political and as consequence I could easily see her using a line of attack like busing on Biden, not because she believes it as a moral precept of who she is but as a “gimmick”, Dodd’s take on it after her explanation in the interview.
The main point though is that this is so old, it has been known since that debate and it should have been resolved for the Bidens’ one way or the other. Was it a deal-breaker? Was it not? That decision should have been made BEFORE the vetting even started. But in dragging out this search and raising this issue again at this late date (the campaign has set August 1 as Decion Day) is troubling on two fronts: it suggests that the candidate is indecisive and it violates their new maxim, first, do no harm. I have been plain that although I would enthusiastically accept and celebrate Senator Harris as the choice, I don’t know who she is. Conversely I could well understand if the Bidens decided they are just not comfortable with Harris. They risk violating their new maxim because, frankly, if it was me, and this old saw were still at work making sawdust, I would withdraw from consideration in insulted exasperation. If Harris is pissed, I can more than relate. This search needs to end, it needs to end decisively, and it needs to end quickly. Period.
I learned today the maxim that is driving, painfully slowly, the Biden veep search: first of all do no harm. You’d perhaps expect me to pan such passive thinking but in this climate I think it is just right. No reaches, Geraldine Ferraro, Sarah Palin. A solid pick who will be ready on Day One.
But. However. That so far as stymied the Bidens. Senator Kamala Harris has been the presumptive favorite forevet but the campaign has not settled on the pick. They have floated other names, I have no idea how seriously, Keisha Lance-Bottoms of Atlanta, Stacey Abrams of Georgia, Liz Warren, Tammy Duckworth, to mention several. All of these leaked or planted stories have ended with Kamala-Harris-is-still-the-frontrunner. And there was another one today. Former Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd conferred with donors after interviewing Senator Harris and said that Harris “showed no remorse” for going after Biden on busing in the first debate. “It was just politics,” Harris explained, smiling. Now, it has been known since that debate that Joe and Jill Biden were particularly hurt and incensed at Haris’s debate remarks. It raised the issue of “trust”, can you trust Karma Chameleon. I am uneasy with Harris, she has no fixed identity, personal or political and as consequence I could easily see her using a line of attack like busing on Biden, not because she believes it as a moral precept of who she is but as a “gimmick”, Dodd’s take on it after her explanation in the interview.
The main point though is that this is so old, it has been known since that debate and it should have been resolved for the Bidens’ one way or the other. Was it a deal-breaker? Was it not? That decision should have been made BEFORE the vetting even started. But in dragging out this search and raising this issue again at this late date (the campaign has set August 1 as Decion Day) is troubling on two fronts: it suggests that the candidate is indecisive and it violates their new maxim, first, do no harm. I have been plain that although I would enthusiastically accept and celebrate Senator Harris as the choice, I don’t know who she is. Conversely I could well understand if the Bidens decided they are just not comfortable with Harris. They risk violating their new maxim because, frankly, if it was me, and this old saw were still at work making sawdust, I would withdraw from consideration in insulted exasperation. If Harris is pissed, I can more than relate. This search needs to end, it needs to end decisively, and it needs to end quickly. Period.
