AP first reported today that Governor Whitmer met last Sunday evening with President Biden in Delaware. When this got out the Biden campaign said Biden had met with other candidates also. However. But. This is really late for a "just one of many" interview. It sounds very much to moi that it was a final interview. If so, and if Whitmer is the pick I AM THRILLED!
Michigan is about in the bag for Biden but about doesn't count in horseshoes and Whitmer would seal it. She would bring a state, in other words, about at the top of any veep desiderata and none of the other top tier candidates would. Senator Harris is from California; Senator Duckworth from Illinois, Congresswoman Bass is from Pinar del Rio; Stacey Abrams is from Georgia but holds no office; Susan Rice is from Benghazi...Oh, the New York Times reports Trump just infected his 5Mth partner...Senator Warren is from Massachusetts, Val Demings is from Florida--but is a member of Congress, not a Senator, not a Governor. No congresswoman or congressman can impact Florida, it's just too big a state. Keisha Lance Bottoms is a mayor--of Atlanta (!), big city Hotlanta, in Jawja (!), Trumpie is up just a whisker there, but Lance Bottoms cannot snatch Georgia for Joe, as Stacey Abrams, who ran for governor there, could not. And Lance Bottoms has been mayor of Atlanta, Georgia for two years. A mayor for two years. At the very pinnacle of veep desiderata for Joe Biden is "ready from day one" to be president. You cannot make a straight-faced argument that Mayor Lance Bottoms would be ready to be president on January 21, 2020 should anything happen to President Biden on January 20.
Cutting across the above factors however is the deeply legitimate desideratum of race. Joe Biden owes the nomination of the Democratic Party to one man, a Black man, Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Congresssman Clyburn recommended to Biden a Black woman and specifically Senator Harris. Until AP reported Governor Whitmer's trip last weekend to Delaware, Kamala Harris was the odds-on favorite. Others were the flavor of the month but at the end of the month Senator Harris was the taste that lingered. Because she was always the taste that lingered I did more looking into Harris than all of the other candidates combined and posted one long post on her. And after that research and after all of these months I still do not know who Kamala Harris is. I cannot get a handle on her. Of Jamaican and Indian descent, high school in Quebec, Howard University, girlfriend of Willie Brown, married to a white man, D.A. in San Francisco, Attorney General of California, not a blemish-free record as prosecutor, close to the Bidens, Joe and Jill, and then took a shot that went viral at Joe over busing in one of the debates, great public speaker, forceful and reasoned, her announcement speech was tied best with Pete Buttigieg, and that was the high point of her campaign, the announcement speech. Her campaign was wasteful, riven by internal turmoil and sputtered to an end with a whimper not a bang. I remember I read an article in the L.A. Times after she dropped out, maybe an editorial, I don't remember now, that was...not good. She was just all over the map on identifying who she was, a prosecutor--but no!, not really, not the kind you're thinking of, not one of the bad ones, well, I would have done some things differently. I remember all-over-the-mapness in the article I read. She could not communicate who she was, gave the impression she was confused too. Kamala Harris lingered as an aftertaste but you, or I at least, could never identify what that taste was. Now watch, Joe will pick Kamala.
The other Black female candidates were like bad dreams that linger into the next day. I'd do some lightning research into each new flavor, I wouldn't have known who Karen Bass was if she bit me on the ass. I liked her "look," matronly, I liked that she was universally liked and respected and even texted X-II "Karen Bass is the one for me." Then the trips to Cuba when she was young, okay, she was young; then "Comandante en Jefe", okay she was...Oh, in 2016? Then Scientology. Congresswoman Bass was a bomb that looked like a flower that exploded in my lap. Not only would she not bring a state, I am convinced she would have cost Biden Florida with that Comandante en Jefe tribute to Fidel. I was furious with the Biden campaign! And that was just like last week. At this late date in your search you decide a Castro-ite is the flavor of the month?! Pissed. PISSED. Liz Warren I would have liked, would still like if she turns out to be the One, but she doesn't bring a state and, could we have somebody older, I mean, Liz is only 71. The other candidates I have dealt with above. I am a little surprised that Senator Duckworth apparently was dropped so quickly. She has a very compelling story.
So by contrast with everyone else other than Senator Duckworth I like everything I have seen, read, and heard about Gretchen Whitmer. She is young, but not too young; she is matronly but beautiful, with an engaging smile; she is "that woman from Michigan," a tough ol' mama bear who ain't skaid a takin' it to that orange orangutan hawking watches out of his coat in Manhattan; she did a good job protecting her state from the Trump Virus and the marching, armed Trump parasites. And she is humble. “It’s not going to be me,” she said early in the vetting process, and one got the impression she was fine with that. She willingly ceded the stage and the spotlight to the more rousing and elequent speakers, Senator Harris and Senator Cory Booker, at the Democratic unity rally that was held in...Michigan. Joe is going to notice humility and he is going to like it when he sees it.
This one feels real to me. I am very sorry to Congressman Clyburn, truly, it makes me wince, Biden owes his nomination to Congressman Clyburn and the Black Democrats of South Carolina. And the Democratic Party would be as relevant as the Whigs if not for the bulwark support of Black people. I truly am sorry. However, with regret it should not be a Black woman this time, not those considered, not with their baggage or lack of desiderata. Not with a candidate of the quality of Gretchen Whitmer out there. It should be, and it should be obvious that it should be, Gretchen Whitmer for Vice President of the United States. Governor, please, just one small, or large, actually, request: no more of the electric blue dress.
