VP Picks and Political Realities

The Obama campaign, and the McCain camp to a lesser degree, have managed to work the American media into a frenzy over who’s going to be selected as the vice presidential nominee for both parties. They talk about balancing the ticket, about selections to win over battleground states and about unifying the party. This is both tosh and piffle. Who gets picked for vice president only matters when the president wakes up dead.

First of all, selecting a candidate to achieve some kind of ideological or geographic balance hasn’t really been the way for ages. Messrs. Bush and Cheney are both Texans (and those with long enough memories will recall Mr. Cheney had to change his residence to his former home of Wyoming lest his candidacy violate the constitution – the candidates cannot be from the same state). The Clinton-Gore ticket put together two baby-boomer Southern right-of-center Democrats (that’s correct, right not left) for 8 years. Does anyone really think Dan Quayle was the key to Mr. Bush the Elder’s victory, perhaps it was the balance of a world operator and a failed high school golfing coach?

With regard to battleground states, those that could go either way (surprisingly few in US politics), selecting a popular governor, senator or congressperson is often a double-edged sword. Yes, the party machinery might kick things up a notch for a favorite son or daughter. However, if a governor can’t deliver his state in the general election without being on the ticket, that politician hasn’t got much hope in his or her next race. So it’s safe to say said hack shouldn’t get the job. And there is a small fraction of the population that doesn't want to lose "our guy" to the White House.

The biggest laugh comes from those who argue that party unity can be improved by selecting the “right” candidate for the junior position. This appears to be the favorite argument of the die-hard Clintonistas. However, party unity doesn’t happen when one faction offers an olive branch to another. It happens when one factions kicks the stuffing out of the others (Nixon 1968).

So, here’s some free advice for both the candidates. The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit as a job in itself, any more than being the Prince of Wales is. However, if there is one decision that must be made without partisanship, political calculation or finessing of principle, it is the decision of who follows. Who could complete the job that Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain started? In whose hands would the country and the world be safest? That’s a question that can’t be answered by a politician. Only a statesmen can give an adequate answer.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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