The VP pick

[DFW]

I wish it didn't HAVE to have a bunch of adjectives in front of it. I'd prefer "experience, competence, has traveled in an official capacity, overall knowledge, quick-thinking, and minimum of baggage--gender, race and home state no object"

I realize it ain't that simple, but all this "it HAS to be a woman with 2.8 kids, three years of grad school, mixed race, one half of which must be black, the second half of which must be Hispanic or Asian, and the third half Uighur muslim, she must come from northwestern Nebraska and she can't be taller than 5'9" etc. etc."

Just get someone COMPETENT with a little charisma, and VERY little baggage, who thinks quickly on their feet, who can handle a crowd of hostile press, and an even more hostile Congress, and make he public feel good about them. After all, the next president will be 80 in three years at the latest, maybe even sooner. Whatever the physical attributes of the VP pick, I REALLY hope they're of secondary importance.

I remember seeing a clip of Joe Biden on Jay Leno while Biden was Obama's VP, and Leno was asking Biden to comment about our just having expelled the Russian spy at the NRA, Anna Chapman, the fact that she was young, very attractive, and sex-obsessed. Biden immediately said, "Hey, it wasn't MY idea to send her back!" The audience roared, and he owned them. How do you deflect from an unexpected embarrassing question about the fact that we let a Russian spy hang out at the NRA for so long? THAT'S how. I'm talking THAT kind of quick thinking.

The next VP will probably be president in five years. Let's hope our nominee thinks about that long and hard about that before making a selection.

[Vinca]

1. I'm thinking it has to be a woman and it hit me today that Val Demings might be a good choice.

[LaurenOlimina]

2. They need to be young.

Health will be an issue.

[Laelth]

3. I hear you, but this is easier said than done.

Just get someone COMPETENT with a little charisma, and VERY little baggage, who thinks quickly on their feet, who can handle a crowd of hostile press, and an even more hostile Congress, and make he public feel good about them.

Do you have someone in mind?



-Laelth

[DFW]

5. Not really

I think for once there is a real wealth to choose from. It's not a question that needs to be decided right away. After all, why give the Republicans time to assemble their ammunition on BOTH candidates? I think the vast field of good choices has the Republicans biting their fingernails, and probably spending a LOT of money all over the place, so that they are ready to trash any number of possibles the moment their name is made known. Why help them out this early in the game?

But the field does need to be narrowed down a little when the cameras and microphones are off, and it is at THESE sessions where I HOPE that the factors are ticked off, and where the gender and all that other stuff is tossed to the side long enough to consider not only who would be best for the ticket BEFORE the election, but who would be best for the ticket AFTER the election. I think the next VP will be the next-but-one president. We need to be every bit as far-sighted this time as John McCain was near-sighted in 2008.

I know it is easier said than done, but if the consideration starts now, we can have a VP pick announced in 5 months that will have a large majority of Democrats nodding their heads yes, that is just fine with me.

[Laelth]

9. Joe has telegraphed that he wants a woman, a PoC, or both.

He could change his mind, of course, but that’s all I know at this point. I admit that I am curious. This is a huge decision, now, but I also agree with you that the discussion is premature.

What can I tell you? Slow news day on DU? Now that the primaries are effectively over, we have very little to fight about.





-Laelth

[leftstreet]

4. It will depend on Trump's VP pick

If he stays with the walking-condom Pence, the Dem candidate can go with a young male

If he chooses that creepy Haley woman, the Dem candidate will need a white female with NO BAGGAGE..zero, zip, nada

[DFW]

8. Same answer--maybe but not necessarily

Don't forget McCain. I remember that. I was in the States at the time. All the Texas Republicans were thrilled because Alaska was so exotic, and Sarah Palin cut a good figure in her well-tailored business suits. Their euphoria didn't last long, and we all breathed a sigh of relief when Biden proved to be just what Obama's political doctor ordered.

I don't think our pick will "need" to be anything--except someone that will make a LOT of people think, "GOOD, because that is our next president."

[leftstreet]

11. Good point

It's just there's been no massive effort to address voter suppression, or engage nonvoters. Thus the voting pool will be the same people it's always been - those who hate Trump and GOPers vs those who hate LIBERALS!! ­and Democrats. And somewhere in there, a handful of swing voters.

In order to worry about the viability of the Dem candidate's VP pick - post Administration - you need to get the Dem into the WH first.

Maybe the right VP pick could do that

[DFW]

14. That has to be part of the equation, too

No two ways about it.

Voter suppression MUST be tackled by the next AG--aggressively and forcefully. It is a crime, and the Justice Department will no longer treat it as anything else. When the first hacks discarding voter registrations are put away for ten years, I PROMISE you, they will start to get the message.

[CanonRay]

6. Kamala Harris or Stacey Abrams

Love to see Harris in the driver's seat for 2024.

[Zorro]

7. I think Beto would be an inspired choice

It would deliver Texas for the Democrats, would attract a lot of younger voters, and he's pretty quick on his feet in front of a crowd.

[customerserviceguy]

10. We learned our lesson

in 2016. I have no doubt that we'd be talking about the re-election of President Hillary Clinton had she picked anyone but a white man as her VP choice.

[leftstreet]

13. LOL I had to Google that

I actually couldn't remember.

Holy Shit you make a very good point

[customerserviceguy]

16. Tim Kaine

may be a fine human being, but he is quite forgettable.

We need a VP pick who can get out women and people of color, whose oratory will cause no one to forget her!

[DFW]

15. Or maybe another white man. Tim Kaine was safe. Someone like Beto might have cinched it for her.

Male, southern, also speaks Spanish.

(Uh-oh--that's me, too!)

[customerserviceguy]

17. Had she picked an African-American

for the job, it would have brought out a lot of votes.

I moved to SC the year after the 2016 election, from NY. Our town was next to another town that had a large proportion of people of color, particularly African-Americans. I was able to directly observe how many people came out to stand in line to sign the poll book in those precincts in 2008 and 2012, but they were not there in 2010, 2014, and 2016.

[DFW]

18. That would have been ideal, but there was no one that fit the bill at the time

I'm sure that coming on the heels of Obama's popularity, had there been such a prominent black guy on the ticket at the time, it would have boosted Hillary's numbers. Kaine was better than he looked at first, but that first impression is hard to shake off. That works both ways. The Republicans were reluctant to admit what an empty headed space cadet Palin was, and they found out way too late.

[customerserviceguy]

19. Your points are well taken

Still, I have to wonder: After eight years of Barack Obama, why have there been so few African-American political figures who have emerged? If the best we've got at this point are Val Demmings and Stacy Abrams, how did black political figures (especially those who are male) get left behind?

[Sgent]

20. Obama was the 5th

black Senator in US history, there are 5 that have taken office since his presidential election (including Tim Scott - R).

That is shocking to me (I just looked it up), but its going in the right direction. I think either Booker or Kamela Harris would be good VP picks for either candidate.

[customerserviceguy]

21. The chances that the Democratic nominee

will be male are nearly 100%, so that leaves out Booker. As for Sen. Harris, we don't need her to pick up California. A black female politician from a swing state would be ideal.

It does seem like the Obama presidency has been standing in the way of other African-Americans rising in the public eye. Booker and Harris' early exits does not mark them as prominent political leaders at this point in the game. But, they're young, and there will surely be other opportunities.

[DFW]

22. It's an uphill battle for anyone

Three times as uphill if you're a minority, because you gotta convince a lot of skeptical white voter5s. You have to be persistent, and some kind of talented to break in and stay in. That's a tough nut to crack if you're coming out of nowhere with no money behind you. It's easy to underestimate just what a steep hill even Bill Clinton had to climb, let alone someone like Barack Obama. Minority guys THAT special are just not to be found upon request.

[DFW]

12. I wouldn't eliminate Beto, Harris, OR Abrams

Beto and Haris have some minor baggage. Beto has always been too light on specifics, Harris has that business of being an over-aggressive prosecutor who may have put innocent people away, and I don't know enough about Abrams to know if she has anything Republicans could pounce on or not. It will ALL have to be scrutinized and discussed by the nominee--AND that nominee will have to want it, knowing what they will likely be facing four years later. Someone NOT interested in the presidency four years later need not apply.

[jcgoldie]

23. or Klobuchar

...

[DFW]

24. Certainly not Klobuchar, either

She fits the bill as well as any of the other three (I only mentioned them because they had been mentioned by other posters).

Klobuchar would fit a lot of categories that need to be checked off, that's for sure.