At some point later today. Democratic presidential candidate (that’s right, the vote’s been taken and the deed is done) Kamala Harris will announce her choice of running mate. It could be one of the worn list of potential vice presidents, or it could be a surprise. Who knows? More importantly, who cares? Why has the scrutiny of Harris’ VP choice engendered such vicious and critical scrutiny?
“Common wisdom” is that the person chosen will be a “signal” of what Harris’ presidency would be about, which raises two questions. First, is it a substantive signal or is it a political choice calculated to help Harris beat Trump in the general election.
Traditionally, vice presidential candidates are chosen for their contribution to the win, whether by demographics or personal characteristics. The notion is that by adding a person from another part of the country, the candidate “recognizes” that state’s value and touches the locals to win their votes.
Now that the candidates have expanded beyond white men, racial and gender demographics bring another dimensions to the ticket. Since Harris has the black, Indian and female boxes checked, a white male running mate checks the others, except for Pete Buttigieg, who covers both white male and gay sexual orientation, missing from the other potential veeps (as far as we know).
The scrutiny, and concomitant attacks, on the potential running mates has been stunning. Since when did the choice of vice president get so much attention. Does the vice prez candidate really matter that much? How much did Harris matter to the Biden administration? Other than a few incoherent gaffs at speaking engagements, did she do anything?
In the ordinary course of politics, intense scrutiny would be paid to the person at the top of the ticket to determine whether they would be the kind of person voters would want to serve as president. Of course, since Biden’s withdrawal, there has been no ordinary course of politics and Harris morphed overnight into the adored savior of the Dems, untouched by scrutiny and, if media reports are to be believed, capable of riding unicorns prancing on rainbows. Is the scrutiny being paid to the vice presidential hopefuls a displacement of angst over the Democratic ticket given that the public played no role in the choice at the top of the ticket?
The second question is why, oh why, is America and the media looking to Harris’ veep choice as an indicator of whether she will be woke or liberal, moderate or extreme, rather than asking Harris to cut the platitudinous crap and provide some hard details on why anyone should vote for her (beyond the obvious)?
Why have so many, particularly in the media, become obsessed with Harris’ choice for vice president? Does it really send a signal? Does it really matter at all?
Consider that Trump chose J.D. Vance, who appears to be doing the impossible, making Team Trump even crazier and more outrageous than Trump alone.
Even worse, what if Harris’ choice of running mate turns out to be the person Americans would have chosen to run against Trump for president had the Democratic Party not anointed Harris to avoid the likely ugly convention chaos while denying the people the chance to pick the candidate they actually want to be president?
Update: It’s Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whoever he is.
*Tuesday Talk rules apply.