The Best VP Selection for Dems
Hear Me Out
Now that that J.D. Vance has been chosen as the Vice Presidential candidate on Trump’s ticket, focus shifts over to the Democratic side and what is going to happen with that ticket. If/when Joe Biden steps aside, there will be a mad rush to fill the top of the ticket. The likely candidate is Kamala Harris, but it is far from assured. Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsome, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and others will all weigh in on the opportunity to lead the party and the country. If it plays out in the backrooms of the convention, there will be necessary levels of negotiation as well, with many of those same names being consensus options for the Vice Presidential slot as well. The likely VP nominee is likely to be the candidate who concedes and pledges their support to the candidate that puts the total over the top. So what I am about to offer is likely to just be waxing rhapsodic with no real chance of going anywhere. However, do you know who would make a great VP selection for Democrats right now? This guy:
That’s right. You heard me. Barack Hussein Obama. Don’t believe me? Here is what brings me to this conclusion.
Now, I’m not naive and optimistic enough to think that this has any prayer of actually happening. But still, you can’t deny what a boost it would be to Democrats’ otherwise lackluster options.
First off, the Democrats could use some level of unity, and there has been a stunning lack of it ever since Obama was last elected. Bad blood, lingering gripes, internecine fighting and antipathy under the big (and shrinking) tent has been non-stop for almost a decade now. Obama is someone who the party could immediately get on board with and help unite a very fractured coalition, particularly after what is currently occuring with Biden.
Democrats could use some energy, big time. It might just be the fact that the nation is currently facing two very uncharismatic ~80 year olds, but there if very little for people to get excited about. All we hear is about what apocalypse awaits us if the other person wins. This is not the way to excite voters, in fact it makes them averse to everything, including the hyperbole and the eventual consequences. Selecting Obama brings energy—a lot of it. It would be like detonating a 5,000 gallon drum of kerosene on a barren desert of a campaign season. Voters, media, allies, donors, and everyone who were too young to vote for him the first time would immediately get excited to vote for him again. People, particularly Democrats and a large contingent of swing voters, really, really like Obama.
Some of you may be wondering, “But how would Obama connect with enough swing voters to carry Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania?” Well, he’s actually quite good at connecting to Midwesterners. This is a guy who went bowling, scored a 29, and laughed it off with the locals over a few pints. In Wisconsin, even though he was a Bears fan from Chicago, he had to preside over the Green Bay Packers visit to the White House when they won the Super Bowl, and was affable, humble and even humorous in doing so. People “like” Obama because he is so effective at connecting with them, regardless of their background or ideas.
“But PurpleAmerica,” you may be thinking, “He’s already served two terms and is therefore ineligible to run again.” Not true (entirely). Yes, he could not run for PRESIDENT again, but nothing precludes him from running for the #2 job. The twenty-second amendment states:
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.
So, it doesn’t say that you can’t serve more than eight years, it says you can’t be elected more than twice to President. It also says that that no person who has held the office of President for more than two years of a term to which someone ELSE has been elected President can’t be elected again. In both cases, it does not preclude Obama from BEING President, it just prevents him from ever being elected President again. He can still ascend to the position and serve practically a whole term to which someone else was elected. Tell me that idea should have Democrats drooling at the possibilities. It’s almost Machiavellian to the same level as McConnell holding Justice Scalia’s seat open for a year.
Well, the most important qualification is that the person needs to be able to do the job, and we all know Obama can do the job. Likewise, there is the idea that you do not want to do any harm to the ticket, which I don’t think Obama does. You can argue that he may outshine whoever is at the top of the ticket (pretty positive he would) but in the current climate and circumstances, that’s not a bad thing. It’s usually the VP candidate’s job to go after the top of the ticket on the other side so that the party’s nominees can keep their hands clean(er). Tell me you wouldn’t love to watch Obama in front of a rally railing on Trump. It would be golden, must see TV, from now until November. Ratings would go through the roof.
Lastly, there has been this thinking that Presidential nominees want to include their VPs in major decisions. In practice, the VP job is more of a hodgepodge of things that the President doesn’t even want to touch. It’s why the VP usually looks horrible doing things as VP. Take the fact Biden delegating Immigration and the Border to Kamala Harris and you’ll get what I mean. But think about it here; what would be more re-assuring someone was fixing an issue more than a previous President, who really doesn’t have to have ambition to become President again, taking care of these ugly little issues. Obama’s taking care of the border? Well, the border was pretty good under his watch, lowest it has been in 50 years! Sure, let him handle it. He could kick his feet up, do nothing and people would still feel comfortable about the issue.
In an election season where the economy is great, and most everything is looking better except for the incumbent’s polling, wouldn’t you want to make a sure thing-landslide that would re-align the American electorate for the next generation of voters? I know I would.
So for the good of the country, Mr. Obama, our nation needs you once more. Think about it.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
The last person to serve more than 8 years as President and Vice President? George H.W. Bush, who served as VP for Reagan’s 8 years and then served the next term as President. Before that it was Richard Nixon, who served two terms as Vice President and a little over 5 1/2 years as President before resigning in disgrace. You’d have to go back to FDR to find a President (the only President) to serve more than 2 terms specifically as President; FDR was elected four separate times and died in office.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
Kamala-Obama 2024. Tell me that wouldn’t make MAGA’s heads explode. That alone would make this worth it.
Wouldn't that be nice? I doubt it's even been entertained, but who knows now, with your reach? (just kidding !). It would definitely solve most of the problems stemming from everyone backing their particular favorite horse for the ticket, I think they could all eventually agree to settle on Obama and be happy. It would also prevent the utter chaos of an open-to-all convention this late in the game. It solves the name recognition issue with any of the governors across the rest of the country. Now if only Obama would play along....
You're drunk, PA! Go home! ;-)
For real though, I think that the predictable downsides of this idea help show a contrast with the Harris/alternative options.
- Republicans will say this is just a ploy to get Obama a third term.
- Voters who are exhausted and just want to turn the page on the Trump Era will feel like Obama as VP is just "more of the same".
- The K-Hive may not be able to charge Biden with racism, but they'll still raise a stink about the misogyny of replacing Harris with a man. Even if they don't actually represent as many voters as they think they do, the narrative of disunity won't help create any good vibes.
- Obama will fail to create enough of an age contrast; Vance will still be the youngest person on the debate stage, and although I'm perfectly confident Obama's capable of doing a Reaganesque "... young man!" to him, it's still a gamble on whether he'll get juuust the right opportunity to MAKE that moment happen.
Soo yeah. It's funny to imagine, but I think it mostly just illustrates why we should stay the course on forcing Biden out.
For the record, I maintain that Biden should step aside or down. If he steps down from the presidency, then let Harris run a veepstakes -- my fantasy ticket is Harris-Polis. If he only steps aside from the nomination, then the best way for Harris to leverage her advantage AND help the party is to *embrace* an open contest and either lose fair and square or be seen beating out the alternatives and then picking the strongest as a VP for a unity play -- either way, it HAS to happen publicly, out in the open, so that people don't think she's just being "gifted" a presidency/nomination, nor that she's being "robbed" of one.