Biden does well with Harris pick
CHOOSING a vice president is mostly a process of elimination. In Joe Biden’s case, that process led to a very short list. Biden had already announced he would choose a woman, and it’s been clear for some time that he had to pick a Black woman.
There was a lot of talk about Karen Bass, for whom I have great respect. But Rep. Bass of California has never gone through the miserable process of being examined under a microscope not only by the national press, which still has some rules, but by a world of bloggers and tabs, many of whom do not. And she was “only” a representative. In the polls I’ve seen, Americans don’t see the generic member of Congress as a president.
Senators and governors are the safe pick.
If you’re looking for a
Black female senator or governor, your list is down to one. If you’re looking for a Black woman who has been vetted nationally, you get the same name.
So why the process? Why did so many of us start looking at people who were mayors or members of Congress or former police chiefs? The answer is simple: voodoo economics.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan ran on a promise to cut taxes, raise defense spending and balance the budget. One of his opponents, George H.W. Bush, called it “voodoo economics.” Ronald Reagan chose him as his running mate anyway. I was on the ground in Florida. I think Reagan could have won with Mickey Mouse on his ticket, but the tape of Bush demeaning his running mate’s platform was played for years to come.
In Kamala Harris’ case, it wasn’t Biden’s economic platform but his record of working across the aisle with segregationist senators on non-racial issues and his opposition to court-ordered school busing of students that provided her with two memorable debate moments at Biden’s expense.
If the first rule of vice presidential selection is to do no harm, what matters is not how Harris’ attacks played in the primaries or that Biden felt they were unfair, but how they would play in a general election.
Attack Biden for his opposition to mandatory busing? Americans are also against it. Attack Biden for working across the aisle to get things done? No Trump on that one. How about attacking Harris for being too tough on crime as attorney general? Trump’s law and order campaign doesn’t work against somebody whom progressives considered too conservative.
If you look at it from Trump’s point of view, it couldn’t have been worse. Let’s face it: In the hours since the announcement, we would have been hearing about Cuba if it were Karen Bass and Benghazi if it were Susan Rice.
As historic as today’s news is, we are not meeting someone new. Harris doesn’t need to introduce herself at the convention. If that makes it less exciting, it also makes it safer. In retrospect, Biden’s choice was easy, and the fact that it looks that way tells you that it was the right choice for the time.
On his first presidential decision, Biden did good.