Biden’s choice of VP will be historic, momentous
It’s the last tumultuous leg of the journey to the November 2020 American presidential election.
Once again, it would seem, the entire fate of democracy rests on the shoulders of one woman.
What, you thought that was back in 2016, when Democratic presidential contender and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton shockingly failed to defeat Republican Donald Trump and save America and the world from Trumpocalypse, part one?
Nope. To no feminist’s surprise she’s back, and by she I mean, of course, not Hillary herself (she was “flawed” don’t you know) but that political fantasy, the Perfect Woman Candidate, only this time she’s supposed to be in the pivotal Democratic vice-presidential running mate slot.
Way back in March, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, 77, former vice-president in the Obama administration, and now polling ahead of Trump, 74 (sigh, call this the septuagenarian showdown) took the bold and, to some, surprising step of committing to choose a woman as his running mate.
It was a smart move then and it’s a smart move now, almost three tumultuous months later, as Biden narrows down his choice under justifiably intense pressure to choose an African-American woman.
America is now in the throes of a lethally mismanaged coronavirus pandemic with one of the highest death rates in the world, and an almost certainty that the virus will roar back in the fall if it even takes that long. There’s an economic catastrophe still waiting to be confronted with the economy not fully reopened and millions unemployed because of the COVID-19 shutdowns.
And more importantly, but also encompassing both of the above in light of the pandemic’s disproportionate effect on African Americans, there’s a roiling and long overdue racial justice reckoning with protestors continually out on the streets, demanding justice and change after the videotaped homicide of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Those cops have been fired and criminally charged, but there have already been more killings by police of Black people, met with Black Lives Matter activists and supporters increasing demands to “defund the police” and basically dismantle the entire racist criminal justice system. Demands that, as a result, are becoming more universally accepted by the moment.
So Biden’s choice of running mate will be historic and momentous. Especially because of his age.
When and if he is inaugurated in January 2021, Biden at 78 will be one of the oldest newly elected presidents in history, one who may not be able to — reality bites here — finish out two four-year terms in office. Hence the importance of having a vice-president who can “be president tomorrow” as Biden himself has put it.
If you believe the hype, Biden’s choice, which he intends to announce on or around Aug. 1, is going to “shake the stock market.” (As if what, it’s been stable since the pandemic hit?)
It’s going to alienate, outrage and dismay whole swaths of American activists, progressives or moderates who will reject any candidate who doesn’t signal massive systemic change.
The Democratic presidential primary — which now seems like another era ago — was filled with competent, articulate, accomplished women.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who will soon turn 71, may be seen as too radical for the American mainstream, but she has a fearless ability to stand up to corporate and financial miscreants and bring in much needed economic reforms.
Her drawback is being in the same age category as Biden and not being African American. To make matters worse, when a group of her elite liberal supporters recently signed a letter pressing Biden to still choose her as the most experienced and progressive running mate, one of them, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe had to apologize after cluelessly saying that choosing an African-American woman over Warren would be a matter of “cosmetics.”
Sen. Kamala Harris, 55, the former attorney general of California and of mixed race background and often a passionate debater is still seen as a front-runner for the VP slot — although she’s viewed critically by justice advocates as having upheld the status quo when she was attorney general of California. She recently cointroduced a Justice in Policing Act, hoping to make amends.
Our screens of late have been filled with impressive AfricanAmerican women leaders and politicians, acting with grace, passion and courage during the protests and civil unrest. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms delivered a memorably wrenching on-the-spot speech last month at the height of the increasingly violent demonstrations in her city, urging Black protestors to stay safe and to vote.
Stacey Abrams, a skilled and luminous activist and politician who almost became the first Black Democratic female governor of Georgia, and is actively campaigning to be Biden’s choice, said definitively this week that “Identity matters, progress matters,” and that the reason “we’ve had two weeks of demonstrations is that George Floyd’s identity matters. Representation matters too,” insisted Abrams.
Also in the running is Susan Rice, Obama’s former security adviser and ambassador to the UN. And U.S. Representative Val Demings who, as the former police chief of Orlando may carry too much police baggage to be seen as a reformer. These are all impressive candidates to be Biden’s VP.
It’s wrong to lament this as too-limiting identity politics. The fact is two old white men should not be running to be president in 2020 when America needs a vibrant representative alternative to patriarchal systemically racist politics and policing.
And yet, Biden can at least make headway with his VP choice.
He can take the plunge and name the Black woman of his choice as his running mate and include every other worthwhile candidate regardless of gender, ethnicity or skin colour in his administration. She doesn’t have to be perfect.
There’s so much work to do to repair America that this will simply be a just and necessary start.