By Libby
Respect was a word thrown around a lot in the last few months of this bitterly contested primary and I'd agree it was sorely lacking in much of the discourse. I'm not pointing any fingers because everyone was guilty to some degree, including myself. Much of that was mitigated yesterday by the positive response to Hillary's concession speech. Even her harshest critics mostly managed to choke out an acknowledgement of her acheivements and those less emotionally invested in the outcome offered up some truly warm praise.
However, now that the this race is finally over I'm finding the demanding tone of some supporters that Hillary be offered the VP slot -- or else -- to be somewhat disrespectful of Obama's accomplishments, and indeed rather dismissive of the reality that he in fact, won the contest. I'm almost equally puzzled by Obama's supporters who are demanding he doesn't offer her the position. I mean, either you trust your candidate to make a good choice, or you don't.
Leaving aside whether or not Hillary even wants to be VP, this is choice that rightly belongs to Obama, and no one else. While speculation over the possible choice and lobbying for preferred candidates is inevitable, I can't recall another election where so many apparently feel entitled to dictate the decision.
All that being said, I of course have an opinion not so much on who Obama should choose as who he shouldn't. I think Hillary would be the wrong choice for a number of reasons, mainly one that Avedon touches on here.
Natasha Chart finds someone recommending another completely inappropriate conservative* to get Obama's VP slot - Blanche Lincoln. No, no, no. Putting an anti-choice woman on the ballot just because she's female would be an incredible insult. And to be honest, I'm not really comfortable with most of this talk about finding some other woman to be on the ticket "instead of" Clinton. Don't turn this into The Minority Ticket, please.
We've already made history by nominating a black man. Let's not get greedy and try to get a two-fer out of it by adding a woman to the ticket. Although this is a favorable year for Democrats and we have an extraordinarily charismatic candidate, Obama will have enough to overcome in winning over that demographic of white Americans who find a brown man alien and scary. While it might feel good to break down all the barriers at once with a minority ticket, the end goal is to win the White House and this would only complicate the contest in a way that would benefit McCain.
On a purely pragmatic basis it would make sense for Obama to offer the VP to a white man and if he does so, his decision should be accepted by all Democrats with the kind of grace and respect that acknowledges he earned the right to make his own choice.
[*quote edited to reflect changes in the original]
Well, Lyndon Johnson went on to do great things. Behind that passive seat was an extraordinaire that set the fire of the civil rights movement. True he only had this opportunity after Kennedy died, but I don't think his influence spurted up overnight.
ReplyDeleteSimilarily, Gore has tremendous influence that he wouldn't have unless he was Clinton's VP and Cheney was Bush 2.
Whatever influence the VP has is pretty well dictated by what the president is willing to give them, but that doesn't change the fact that the choice is Obama's to make.
ReplyDeleteThe bitterness is going to remain for quite some time yet. If Obama is smart, and I of course think he is, he will draw out this process for as long as possible even if he already knows who he's going to choose. The biggest advantage being that it will give Hillary's most ardent supporters time to come to grips with who the Democratic nominee actually is. Not to mention time to see just how invested Hillary is in helping out Obama's campaign.
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be a very closely watched and analyzed decision, probably for both candidates. I just hope it doesn't suck all of the air out of the actual issues.
I see no reason for him to announce it at all at this time. Isn't it customary to wait until closer to the convention?
ReplyDeleteLibby, you would have done fine if you had stopped at the point where you said it was Obama's right to choose his VP. This notion that somehow or other he should choose a non-female person because women have to wait their turn is pretty much the sort of pernicious nonsense that made us lose our opportunity to equal rights (because women were supposed to wait until black men had their rights before they demanded their own, which of course meant that women would not get equal rights in their lifetime, nor in mine).
ReplyDeleteWomen should not meekly go to the back of the bus while black men get their chance to shine. Let's remember half the (african-American? Black?) race is female.
Now, let's get back to letting Obama pick his VP, who should preferably be someone he is comfortable working with, and hopefully someone we would feel comfortable seeing as President should worse come to worst (isn't that what a VP is for?).
I think Hillary, by virtue of having come in as a close second and also having a high profile, earned her right to be considered for the ticket. But putting some other woman it on there just because she's a woman is ugly tokenism of the worst sort and I don't want to see that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was mean of me to call Lincoln a Republican. I'm going to fix my original text and call her a conservative, which she is.
If it made sense to put a woman on the ticket, then I would agree that Hillary certainly earned the right for consideration and in fact earned the slot by dint of the heartbreakingly close outcome. But to my mind, this isn't about waiting our turn for a woman in major office, this is about getting a Dem in the White House. I think voters who are racist, are most often also sexist and I simply think there too much risk in trying to acheive both breakthroughs at once and the symbolic victory of fielding that ticket would be meaningless if McCain managed to weasel in because of that demo.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking Hill's run raised the profile of all women candidates and the feminist cause would be better served in this round in promoting and electing down ticket women, thus building steppping stones for future candidacies for women in higher office.
Oh and Avedon, I'll edit the quote to reflect your changes.
Out of curiosity, what do you think will happen to the dynamic should McCain choose a female VP candidate?
ReplyDelete