Conventional wisdom tells us that the race for the White House will soon be Obama/_____ versus McCain/_____ and we will make our decisions based on those four names. The Obama campaign has strayed from conventional wisdom quite a few times this primary with great success and I believe this is another time for him to do so.
Why only announce your Vice Presidential candidate prior to the election when you could announce Cabinet members as well? In addition to the free press this will get the Obama campaign simply by breaking precedent and having multiple people on the campaign trail, shoring up support, talking to the press, and pulling in donations, this would challenge McCain to announce his cabinet early as well which is especially important with his Cheney comments.
In this concept, over the next week I will give my suggestions for Attorney General, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President. Each fills a part of the ticket bringing expertise, knowledge, and passion to the group. Today I'll go with Vice President.
And who better to help head a Democratic Dream Team than former Senator and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Bradley.
In the last few presidential races, a few things about Vice Presidential choices have become apparent to me. First, the Vice Presidential choice should not balance a ticket but rather enhance it. The last four Democratic tickets have been Dukakis/Bentsen, Clinton/Gore, Gore/Lieberman, and Kerry/Edwards. Three of these tried to balance the ticket with a Vice President from a different region, political view, or experience level and they all lost. It was only Clinton/Gore, two young, centralist candidates from neighboring states, that successfully won the White House.
The Clinton/Gore enhancement ticket was so successful because people primarily vote for President not Vice President. The balanced ticket concept assumes that someone who doesn't like the Presidential nominee may vote for them anyway because they like the person in the second slot. However, a balanced ticket Vice President choice can actually get in the way of the campaigns message. If Obama choices a military person as Vice President, it goes against his message that military experience doesn't equal foreign policy experience but rather concedes to McCain that military experience is crucial and further emphasizes that Obama lacks it. If Obama choices an experienced, established Washington insider, it contradicts his message of changing the way Washington is run.
Bill Bradley has just enough experience to be considered experienced while still being known as a Washington outsider and a reform candidate. He's got some of Obama's rock star qualities as a Hall of Fame basketball player but is also a bit wonkish so he won't overshadow Obama. Additionally, by choosing to enhance a ticket rather than balance it, you are getting two people who will work well together in the White House. Rather than being saddled down by a Vice President he doesn't get along with, as John Kerry would have had with John Edwards, Obama and Bradley share a vision of the world. They both are agents of change, reforming Washington.
An additional thing I learned about choosing a Vice President is largely thanks to the Bush/Cheney campaign. Popular opinion seems to state the choosing a young Vice Presidential candidate means that in eight years they will have experience and be great presidential candidates. Cheney chose himself as Vice President in part because he knew this is not the case. With the exception of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom where Vice Presidents prior to it being a spot on the ticket, only two people in US history have won Presidential elections as an incumbent Vice President, Martin Van Buren and George H. W. Bush. What Vice Presidents do have a history of doing, especially in recent years, is being nominated and losing. This list includes Huber Humphrey Richard Nixon, and Al Gore (it should also be noted that George H. W. Bush was not reelected). After eight years of one administration, people tend to want change, something you can't claim to be if you are currently the second in charge of the current administration. At the age of 64, Bradley is young enough that he doesn't take away from the "McCain is too old" argument but old enough that in eight years, we can chose a candidate who can bring change to Washington and offer something new.
Finally and most importantly, the Vice President should be someone who is prepared to be President. As useful as a Vice President may be in the campaign, the highest priority in selecting a Vice President should be how well they would be able to serve in the event that the President should die. Bill Bradley would be a fabulous President. He has strong proven his knowledge and commitment to issues such as healthcare, campaign finance reform, deficit reduction, education, poverty, and many others.
Sen. Bill Bradley would, without a doubt, be a great enhancement to the Obama campaign and a wonderful Vice President.
Next post will cover Attorney General.