Tim Kaine is not the VP many progressives wanted for the job, including me. Watching Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton debut on stage together several weeks ago was electric, and I warmed to the idea of losing Warren in the Senate to the betterment of the Democratic ticket (despite considerations about her potential replacement). But that's neither here nor there now and here's what stands out to me most about Hillary Clinton's pick: whether or not you think it was smart from an electoral standpoint, Kaine was a principled choice who has the political know-how, governing skills, gravitas, and statesmanship to step in as president if that were ever necessary. By almost every count, Clinton picked someone whom she saw as a contributing member of the White House, not someone whom she thought she absolutely needed in order to win the White House.
That stands in stark contrast to the picks of two recent GOP nominees: John McCain and Donald Trump. What was perhaps most notable about Trump's VP selection is that he didn't like Pence, got talked into Pence, then tried to wriggle out of it, backed off his Friday announcement, then announced via twitter anyway that day, and finally introduced his running mate to the world by making Pence stand at his side while Trump droned on about himself for 30 minutes before remembering that Pence was there too.
Pence wasn't who Trump wanted. Pence is a total loser in the eyes of someone like Trump—he's the type of guy Trump would have relished hurling a "You're fired!" at while watching him shrink into the corner. So why pick him—because everyone told Trump he must, including his children. Pence was an entirely cynical electoral pick aimed at shoring up party unity; a move to placate, which really runs against the very core of Trump’s being. And it's no wonder Trump balked, since he'd been offering his VPs near total control over the government if elected. That means Trump will be turning over his administration to someone he can barely stomach standing next to on stage.
It's not all that different from what John McCain did in his Hail Mary of a pick in '08. He was tanking in polling and fundraising and his advisers assured him that a little-known governor from Alaska and former small-town mayor had the juice to be his VP. We all remember that tragic train wreck of an electoral tale that really foretold the onset of the tea party movement and the nightmare the Republican party would become over the next several election cycles.
So yeah, Hillary Clinton chose Tim Kaine. He's not a firebrand, yet as a mayor turned governor turned U.S. Senator, he's qualified to govern. He's not flashy by any stretch, but as Hillary told PBS, "I love that about him." He's not Warren or Sanders, but he's fought for social justice issues throughout his life, including for fair housing in Virginia and helping the impoverished in developing countries—two passions he shares with Clinton.
One of the most telling descriptions summing up his internal compass came from Cokie Roberts at NPR:
"The main thing that the left needs to know about him is that he comes at everything from the perspective of a serious social justice Catholic and that really informs everything he does. So even on issues that they disagree with him on like trade, he does that because trade is known to be very helpful to poor people in developing countries and that's something he cares very deeply about."
None of this is likely to endear him to the progressive left, which would probably prefer an agnostic pol to someone who's driving motivation comes through the lens of religion. And for many, this simply confirms their worst fears about Hillary: she's a centrist at heart.
But regardless of what arguments will be made about whether Kaine helps or hurts the ticket electorally, Hillary appears to have chosen someone she likes, she trusts, and she feels is qualified for the job of being Vice President (or President)—not someone she concluded she needed in order to secure the White House.
Some outlets have already conjectured that Clinton's pick exudes a certain confidence about the electoral map, but any way you slice it, Kaine was a principled pick if not the one that the left, including myself, wanted. And in an election cycle where the GOP nominee's singular guiding principle has been to create a spectacle at any and all costs, I'll take a VP pick that was rooted in the principle of, "Who's best for the job?" rather than one driven by, "Who do I need to get the job?"