The Next Next President

 

With the selection of Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, Joe Biden managed to do something historic and predictable at the same time. 

Senator Harris is the first woman of color as a Vice Presidential candidate. Seeing that the last two Democratic Presidential candidates were an African-American man and a woman that doesn't seem to have the sis-boom-bah that was hoped for, but it is still the first. 

Everybody said Harris was the logical pick, mainly due to the quaint old logic called ticket balancing. Male/Female. White/POC. Old/Young. East Coast/West Coast. Glad hander/Would run over her grandmother and yours to get what she wants.

I suppose within the arbitrary parameters Biden imposed on himself-to have his own binder filled with women-Harris was the logical choice. After all, Biden wasn't really looking for the best qualified person was he?  

He didn't even pretend that Harris was the most qualified person "who just happened to be a woman".

Just about everybody has been lamenting the fact that politics now is so nasty and everybody is so polarized, yet Biden didn't (publicly) explore a possible unity ticket with a disenchanted Republican like John Kasich or Mitt Romney.

Nope, Biden didn't sniff Andrew Cuomo, although upon further reflection that is probably a good thing.

After all the unrest this summer and the fact that Jim Clyburn saved Biden's bacon, it was obvious Biden would select a woman of color as his running mate.

Which led to the odd lists that came out.  I mean on what planet is Stacy Abrams qualified to be Vice President on? I mean really. If she had won the Governor's race here in Georgia, then maybe. Spiro Agnew only had a couple of years of experience and so did Sarah Palin. 

I was interested in Susan Rice.  She's never run for office before. The last time we remember seeing her, she was lying to us about Benghazi. It wasn't even a good lie. It was a stupid lie. It was a lie only a Clinton could make up and expect you to believe.  I guess that's a quality a politician has to have.

What I liked about Rice is that she has a son going to Sanford and apparently he's a regular Alex P. Keaton. (Note: Years ago there was situation comedy called "Family Ties" and it was about two former hippies raising their son who was a Reagan Republican. His name was Alex P. Keaton.)  I thought it would have been sweet to have a Democrat admit that they love someone who is a Trump supporter.

What it came down to was Harris had the better resume and was on the track during the first part of the election cycle.  

The New York Times presented the news like she discovered the Covid-19 vaccine.  It wasn't quite over the top like Obama's nomination was presented.  She wasn't the change we were all looking for but make no mistake:  The New York Times thinks she'll be the next, next President.

If Biden wins, she will be. No doubt in my mind. Despite the fact Biden can ride a bicycle, he's lost a few miles per hour on his fastball, if you know what I mean. I met pundit Jeff Greenfield one time and he said (this was back when Reagan was President) his sources in The White House would tell him "The President was in outer space today".  Reagan was 74 at the time, four years younger than Biden is now.

Don't be surprised to turn on the news and hear, "A Silver Alert has been issued for President Joe Biden today. Sources say he just "wandered off". The alert mentions he might ask you if you've seen Corn Pop".

If Biden loses, unless Harris does something really bad, she'll be the nominee in 2024.  If you think "Trump Fatigue" is bad now, just wait. Harris is smart enough to distance herself from Biden if he loses. She got on the ticket after practically calling him a racist and at least hinting Biden was a predator. Napoleon Dynamite would say she has skills.

Which leads to Harris biggest problem.  Is she this progressive San Francisco liberal or is she a centrist? Who knows?

One minute she's this tough prosecutor who throws people in jail for marijuana, the next she's bragging about all the doobies she smoked in college listening to rap albums from rap artists that hadn't even put out any rap albums yet. That was some strong stuff.

Of course, President Trump, who if he has a talent it is branding, has already put  the Biden-Harris ticket into his Nickname generator and it came out with "Slow Joe and Phony Kamala".  Not one of his best, but it is fairly accurate.