August 19, 2008
Who Will Replace Dick Cheney? (Brent Budowsky)
Let’s have a serious talk about America and set aside the punditry, the pageantry and the pap of an election year that has become a festival of slander and a feast of mediocrity led by a media that is incapable of serious discussion of serious issues at a serious moment for the nation.
Barack Obama's choice for vice president will speak volumes about the kind of president he would be and the degree of substance and depth that he embodies. These are serious times that demand serious people. To the degree that Obama chooses a serious person by presidential standards, such as Sam Nunn or Joe Biden, versus the degree to which he chooses a good person far lower in the presidential league, such as Tim Kaine or Evan Bayh, it will speak volumes about Barack Obama as would-be president.
One pundit columnist, who will go nameless here, wrote what had to be the worst and most revealing column I have ever read in which he made fun of the idea that America is in a crisis and offered a few bromides about how great America is and that we need not listen to those who warn of crisis.
I thoroughly disagree; the reason America does indeed face multiple crises is that our leaders have forgotten WHY America is a great country and failed to sound a trumpet that summons the better angels of our national nature.
This gentleman who writes there is no crisis certainly represents the prevailing wisdom in Washington and among the insider political classes and their courtiers in the media, though I doubt he received this wisdom having talked to any real Americans in recent years.
These are serious times that demand serious people.
While we debate what Hillary wants, active-duty troops and vets are enduring what can only be described as incompetence combined with cruelty and burdens no American should be asked to bear while other Americans of great means enjoy tax cuts they don’t need. For many troops and vets, there is a crisis indeed.
While we debate whether Barack Obama is a Muslim, average Americans endure a Grapes of Wrath-style wave of foreclosures and worry deeply about the future of their families. For them, it is a crisis.
While the pundits pontificate their prognosis about something they know zero about, whom Barack Obama will choose for VP, America remains hostage to an energy addiction that funds wealthy monarchs who are no friends of America and impose cruelty on average and poor Americans, some of whom will die this winter because they cannot afford the skyrocketing cost of home heating. For them, it is a crisis.
While this columnist who shall go nameless is far out of touch with American life, he does represent the insider classes, for whom the only crisis is how they’ll retain power, how much money they make from the positions they hold, or whether they should dine at the Four Seasons or vacation in the Hampton (with, hopefully, someone else picking up the tab).
These are serious times for serious people, yet our president had to be informed months after the fact of the price of gasoline for Americans. Our vice president looks for new wars to fight and no doubt lobbies for pre-emptive pardons. Our Congress adjourns for recess after recess while doing nothing to address the real crisis for real Americans and much to address the only crisis that matters for them, their reelection.
Our media makes a mockery of itself by reporting smears as facts without ascertaining the truth and without any serious discussion of serious issues that deeply worry average Americans.
If the media is the intermediator in a democracy, those who tell us what we are supposed to think, and predict things they know nothing about, do not speak of the great issues of Grapes of Wrath foreclosures, or troops dying preventable deaths, or a nation on its knees for oil, or the danger of a deepening recession, or the profound implications if we descend into a new Cold War, because these are not the matters that affect their daily lives or the people who populate the television studios they haunt or fine dining establishments they frequent.
The problem is not that there is no crisis; the problem is, there are multiple crises and each involves tremendous pain and hardship and each would cost a trillion dollars to solve, and they are lumped together creating hardship and pain to good and decent Americans who ask nothing more than integrity and honor in public life, intelligence and substance from political media, and a call to what they can do for their country, from a system that never asks.
We now face the gathering storm of a potential new Cold War, and mark my words, we are now entering, once again, very dangerous waters indeed.
The question that Barack Obama will answer momentarily, perhaps will have answered by the time some of you read these words, is whether he fully understands that these are serious times that demand serious people, and whether the man or woman who replaces Dick Cheney should be a serious person by standards of being ready for the American presidency at a time of crisis.
Forget the predictions. Every single person who makes them does not have the slightest idea what they are talking about, and if I did this, I wouldn't either.
What I do believe, and think I know, and ask readers to consider, is this. There are some potential vice presidents who are less qualified, and others who are far more qualified, and who Obama names will tell us much about how he views himself, our national politics and the crises of our times.
My views are no secret in high Democratic circles. My suggestion is Sam Nunn or a VP similar in stature, substance and presidential qualifications, such as Joe Biden, George Mitchell, Tom Daschle, Bill Richardson or perhaps a similar candidate as a surprise choice.
I write this before the name is known. If Obama chooses a less-qualified candidate I will think less of him. If he chooses a great, qualified candidate my confidence will soar.
These are serious times that demand serious people. The way to answer the politics of lies is to offer Americans a seriousness of purpose and a politics not merely of hope, but hope with substance and depth, and respect for a people who deserve the best of our nation, from the best of our leaders, in our troubled times.
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Greasy Joe's plan of partitioning Iraq would've been a monumental failure. His assurances that Iraq would fail without the partition were not worth anything. Greasy Joe is a failure in what he is supposed to be strong in: foreign policy. I hope Obambi picks this guy with the congenital diarrhea of the mouth so that he can help him lose.
Comment by Igor R. — August 19, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
But does not a selection of a vice president who increases the chances of an Obama presidency take priority over relative qualifications? To an extent, in my opinion, it does. In your article about the Earth vs. Oil you recently stressed the importance of getting Obama into office as opposed to McCain. This decision must take that urgency into consideration as well, and thus, political punditry does begin to matter if the American public might be swayed in McCain’s direction by the most insignificant of past or even potential blemishes.
This is also an opportunity to give a platform to an individual who can advance the progressive cause in the greater scheme and over the long haul. Considering the State of the Union and the urgency you’ve outlined above, Biden or Nunn certainly would be more than qualified to make an immediate difference in an Obama administration, but that does not necessarily mean they would be the best choice for the country moving forward 8 years beyond 2016. I generally feel that if one of those qualified individuals is selected, they understand it to be for the first term only. The second Obama term should set the stage for Mark Warner-type to gain more exposure and experience for another 8 years in 2016. As you state, there is much work to be done, and it’s going to take a very long time to repair the damage this Administration has done to our country’s reputation, our Constitution, and our Earth.
The irony here is that I’ve just fallen into the useless analytical punditry trap by giving my own insignificant opinion. In these troubled times I know I'm hopeful, and I know my hope is generating optimism and excitement… I guess I don’t quite know whether my hope has substance or depth.
Comment by Marty — August 19, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
Personally, I like the ring of the following:
"Obama Richardson 08!"
Richardson would bring great foreign policy credentials and solid executive experience.
None of the others mentioned would balance the ticket like Richardson would.
Oh well, they say the decision has already been made, so no more worthless speculation on my part.
Comment by smilinjack — August 19, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
The only former Democratic Presidential Candidate who continues to throw bullseyes with every political dart is Dennis Kucinich.
He'd be a good balance to the right of center conservative Obama.
Comment by The Poster's Poster — August 19, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Brent:
Joe Biden is undoubtedly competent enough for the job. He would make a great bookend to match Obama:
Obama sells us out on FISA and then gives us a VP choice who sold us out on the bankruptcy bill?
(By the way - when I googled "Joe Biden sell-out", Joe and the bankrupcy bill popped right up).
Out of the "serious" possibilities, the Democrats (or the DLC clowns who speak for them) have already determined that all of the people who would be on our side are unelectable.
And the horrible part is that Biden is probably the best of the remaining bad bunch.
Comment by gmpierce — August 19, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
I expect better from Brent B.
Does he equates seriousness with serving the bloated military industrial complex.
I would be happy with Wes Clark as VP.
I can imagine him as a modern general/president Eisenhower, seeing the crushing military budget for the crime that it is.
Biden = Bankruptcy law & a more violent drug war.
Biden is our enemy and IS NOT to be taken SERIOUSLY. Biden is a friend of the bankers and the drug kingpins.
Comment by smedley butler — August 19, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
It doesn't matter who Obama picks as VP, if the VP has a coronary and croaks, THEN Obama will have to pick a new VP to run the country…
BRENT, Just kidding… Smile a little smile for me!
Comment by JFK-HRC — August 19, 2008 @ 8:12 pm
Obama should select a VP who's a practicing Muslim. Only then, he'd be able to say "I am not a Muslim, my VP is a Muslim". For me, that's the only way to put that issue to rest.
Comment by Misha — August 19, 2008 @ 9:51 pm
Brent, looks like McCain's VP would replace Dick Cheney.
Comment by Misha — August 20, 2008 @ 1:09 am
The issue is whether Barack offers a VP
of high stature (Nunn, Biden, Richardson,
Daschle, Dodd, George Mitchell, among others)
or someone on the lower end of presidential
qualifications (Kaine, Bayh). My advice may
or may not be followed (more likely after
Russia attacked Georgia). In my opinion
a high qualification VP is essential. I
prefer Nunn strongly, though doubt he is
the choice, but would be perfectly happy
with Biden or any of the other high-stature
VP's.
Comment by Brent — August 20, 2008 @ 7:12 am
"I am a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Jew."
- Mahatma Ghandi
** For our lost soul Misha.
Comment by wewillnotbeneoconned — August 20, 2008 @ 8:37 am
Mahatma Ghandi is not my hero, only a total jerk could be a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Jew.
Comment by Misha — August 20, 2008 @ 9:53 am
Therefore, Misha is a total bigot, a rethuglican
Comment by Mattie May — August 20, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
I hope your picks are all incorrect. They are certainly all wrong. Daschle would be a terrible veep, just as he was terrible as Minority leader. Richardson could be okay, but I am hoping Obama will choose real competence, such as Gov Sebelius. In short, I agree with your premise but I think all your picks would serve to reveal Obama as just another pol wavering in the political wind.
Comment by caliban — August 20, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
As for the "other" guys, I think McCain will surprise everybody by picking (up) Sen. Larry Craig, who can help him with spread and butter issues.
Comment by caliban — August 20, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
caliban, perhaps Obama will surprise everyone by picking Osama bin Laden for that unbeatable Obama/Osama ticket. A Hawaiian birth certificate (duplicate) should be no problem to produce for Osama as the technology is well-tested by now.
Comment by Igor R. — August 20, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
I disagree - the criteria has got to be who can deliver him a key state. Biden is from Delaware - period, and Nunn is unlikely to deliver George.
Comment by OH — August 21, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
I agree with OH #17, Nunn cannot deliver George. Only George can deliver George.
Comment by Misha — August 22, 2008 @ 2:39 am