An answer to David Sirota's question

By Kathy G.

David Sirota asks an excellent question:

Can someone - anyone - please explain to me why no one in Obama's campaign, in the media, in the progressive infrastructure sphere, in the labor movement or even on lefty blogs, is pushing Sherrod Brown for VP in any real way?

There's actually a very good answer to that, which you can find here. Initially, I was pretty high on Sherrod Brown as a possible veep, but I don't feel that way anymore. He's long been a progressive champion, and I still like the guy. But it would be far better for the Democrats if he stays put in the senate, where he can continue to do good work (and this is particularly the case because it's not at all certain whether the Dems could hold his senate seat -- Ohio is a swing state, after all). Putting him on the ticket would be a mistake.

As things currently stand, my two top choices for veep would be:

General Wesley Clark
Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas

I think Obama should definitely choose one of those two, but I don't have a strong preference for one over the other -- each has their strengths and weaknesses.

My second tier of choices consists of people I like and could get excited about, but have at least one major drawback. I don't think Obama should pick any of these folks, but I could get behind each and every one of them with few reservations:

Hillary Clinton, senator from New York
Christopher Dodd, senator from Connecticut
Patty Murray, senator from Washington
Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona
Jack Reed, senator from Rhode Island
Brian Schweitzer, governor of Montana

See my original post and the follow-up for the reasoning.

Now, the word on the street has it that, with the possible exception of Sebelius, at this point none of the people I've named in this post are being taken seriously for the veep slot. Especially not Clark, who hasn't even been invited to speak at the convention and appears to be persona non grata to the Obama people (which is truly a petty and boneheaded attitude of them to take).

I would be disappointed if Obama chooses any of the other names I've heard mentioned aside from the eight I list. But at this point I'm almost resigned to the fact that his choice is likely to suck.

Other than Sebelius, of those still said to be in the running, I suppose that Biden would be least unpalatable. But his vote for the bankruptcy bill was unconscionable, and the man is a wholly owned subsidiary of the credit card companies (the senator from MBNA, indeed). I also find him grating and obnoxious on a personal level, and I'm not sure he'd wear well with voters over the long haul. Nor am I that confident that Biden's much-vaunted foreign cred is all it's cracked up to be. Not only did he vote for the war, but his partition plan for Iraq has been condemned by some foreign policy types whose work I respect.

Still, he'd be preferable to Bayh and Kaine if, as Steve Clemons claims, those are the alternatives. We'll see. Part of me thinks the Biden boomlet is a huge head-fake and Obama won't end up choosing him, or Bayh, or Kaine, or any of the others still rumored to be on the short list. Maybe he'll surprise us all and give the nod someone whose name has barely been mentioned. We'll see.

Ultimately, I think only a few people high up in the Obama campaign are clued in to what is really going on in the selection process. All the veepstakes speculation in the media and across the blogosphere has amounted to little more than hot air. And that definitely includes what I've written about it on this blog!

Comments

[Xenocrypt]

Sure, Brien Jackson says Sherrod Brown has stuff in his past that'd make Bill Clinton blush (Clinton is a ruddy guy, isn't he? How hard is it to make him blush?) but I have it from highly-placed not-at-all-made-up sources that Brien Jackson has stuff in *his* past that'd make Sherrod Brown blush. Whoever Brien Jackson is. Seriously, this isn't original to me, but shouldn't people either say what the allegedly-damning story is, or shut up about it? What's the point of these vague insinuations? What's Jackson mean? Did Sherrod Brown have an affair with a staffer? Was he actually the Zodiac killer? Who knows?

[DrDick]

Sorry, but you cannot have Schweitzer. He is running for reelection this year and we need him too much here. We actually stand a chance to sweep the statewide offices and take a significant majority in the legislature this year. Try again the next time around when he is termed out.

[publius]

i think he gets a pass on the bankruptcy bill b/c he's from delaware. same deal with obama and ethanol.

the hope of course is that things will change on all fronts when they become accountable to a national audience rather than just to their more narrow state interests

[Brien]

I agree with publius. A Senator from Delaware voting for the bankruptcy bill tells you about as much about that person as a Senator from Iowa or Indiana voting for the farm bill. It sucks, but it's just one of those unfortunate realities our system makes you live with. Biden has a real litany of other legislative accomplishments that more than make up for it, in my opinion, and he'll give the Obama campaign desperately needed pointedness on their message. On the other hand, I wonder if it'd only be a matter of time before Biden went there and called bullshit on the "John McCain doesn't like to talk about being a POW" nonsense, which I sorta doubt the MSM will take kindly to. I'll gladly risk it though.

Xenocrypt, I understand your skepticism. I included it only as a throw away on someone that isn't going to get nominated and it didn't get any attention until Kathy picked it up, so I didn't want to put all the big, messy details out there without source material. Long story short, I've got a background in Ohio politics, and Sherrod Brown is a pretty well known womanizer around the Columbus circles. It's not much of a secret there, but no one really talks about it because a lot of people, politicians and otherwise, would come away with egg on their face. And it's probably not even bad enough that it would definitely cost him his Senate seat, but it's also not something vetters are going to miss, and a Presidential campaign is definitely not going to want to bring that powderkeg on. Ohio reporters let it slide because they've got a dog in it too of sorts (relationships between reporters and politicians in Columbus are really cozy), but I doubt the national press corp would be so accomodating to a VP nominee. Anyway, I expound a bit more here:

http://www.below-the-fold.com/BrienJackson/?p=558