Joe Biden, and his Vice President

Many months ago, Mr. Joe Biden, the Democrat nominee apparent for President, promised to choose a woman for his vice president.  When the dust settles down, I feel confident that he will fulfill his promise: he will select as running-mate a woman, and most probably a black woman, though that cannot be considered as a given.  Most Democrats seem to believe that it would be best, from many points of view, if Joe Biden's running mate were to be a black woman.

Just as when John McCain was running for President around 2008, it seems very calculated that Joe Biden will select a running-mate this way.  The same could be said about John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson; and even with Donald Trump and Micheal Pence, and even Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

In this case, it looks even worse; it looks like tokenism.  However, I have a feeling that if Biden were to win the Presidency, he could be one of the best presidents we have had in a long time, provided the Republicans take defeat graciously, which is a huge proviso.  The single biggest thing we haven't seen from the GOP is graciousness, this last four years.  But then, the country has not regarded the GOP with anything like respect, which is probably not surprising.

Unlike other years, if Biden is to be successful in the Presidency, the Vice President is likely to be a large factor in that success.  Unless Biden tries to 'safely' pack the VP off with some nominal portfolio, such as nutrition in schools, the VP can be instrumental in:

• bringing issues before Biden, e.g. environmental issues, and social justice issues that Biden might be inclined to drag his feet on.
• If Biden wants to compromise on some of the objectives that conservative Democrats view as radical, this VP can nudge the compromise closer to the spirit of the original idea.
• Mike Pence has been an absolute failure at supporting the president's initiatives, except among the Alt-Right, which has always been solidly behind the president anyway.  In contrast, I would expect that Biden's VP is likely to be far more effective and eloquent and articulate.

Another fact that makes me very unhappy indeed, is that many of the choices for VP that Biden seems to be considering already have elected office as Senators or Congresswomen, or even Governors.  Stacy Abrams and Susan Rice seem to be the two women who will not leave Democrat seats unfilled in either the House or the Senate, or a Governor's office.  Miss Abrams has been criticized as being too young, and Ms Rice has never held elected office.

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