Obama’s Veep Choice Should Be...

Back when it looked like Obama had the nomination in hand in February, I nominated Sen. Jim Webb as the best Veep choice. After hearing from readers, I also wrote about some other options including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and General Anthony Zinni. Since February, Hillary Clinton’s resilience has increased the desirability of choosing a woman for the second slot. I nominate Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. But, wait a minute! Sen. Snowe is a Republican. Precisely. Obama is running as the change agent this year and it is a desirable place to be. Yet, he has not really sketched out precisely how he intends to change the ways of Washington to better accomplish the people’s business beyond a verbal commitment to move beyond partisanship. What better way to add some substance to his commitment than by picking a Republican vice-presidential candidate? Snowe’s bipartisanship is real. She was part of the Gang of 14 who pulled the Senate back from the precipice of a disaster on the issue of judicial confirmations. Many Democrat and Republican partisans criticized the deal. Democrats were especially upset after it paved the way for the confirmation of both John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the high court, but the agreement nonetheless staved off a potential crisis of confidence in government’s ability to function. There is not a whiff of the right-winger about Snowe. In 2007, she co-sponsored a bill with Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh that demanded troop re-deployments in Iraq unless the Iraqi government met certain benchmarks. Unlike McCain who voted against the Bush tax cuts and then changed his mind, Snowe has gone the other way, supporting the 2001 round of cuts but opposing Bush’s request for further cuts in 2003. She is pro-choice on abortion but she also supported giving $100 million to preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place, which is the first step the left is taking away from NARAL-inspired orthodoxy. Would she join Obama on a Democratic Party ticket? Hard to know. She began her career as an aide to Republican congressman William Cohen who went on to serve as Secretary of Defense in Bill Clinton’s second term. Surely, the prospect of serving in the minority in the Senate is growing less attractive as it becomes clear the GOP is headed for a shellacking at the polls this autumn. (This morning’s Washington Post shows how it is possible that the Democrats may get 60 votes in the Senate, denying Snowe and other moderates the decisive role they have enjoyed.) And, she could be the first female vice-president in the nation’s history, a post that has in recent years become as consequential as the personal chemistry between #1 and #2 permits. If she and Obama get along just fine, she would have every reason to take it. Maine is a small state and it is looking blue already. But, geography is over-stated as a rationale for choosing a Veep. John Edwards did not deliver North Carolina in 2004 after all. Obama should follow the model of Bill Clinton in 1992. Instead of looking for geographic or ideological balance, Clinton’s choice of Al Gore reinforced the image he wanted to project of himself: young, southern, New Democrat. Obama could similarly tell the nation a lot about himself by his choice. In picking Olympia Snowe, he would tell the nation that he really means it when he says he is tired of partisan bickering and scorched-earth politics, that it is time we give the benefit of the doubt to those who do not share our ideological blinders, that only by getting along can we get anything done. Michael Sean Winters