UPDATED: Not surprisingly, Charles Pierce has a much better take on who the VEEP choice should be.
A vice presidential choice must represent sufficiently the losing candidate's vision for supporters while compensating for the winning candidate's weaknesses. While Hillary Clinton is, by her own admission, not a natural politician, Elijah Cummings is all that and with a back story, too. The son of sharecroppers with third grade educations, he is the special ed kid who was told by a school counselor he could never be a lawyer, the lawyer who counted that very same counselor among his first clients. And as the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, he was an impressive wingman for Clinton during the Benghazi hearings. Cummings is also good on articulating the subtler distinctions of race and class that elude Bernie Sanders. And for all you Ready for Warren folks, over a year ago Cummings and Elizabeth Warren launched the progressive Middle Class Prosperity Project "to give a voice in Washington to those who need it most."
And the Garth Brooks story holds a lesson for me as well.
"I was doing to Garth Brooks what was done to Freddie
Gray," Cummings recalled for a packed auditorium at Brown University's
Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy on Tuesday
evening. "I made a judgment call," deciding Brooks had nothing
to offer. And then Cummings stopped and saw him.
I'd have pre-judged Brooks, too. And I probably do it in other circumstances as well.
Pierce also has a post pointing out why I love Bernie and have to bite my tongue supporting Hillary and actually give Funiciello a smidgen of credit.
Sanders was asked if he regretted having once supported the
Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua and having once paid some compliments to the
Castro regime in Cuba.
I think they represent too different a set of bases for that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, while I understand why people would vote for Sanders, among the people who freak me out, however, are those that say they would vote for EITHER Sanders or Trump.
among the people who freak me out, however, are those that say they would vote for EITHER Sanders or Trump.
ReplyDeleteYes, that has has to be the epitome of the ill-informed voter. Willingness to vote for the plutocrat or the guy who's promising to take money from the plutocrats. I saw a polling of a local Tea Party group where the two of them came in at the top.
My primary isn't until April 19th. Clinton will likely have it pretty much clinched by then, presumably. I'd probably rather see her as the nominee. The Republicans have been attacking her since she entered the White House as first lady. She's battle tested.