Let's hear it for the V.I.P. 'Veep'!

In a probably vain attempt to lift  this blog from the detritus of yesterday's wasteland, today I wish to witter expand on the somewhat esoteric subject of exactly who should (the next POTUS - you read it here first!) Mitt Romney choose as his vice president.  There is a tendency to dismiss this appointment as of trivial importance but Jeffrey Lord at The American Spectator warns otherwise.  He runs back over recent history and points out that, apart from the fact that a 'Veep' can become a POTUS in the milli-second it takes a metal-jacket bullet to cross a mall, the 'Veep' is the man most likely to succeed and to carry the burning torch on into the future.  Amongst many examples, he reminds us that Reagan chose Bush Snr. as his deputy after he had beaten him to the nomination, and perhaps the biggest assist Bush Jnr. had into the top job was the fact that his father had served as deputy and main man before him.

The other factor Mr. Lord makes much of is an ideological one.  It is necessary now for presidential candidates to do what most of them are useless at, and that is, to think long-term.  Their choice of 'Veep' is the man who will continue the fight and the race after they have gone.  So the first requirement is to pick a young man - or woman.  He reminds us that 'Ike' chose Nixon as his running mate when Nixon was a very young man and thus Nixon was able to go on and on and dominate (for good or ill) the decades that followed.  In other words, the picking of a running mate has very similar long-term implications as the picking of a Supreme Court judge.  The Democrats cottoned onto this long before the Republicans but hopefully the lesson has been learned by the Right.

In another article in The American Spectator, Quin Hillyer offers his six top choices but indicates that the last two, by a very large margin, are his very best picks - not on the basis that they will get the job but that they are far and away the most suitable.  The names will not mean very much to European readers but this pair are worth noting.  Sen. John Kyl is one of them.  According to Wiki, in 2007 the National Journal rated him as the fourth most conservative senator - so that's quite a good start!  Hillyer sums him up thus:

One of the most universally respected senators across the political spectrum, Kyl is knowledgeable on a host of issues, plain-spokenly articulate every time he opens his mouth, solidly conservative, very accomplished legislatively -- and eminently safe, with no obvious chinks in his armor for the media or the Obamites to attack.

Ah, fire-proof, yes, we like that!  Also, according to Hillyer, Sen. Kyl brings attributes and experience to fill the all too obvious gaps in Romney's CV:

Kyl also adds particular heft where Romney has no real record, namely foreign and defense policy. From Kyl's long service on the Judiciary Committee, he also is well equipped to carry the fight to Obama on the subject of Eric Holder's corrupt Justice Department, and also to parry attacks on the Supreme Court that Obama is expected to make if the court throws out all or part of Obamacare. With Romney having shown a bit of ineptness in describing legal issues and explaining conservative jurisprudence, Kyl's abilities here could be tremendously important.

The other prize choice of Quin Hillyer is Gov. Bobby Jindall of Louisiana.  I must admit, the name rang bells but little else in what passes for my mind.  Unusually to my elderly experience but increasingly all too usual in the 'Noo' America, Jindall is the son of Asian immigrants, in his case, Indian.  Hillyer tells us that he was virtually the only politician to come out of the Hurricane Katrina fiasco with an increased reputation.  Also, very much in his favour is his hands-on experience in evolving an affordable health care policy that gained support across the political divide:

At age 25 he rescued Louisiana's state health-care system from Medicaid-induced collapse; he helped forge a national Medicare solution (along Paul Ryan's later lines) that won over Democratic moderates like John Breaux and Bob Kerrey but fell short when Bill Clinton pulled the plug during the Lewinsky mess; he ran Louisiana's second-largest system of colleges; he served as the number two guy at the federal Department of Health and Human Services; he served three years in Congress and emerged from Hurricane Katrina as the only Louisiana politician with his stature enhanced by his highly effective responses; and he has been the most successful conservative reformer (and the only re-elected one) ever to serve as Louisiana's governor.

I have saved Mr. Hillyer's article in order to check Mr. Romney's final choice when it is announced.  Anyone, including Mr. Romney, who thinks the choice of 'Veep' is of no real importance should think again!

 

Comments

[JK]

"I have saved Mr. Hillyer's article in order to check Mr. Romney's final choice when it is announced."

Well then, mark down on your article JK mentioned Eric Cantor. You can then, justifiably so, say, You heard [read] it here first!"

[David Duff]

Well he's certainly Right-wing enough but obviously Hillyer doesn't rate him. We shall see what we shall see!

[JK]

Thing is - Romney's got the South solid. Jindal (heh, anybody from here) doesn't "help" him score votes. And that sort of "help" is precisely what is needed. Mitt's main problem is his own History - he's a Moderate. Kyl for that matter too, never being seen as a firebreather doesn't help.

[JK]

Thought to add. All the talk of Rubio is just that - the media doesn't mention it much, but the target audience doesn't actually need what the MSM thinks necessary to make hay of while FOX has it's own reasons for deliberately not mentioning it - George Romney, Mitt's Dad - was born in Mexico.

Five generations of Romneys lived in Mexico following leaving Utah prior to it's achieving statehood. Great-Great Grandpa had this thing for multiple wives. Daddy George re-entered the US at a time "temporary immigrants" were being welcomed - FDR set up a program for manpower while the US men were fighting in Europe, Africa, the Pacific ... heck various and sundry places.

Funny to think of ... your UK readership (yes yes I know, but three is a sort of 'readership') may not be famiiar with the term but the "target audience" here is:

Mitt's an "Anchor Baby"!

[Andra]

Let's go back to yesterday's wasteland!

[backofanenvelope]

Personally I would go for Sarah Palin. There are a lot of men in the USA who like women with curves and who like shooting things. And it would be more fun........

[David Duff]

Ah, yes, 'Envelope', My Darling Sarah - how I miss her!

[dearieme]

BoJo was born in NYC.

[David Duff]

DM, I'm not absolutely certain who you mean by 'BoJo' but if it's Bobby Jindall he was born in Louisana according to Wiki.

[Hank]

David

It has been observation that a good choice for VP does not help so much as a bad choice hurts. Your Darling Sarah being an exception.

At least Governor Romney will not do like President Obama and select some "impeachment insurance" as a VP.

http://eclecticmeanderings.blogspot.com/>Hank’s Eclectic Meanderings

[David Duff]

Hank, Lord writes this of MDS:

"It is too easily forgotten these days what a ten-strike John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin was considered to be in the day. Enthusiasm and energy flowed into the McCain campaign -- a campaign lost not by the selection of Palin but by the economic blow-up that occurred weeks later, and McCain's response to that event."