Lots of foreign policy experience, could step in on day one, impeccable energy credentials, knows how to be VP, and is currently working on the finishing touches of an eternal peaceful, wealthy, and environmentally sustainable utopia on the alternate Earth in which aging Palm Beach Jews did not vote for Pat Buchanan. That's who Obama should ask first, but I have a gut feeling Al Gore would say no. Like any sane person, Gore was not happy campaigning for President. He seems far more comfortable in his own skin these days (I've never seen An Inconvenient Truth, so I'm basing this on Gore's guest appearance on 30 Rock.)
Assuming Al Gore's unavailable, Barack Obama should marry:
Who? Why, that's Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. He's the first Democrat to win the Montana Statehouse since 1988 and remains one of the most popular Governors in the USA. He won in 2004, when Democrats were losing elections all across the country. John Kerry, in particular, was losing Montana by 20 points at the time (When Salon asked Schweitzer if the average apolitical Montanan knew that Kerry opposed gay marriage, he replied "Oh, they'd probably think that he married some guy.") He always wears a bolo tie, has the most famous political pet dog since Checkers, and gave his wife a Smith and Wesson for their 25th anniversary. He would be a nice complement to Obama - despite only four years of experience as Governor, he has an impressive list of accomplishments, and he ran with a Republican lieutenant governor, which would bolster Obama's image as caring more about results than party affiliation. He doesn't have much real foreign policy experience, but besides being right about the war on Iraq (unlike any number of old foreign policy hands), he spent seven years irrigating the desert in Saudi Arabia and thus speaks fluent Arabic. Lord knows the Republicans can find a way to make speaking Arabic a political liability, but it would be a real asset in an Obama administration.
Would he help Obama win? Montana only has three electoral votes, and it's been a consistently red state in the past. However, Obama is doing very well in polls there, and Schweitzer is extrememly popular there - much more popular than say, John Edwards is in North Carolina. And you never know, Montana's three votes could be the ones that make the difference. But beyond that, he's a great talker who would be a cheerful and articulate mouthpiece for the Democratic message. His endless quotability (combined with his unlikely 2004 win) have launced a thousand liberal magazine puff pieces. His relaxed and comfortable speechmaking style would be a nice contrast to Obama's equally effective soaring rhetoric. He can quickly and cogently make the case that only energy independence can extricate America from eternal entanglements in the Middle East (though he does tie this in with a debatable call for dependence on clean coal). He would definitely defuse the NRA's attack on Barack Obama; his gun control policy is "you control your guns and I'll control mine." Despite (or perhaps because of) his love for guns Markos Mouslitas refers to Obama-Schweitzer as his "dream ticket".
Even if Obama picks Schweitzer and loses Montana, Schweitzer is popular all over the Mountain West region, which is going to be crucial in November. And if I could choose how Obama expands the electoral map, I'd rather he win in the libertarian West than in the authoritarian South or the Midwest. If Obama owed his victory to the West and to a vehement critic of the Patriot Act and national ID cards like Schweitzer, it would effectively prevent the backsliding on civil liberties issue that we've already begun to see from Obama. Bill Clinton won because of the South and governed like a moderate Southern Governor. Barack Obama has the chance to do much much more.
A final quote from Schweitzer on how Democrats can win nationally:
"You know who the most successful Democrats have been through history?" he asks. "Democrats who've led with their hearts, not their heads. Harry Truman, he led with his heart. Jack Kennedy led with his heart. Bill Clinton, well, he led with his heart, but it dropped about 2 feet lower in his anatomy later on.
"We are the folks who represent the families. Talk like you care. Act like you care. When you're talking about issues that touch families, it's OK to make it look like you care. It's OK to have policies that demonstrate that you'll make their lives better -- and talk about it in a way that they understand. Too many Democrats -- the policy's just fine, but they can't talk about it in a way that anybody else understands."
More youtube: Schweitzer on Charlie Rose.
Schweitzer ad for Sen. Jon Tester.
Schweitzer talking smack about millionaires from New York City.
Bonus VP pick: John McCain should pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. She beat a corrupt Republican establishment on a reformist platform, has credibility on energy issues, and John McCain would get even more donuts from the media if he picked a woman.
0 comments:
Post a Comment