Summer CE Week #2: “Obama’s Vice-Presidential Dilemma”
So, does he double down — or does he compensate?
That’s the stark choice facing Barack Obama as he ponders whom to tap in the next few weeks as his running mate. Now that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s name has popped to the top of the charts as a possible Obama sidekick — perhaps to be replaced in a few days by some other hot possibility — the question helps clarify the next few weeks: Does Obama counterbalance his relative inexperience in general, and in foreign policy and defense matters in particular, and go with a trusted old-timer or pick a fresh face, someone who can pose as an agent of change, a relative newcomer just like himself?
Does he double down on his weakness or does he compensate for it?
For months, much of the Democratic Party intelligentsia in Washington has insisted that Obama must do the latter and pick an older, white, foreign-policy or establishment figure such as Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, even Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. The chatter from this class has been logical, based in polls and nonstop — and it stems in part from the fact that many of those who have been spreading it are aligned with some of those potential veeps.
But there has never been much evidence that anyone in Chicago shared that view.
The alternate universe goes like this: The last thing Obama ought to do is pick a figure from the Washington establishment. He needs, instead, to reinforce his message of change and shake up the status quo with an outsider untainted by the Capitol games. Such a pick would be aimed not at the party’s base but at the pool of independent voters who still aren’t comfortable with Obama and are looking all summer for signs that he is both something different and up to the job. Those who back this approach have been talking about Kaine for months in this context, as well as former Virginia governor Mark Warner, Kansas governor Kathleen Sibelius and Virginia Senator Jim Webb (before he took himself out of the contest).
Noting the various qualities he is searching for in a running mate, Obama said on Meet the Press Sunday that “I’m going to want somebody who shares a vision of the country — where we need to go; that we’ve got to fundamentally change not only our policies but how our politics work, how business is done in Washington.”
Of course, Obama could try to split the difference. And parked somewhere between these poles is Senator Evan Bayh, a moderate Democrat from Indiana who has been a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services committees and backed Hillary Clinton during the primary but has kept a comparatively low profile despite a decade in Washington. He has been elected statewide five times in a state where his last name is something close to hard currency, though that is hardly a guarantee that he could help Obama carry the state. Bayh’s also a little short on excitement, but that’s the one area where Obama can carry the ticket all by himself.
In any case, the choice between doubling down and compensating for weakness is not unlike the judgment awaiting Republican John McCain. He could look to a younger Republican who is more oriented toward domestic policy — such as Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who is 48, or former Bush Administration official and Ohio Congressman Rob Portman of Cincinnati, who is 52. Or he could forgo those relative newcomers and instead try to underscore his own experience by tapping former governor, businessman and Olympics organizer Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who is 61.
This article bothers me because it seems to lack a stance. It’s more informative than anything else, the author basically shares what have been suggested picks for Obama’s running mate in the past, like Senator Clinton, Senator Biden, and Senator Dodd. The question posed in the beginning sentence “So, does he double down — or does he compensate?”, is never directly answered by the author. This seems to be a work of speculation, just naming what the author considers realistic possibilites. I do think that Obama does have his choice up ahead, and both are valid options in terms of what he could shoot for. He can play the outsider, get a fresh face as a running mate, and try and try to win people over with energy and exuberance as opposed to credentials,a point which pretty much everyone and their dog has said is Obama’s weakest. Or he can try to ‘balance’ the ticket by adding someone with more years in politics, like the Senators the author mentioned. I personally think that most diehard Democrats are just going to vote Democrat, so in order for Obama to have a strong ticket, he needs to appeal to voters that he doesn’t have a sure thing on. As was mentioned, there is a pool of undecideds that aren’t fully tapped, and so a message of more moderate appeal is needed. Pairing to hide your weak point could create mixed messages between two opposed members, but in turn, could make it much easier to poke at. We can’t truly say for sure which will be more effective at the outset, only time will tell.
Obama seems to be stuck in a pickle. I think that if Obama chooses someone like himself, he could run the risk of just becoming a novelty, and loose alot of votes. If he chooses someone from the “old political world” he would be going against his basic principal. Whatever he does, he cannot choose a few people. One of those people is Hillary Clinton. If he chooses Hillary Clinton he will loose alot of his supporters from the primaries who opposed Hillary Clinton.
McCain doesnt have as large of a dilema. it doesn’t seem like people really care who he chooses. He should probably choose the most popular Republican to secure Republican votes. If i was him I would choose a Democrat. I don’t know if that legal or not, but I would do it. It would give him alot of the undecided votes i think. It might also show that he isn’t just some old guy. Unfortunately, McCain might actually be just some old guy, and i don’t think that he would ever have a Democratic Vice President.
Overall, i don’t think that the vice presidential decisions will have as much of an influence as this article says it will. People vote for the president, not the Vice president, but i suppose that since Obama has a high chance of being assasinated, and McCain could die of old age, the Vice Presidents could play a huge role in the next four years whether voters realize it or not.
I agree with what Sean is saying for the most part. Many people passionately hate Obama, and if elected I’m sure at some point someone would try to assassinate him. God willing they would fail. McCain also has a similar issue, it’s his age. He himself admitted that his vice presidential decision would be an important one due to his old age. Personally I think both candidates should choose VPs who have nearly identical beliefs to their own, because as Sean, with his negative Nancy perception basically said, both have a high risk of dieing while in office. Hopefully whichever candidate is elected will not die, but it is never a bad thing to plan for the worst. Obama 08’
This article kind of blows. First of all, I don’t know who even ¼ of all these people are! But I agree with what Obama said, that he ought to have a running mate who shares his same views, to change Washington. (Gosh, what is his deal with change!!!?? It’s not like we’re in a friggin’ revolution!!!) I agree with the article when it says: “The last thing Obama ought to do is pick a figure from the Washington establishment. He needs, instead, to reinforce his message of change and shake up the status quo with an outsider untainted by the Capitol games.” I agree with this because it would be almost hypocritical to pick someone from the Washington establishment, when his campaign is all about change. But then again, I agree that he ought to choose and old, white person for his VP, because that would give him more insight as what and elderly person cares about, along with their experiences throughout their life. I’m not going to say who Obama should pick for a VP (because I don’t know anybody he could pick). But I will say that he ought to pick and elderly white person for a nice contrast in views. But more importantly, he should pick someone not from the Washington establishment.
I find it interesting and probably completely called for that when the article mentioned suggestions for a Vice President nomination by McCain, the ages of the men suggested are mentioned while Obama’s suggestions do not include ages. I guess that the age of the Vice President is probably fairly reasonable to consider given McCain’s age. After all, when FDR ran for his third term as President, he was just as old or older than McCain is, and FDR did not survive his third term. I also find it interesting that in listing the recommendation of qualities for a Vice President for Obama, some of the members of the Democratic Party intelligentsia want an older and white person to receive the nomination. I’m a little surprised that they did not include “male” in that list. “ ‘I’m going to want somebody who shares a vision of the country — where we need to go; that we’ve got to fundamentally change not only our policies but how our politics work, how business is done in Washington. ’ ” If that is what Obama wants, then he should apply those concepts to his selection while McCain should probably keep a watch on those ages.
I think that this article didn’t do anything for people who support Obama, because it didn’t have a stance on his VP picks, in fact, it hardly covered his VP picks. The article seemed to reiterate everything we already know about his campaign and who his choices are for Vice President. I think that Obama needs to choose someone who is experienced in politics, because this could help him get votes that he desperately needs to win the election. Obama seems to have too many choices and can’t make a decision on who he wants as his VP. It seems like he doesn’t even have it narrowed down between two people of interest. Instead he has three choices: Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. If he doesn’t narrow it down soon, his VP hopefuls might not want to be his VP when the time comes for him to make his decision. I think that Joseph Biden or Chris Dodd would be better choices, because they have experience and not to sound rude, but they are both white. People want someone who can influence Obama in the interests in both races, rather than just the interests of blacks. Additionally, Hillary Clinton isn’t a good choice, because her views are different that Obama’s and she acts like she should already be the president. But, I do have to disagree with the author because he said “He needs, instead, to reinforce his message of change and shake up the status quo with an outsider untainted by the Capitol games”. Many voters aren’t ready to have all new people as the leaders of the United States. If he has someone who people aren’t familiar with, he won’t win the election. He needs to have someone that people know and trust. But I think that it was unnecessary to include McCain’s VP choices, because it does show he has narrowed it down between two people, but it has no place in an article about Obama. I do have to comment on the ages of McCain’s VP picks, because they all seem to be older than the average Vice Presidents of the past. They both need to choose someone, and do it fast! If they don’t decide soon, people won’t want to vote at all. This dilemma could affect both McCain and Obama. Lastly, most people don’t vote based on the VP, but since this election is one for the history books, this could very well change.
Obama is in a fairly difficult position. Although many Americans would probably have more faith in an experienced politician, such a running mate could also serve as a serious liability. The last thing that Obama needs is a running mate to come in, flaunting his or her own experience, making Obama appear even more naive and less qualified as a politicain. When the Vice President seems more prepared and capable than the President, himself, that could be a cause for concern. In order to keep from drawing attention to Obama’s relative lack of experience, it would make sense to choose someone younger, with less political experience. Also, as the article did mention, selecting a more old-school running mate, a running mate whom some older-generation Americans would be more likely to accept, does seem to take away from Obama’s potential to come in as a fresh and eager face, ready to change America.
It struck me as interesting that this article seemed to make it sound like the process of selecting a running mate was left completely to Obama. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems like the party leaders tend to have a lot more say than the candidates in such a selection. Obama will, most likely, end up running with whomever he feels the most pressure to choose.
In my opinion Obama needs to choose someone who shares his views despite their experience or lack thereof. The President of America has a huge amount of power, and can hire as large a staff as can be justified. As the President Obama could hire any amount of people that he needs to compensate for his lack of experience and any lack of experience that his Vice President may have. We also must consider that the possibility of assassination is a very real possibility with this man as our president. Not only do we have to worry about the all to common “racial purist” who believes that he would be doing America good by killing this man. With that in mind he must appoint someone who will carry on his vision for America rather than erase any changes that he would make.
I disagree with Ashley on several points. First of all, not all potential VP picks were taken into account when she listed Obama’s potential running mates. She forgot the potential picks from outside Washington and the pick right in the middle, Evan Bayh. I believe it is necessary to look at all potential picks in order to realize the pickle Obama is currently in. I do agree that Clinton is a bad choice but not because of the way she is acting. It is because of the democratic primaries. She was Obama’s primary opponent and he would lose a lot of votes if he were to pick her. I also disagree on who Obama should pick. His current campaign is based on change. Picking a “figure from the Washington establishment” would only serve to alienate voters leaning toward Obama because of the “change” he is promoting.
I agree with most of the comments already listed in regard that the article does not seem to take a stance. Plus, there is not much room for the reader to take a stance either. The article is informative rather than persuading to either case. And as Ashley and many others have noted, the information the author does tell of is much too redundant to the facts we’ve all already known. The choices of Obama’s leading ideas in his VP position are new to me, but the rest is the same old news. I believe this article could have gone into much more depth and does not serve Obama’s possible VP candidates justice towards the possible outcomes they could achieve while working with Obama as a team. The author could have easily talked about the considerations of each candidate and who may be better or worse for the position.
However, i do disagree with the stance that Hillary Clinton should be disregarded as a VP. She may share different opinions than Obama, but together if they could combine their better ideas and refine the flaws between their two stances, they could make a very handsome team. Hillary would provide the role Obama needs; an experienced person of Washington, but still new enough to the public to change up the old rules and roles of the government. She did watch her husband spend 4 years as president, and she obviously must have learned many great political qualities from him. Bill Clinton may not have the best reputation for his personal life, but he did save our economy and was one of the best financial pleasing budget makers since Watergate. From these experiences, Hillary must have taken part in helping to guide Bill’s decisions and in fine-tuning them; that is one of women’s best roles after all. Plus, between Obama’s financial and national defense plans including Hillary’s previous health plans (with some changes of course-so that the working man pays for his own medical bills, his families medical bills, and not EVERYONE else’s who may not deserve it) then the pair could have a very nice set up of improving the daily lives of average American’s boosting the economy. Hillary Clinton may not be my first choice for VP, but she should still be up for consideration. Together they could be the new politics; the first black president and the first woman vice president inter-mixing the races and helping to shake up some of the old traditions of American politics. I personally am amazed that it took this long for either of these positions to have the possibility of being filled. Racism has definitely not gone away, but this would be another example of how the US has moved on from segregation and slavery, and has moved towards the women being more important than the scum under the “dominant” mans foot. If the Middle East can have a women prime minister, then why in the world hasn’t the US had a women president or vice president? They could very well set a new precedent if they came to see terms wisely and compromise their plans for the better benefit of the country.
I think that Obama should go with the older, white, foreign-policy figure instead of doubling down on his weakness as the author puts it. I think he should choose someone with more military experience, for we are in a war. Obama has praised himself about how he will take the troops out of Iraq, even against the military generals’ opinion. This is foolish move on Obama putting our country in danger. To pick someone who enforces his illogical views in Vice-President would perhaps lose some votes. Also, In the event that Obama gets assassinated as many people think may happen, (my fingers are crossed) I would like to have a better backup president waiting in office, not another loser like himself.
The Democratic Party intelligentsia has insisted Obama for months to choose someone to fill the gaps that are Obama’s weaknesses. I think he should do just that, not because I like him, but because it would be the smart thing to do in his situation. The last thing he needs is to upset the people that support the war, because they are the ones that carry the guns.
Well, I can definitely tell that the author of this article did a poor job explaining his position. I think it would be helpful for him to describe each of the possible candidates, for us who have not been following politics until now. Other than that, I do see Obama’s position to be tough. The election time coming so soon, he really has not much time to decide on his running mate. All the possible candidates mentioned in the article seem fair game. However, I would think that it would be the best bet for Obama to choose someone who shares his political views. Since he has mainly based his campaigns on change, I’d think that he would choose a running mate somewhat new to the position. On the other hand, Obama does need a running mate who is somewhat experienced in the field. I agree with the author, saying that if he chose Clinton or a republican Bush supporter, his number of votes would decrease. However, if he chose a new face, the public would not know what to expect, and his votes would also reduce. Thus, he is really in a position that would hopefully guide him to the right decision and the public will support it. For I am sure that if people vote for Obama they would trust his choice. .
Obama has a tough decision ahead of him. There are so many options to choose from! If I were in Obama’s position I would choose someone who had the same views as me, someone popular and smart and it wouldn’t matter how old they were or if they were white or not. To me it doesn’t matter who Obama chooses for VP because all of his options are of people who know politics well. If they know something about being VP then it shouldn’t be a problem. Obama is cocky enough anyways that he probably thinks he doesn’t need a VP. Betcha anything he thinks he can run the government by himself. Not trying to be mean but seriously I haven’t heard Obama say a word about who he wants to choose. I wish this article would have mentioned something about who he was seriously considering rather than listing the possible candidates.
The thing about Hillary Clinton being his VP is that they were against each other during the primaries and their views aren’t very similar so it might create some conflict. Also, there is a large amount of people who hate Hillary so it might turn away Obama supporters. Most of those democrats supported Obama because they didn’t like Hillary in the first place. As for the rest of the possible VP’s, I don’t really know who they are but I’m sure they have the experience and knowledge. In the end, Obama will choose someone who “shares a vision of the country — where we need to go; that we’ve got to fundamentally change not only our policies but how our politics work, how business is done in Washington” which is exactly what he and America needs.
The author of this article really annoys me. He doesn’t answer his own questions he poses in the article. He leaves it completely open ended. The article appears informative, but I stand unclear on what the author is trying to inform the reader of.
At this moment Obama seems to be in between a rock and a hard place. He is being put on the spot. He needs to pick a vice president. I think he needs to pick someone who has some of the experience he doesn’t, kind of like compensation, someone who has military experience and knows the games of foreign policy. That doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be from the Washington scene. Right now Obama seems to need more votes, so it would be wise to bring in someone who is fairly well known and well liked, as to give voter an incentive to write down Obama’s name on the ticket. “Splitting the difference” seems to me like a very good idea; as to make up for all his faults. McCain seems to be in a similar position as Obama except his solution seems simpler. He needs to pick a VP who is younger yet still has adequate experience.
The road ahead is both perilously winding and dangerously slippery for Obama. I would certainly agree with Julia’s comment that it would be nice to receive a bit of background information on these potential VP candidates, but for now we’ll have to focus on the position requirements. If the VP is older and more experienced (politically, socially, or economically) than Obama, then he (Obama) may be perceived as weak and hesitant. In that case, the American people may question whether the VP should be running for the president instead of Barack Obama. On the other side of the spectrum, if Obama chooses a young candidate, as fresh on the scene as himself, he will face at least two possible outcomes. Either the viewers will accept this dynamic duo as the next best thing since sliced bread, or the two Democrats will be rejected again as politically inferior to McCain. As for Obama teaming up with Hillary, it’s pretty difficult to predict how well that situation would turn out unless they could reach some sort of general agreement as to their respective positions and general goals as Democratic leaders in these United States. Obama would need to watch out, however, because if Hillary decides to turn on him at any moment, Barack runs the risk of losing key voters who may decide to take a steadier route and vote for McCain. It’ll be interesting to know more about the other prospective VP candidates and what their agendas look like compared to Obama’s.
The question presented at the beginning of this article, “So, does he double down — or does he compensate?” (Duffy), summarizes plainly what the article is about. Duffy is refering to Obama’s dilema of who should be his running mate in the presidential elections. Basically, he can pick some one with more experience that is older and most likely everything Obama lacks, or he could choose a younger, more fresh face to represent change, which Obama is more associated with.
I think that this article is very neutral, which I like because it gives the reader a chance to articulate their own point of view as well as not be persuaded in a certain direction.
To me, the choice is not a hard one. If Obama wants to get in with the Republican side, he should choose a person that is more experienced person like, “Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, even Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.” As someone earlier states, if Obama should counterbalance his role with someone unlike him. This way, we get two different sides and Obama will win over the Republicans. If Obama decides to choose a younger, fresh face like himself, it’s a great stance for change, but people want to see the credentials. They want to feel secure and comfortable. So choosing an older, more experienced person, will keep Obama’s change campaign rolling as well as keep the other parties happy.
First of all, I too agree that this article was simply stating the facts not stating a position. He really didn’t have a catching argument for either side: whether Obama should “double down or compensate.” Honestly, I believe that Obama should look to someone more in the middle like Senator Evan Bayh instead of having diehards from the wise side or fanatics from the charismatic side. If Obama chose an old timer from Washington, it wouldn’t help his whole new change approach. Someone ingrained in the old approaches and “tainted in the capitol games” would just seem like a hypocrite next to Obama. On the other hand, someone just as flighty and excited as Obama can be would simply be a disaster for his campaign. There would be a lot of talk and not a lot of solid decision making. That’s where Mr. Bayh would come in. He would provide more of a fresh face but at the same time be a needed anchor to Obama’s campaign. Already well received by Indiana, Mr. Bayh needs to rise to the occasion and prove that he is worthy of a vp spot. Maybe this is just the push that he needs to rise from his comparatively low profile and share a new outlook on the role of a vice president.
I agree with Savannah in that if Obama is trying to get some respect from republican voters that he should chose someone who is experienced in dealing with both parties. It would hurt Obama to pick someone who is not respected by republicans because the house does have two parties and if he wants to be a good president than he needs to be able to deal with both sides. It will be interesting to see who he chooses and see how his choice affects the poles. On the other side McCain also needs to make a wise choice, because I don’t doubt that some people are thinking when voting for him, that if he dies who will take over and who will do a good job, because he is older than any other president thus far.
Well, here’s a right pickle for Barack Obama. Who to run with? So far, he is doing a fairly good job of doing without, but that’s going to have to end soon. I do not like the author’s choice of words when he says “Does he double down on his weakness or does he compensate for it?” Clearly, the author believes Obama’s inexperience to be a weakness, which is rather opinionated. However, the article does toss out a big problem: who is going to be the Vice President? The wide range of people that are in the running for the spot on the ticket show us this problem won’t be solved until the candidates make up their minds. I think it is interesting that while the article lists everyone from the Senate and the Governors that have been considered for Obama’s Vice Presidential candidate, it doesn’t talk about General Wesley Clark. However, it does bring about the dilemma facing both candidates. Obama has to find someone who helps deliver his message of change and can help him gain in the polls, and McCain has to think about age, being in his 70’s, and who might continue what he wants to do if he dies.
I agree with Haley in the fact that if Obama plans on winning the he needs to bring someone in with experience like someone with the knowledge of foreign policies. Now this is where John McCain would be extremely perfect for the job; he has experience with war and he has lived a life of experience within the government. It is important bring someone along side of you when before the 2008 elections started up you were nowhere in the political scene. Bringing someone in that has been seen politically in a positive way would hopefully only ensure you that your choice of making Obama the next president of the United States is the right one.
At the start of this article, I was leaning towards compensation. I was thinking that Obama does need someone who can ‘counterbalance his relative inexperience in general.’ This way, he could have different ideas when it came down to fixing some of our problems. He wouldn’t just be thinking so one-sided. Maybe it would be nice for Obama to have someone a little bit older, who has been around in the business for longer (but I would have to disagree with the article in that I don’t believe it has to be a white person). But then, as I continued reading the article, I began to think that maybe Obama does need someone new, someone fresh just like himself. Although I don’t necessarily believe that this would ‘reinforce his message of change’ I do believe that a newer person would be willing to support Obama more on his own ideas. Since a new person wouldn’t have been in the business as long, Obama would most likely be able to do some things he wants to do without somebody telling him, “This isn’t how I used to do it.” But then, as I continued to further read, splitting the difference seems to be the best choice. This way he can get the best of both worlds. Someone who has experience, and yet will support Obama. Either way, Obama has a tough choice up ahead.