Thinking about Bernie's Future, or
Holy Rosa Luxembourg, We're doing it!
Hello,
Genossinnen und Genossen!
As I write this
(August 30th), I've just returned from a day's canvassing
for Bernie Sanders in Burlington, Iowa! My timing couldn't have been
better- I was part of the team on the day that the Des Moine Register
found that Clinton's lead has shrunk by two thirds! She now leads
Sanders by only 7 or 8 points, depending on whether Biden enters the
race as well.
Let that sink
in. Within single digits in Iowa, winning in New Hampshire. And the
debates haven't even happened yet.
If Sanders wins
both Iowa and New Hampshire, or even loses Iowa by less than
expected, this primary cycle will go on for a long time. It will get
harder of course: Sanders will need to build up organizations in many
more states to sustain the current trajectory, which can be nigh
impossible for a campaign eschewing big dollar fundraising...
-just click the
link to mitigate that problem:)
and compete in
larger states where campaign events matter even less relative to
television spending than they do in comparatively small and intimate
Iowa ad New Hampshire. That said, the flurry of media attention
resulting in such a scenario would go a long way towards mitigating
Bernie's comparative fundraising disadvantage.
In short, it now
looks conceivable that Senator Bernie Sanders could be the Democratic
candidate for president in 2016, but only after an incredibly long,
strenuous, season-long primary fight, probably being ultimately
decided by late caucus results and with an element of uncertainty
lasting until the convention itself. Something like this hasn't
happened since 1972, when the George McGovern insurgency, with the
help of their Feminist, Student and Gay comrades, ultimately
prevailed and threw open the doors of the Democratic Party for the
first time. This was a triumph not since equaled by the American
left, and while McGovern didn't win, the coalition around him has
strengthened, achieving many of his campaign's goals, and bringing
the Democratic Party (however reluctantly) into the 21st
century, at least on many issues of social policy.
Sanders could
well do better, but that's not what I'm writing about today.
You see, one of
the many, many lessons of 1972 is that picking a VP candidate takes
lots of time, time that a small scale campaign boxing well above its
weight class doesn't always have to spare. So I wanted to go through
the qualities that would be helpful in a crassly political way to our
movement for Democratic Socialism through a Sanders presidency, and
then analyze the merits of ten possible choices, (and rule out four popular ones.)
At the time of
the election, Sanders will be five years older than the oldest
president ever elected, and while he is apparently in good health,
age will be a consideration in a running mate. Much of this is going
to be crass ticket balancing talk. And with a northeastern, white,
elderly, male, religiously agnostic, culturally and ethnically Jewish
representative of the far Left as a candidate, we have a lot of
balancing to do. Therefore, we could use
- An ideological Goldilocks. We need a candidate sufficiently removed from Sanders' ideas to show that we're still open to working in the mainstream of Democratic and democratic politics. At the same time, we need someone who will likely work to protect whatever Sanders accomplishes, ( http://grahamkrueger.blogspot.com/2015/07/why-president-sanders-could-actually-do.html ) and therefore shouldn't be too conservative either. A current Clinton supporter could do this nicely.
- Executive Experience- voters like people who have been in charge of something, anything no matter how small, much more than they like someone with legislative experience. While Bernie does have a commendable record as mayor of a midsize city, finding a governor would be excellent.
- Outreach: This is partially a function of time, but as Genossin Sophie has written ( http://grahamkrueger.blogspot.com/2015/08/black-lives-matter-and-bernie-sanders.html ), there is a perception of friction between the Sanders campaign and minority communities, and an even less justifiable perception of one between the campaign and women. Putting it bluntly, on every issue of representation- women being the oppressed majority of voters, and our Black and Latin@ comrades being at the forefront of the struggle in so many ways, as well as for crass political considerations, Sanders' running mate should probably not be a white male, though an astute observer will note that I have included a few possible choices from that demographic as well.
- Region: New England is not the most popular region of the country, sadly (for the same reasons that make it certainly MY favorite), so if Sanders can get someone from the “heartlands” it would help us in several ways.
- Youth. Can we please get a VP less then 65?
- Finally- an Obama Goldilocks- as well as an ideological Goldilocks- someone who has served the president by appointment and will be appreciated for it in mainstream Democratic circles, BUT not someone high profile enough that the Right-Wing have included her or him in most of their attacks on the president. (Think 1920: Governor Cox made this same calculation with regard to the Wilson administration, and picked then-Assistant Navy Secretary FDR as his VP candidate)
Before we begin,
I sadly must eliminate some otherwise exceptional candidates for various
reasons. Senator Elizabeth Warren: she hates campaigning, and
doesn't add much regional value, and has practically no ideological
distance from Sanders. Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellin is
excellent, but far too valuable (and irrepaceable) in her current
(unpopular) position. California up-and-comer and birth control
activist Sandra Fluke is too young to be legally eligible still, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, while a capable legislator has failed every test of leadership on environmental issues, and
former Michigan Governor Jennifer
Granholm who would be maybe the ideal candidate... is actually
Canadian. Well Goddamn it.
New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan is in class by herself, because she would be an ideal candidate in all ways except region, but is currently locked in a politically damaging budget fight. If she pulls through that ok, I'll revisit my decision to exclude her form the list.
New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan is in class by herself, because she would be an ideal candidate in all ways except region, but is currently locked in a politically damaging budget fight. If she pulls through that ok, I'll revisit my decision to exclude her form the list.
Let's start the
rundown with our top-tier eligible candidates. All pictures from wikimedia commons. Thank you, internet sharers!
- Former Secretary of Labor (2009-2013) Hilda Solis. I've got to say, at this early juncture, my recommendation would be Hilda Solis. She has an excellent state legislative record on energy issues, especially cleaning up polluting systems in minority neighborhoods. She's been a lifelong campaigner for union organization and environmental justice- lifelong at the comparatively young age of 57. While a long-term Democrat she does have a history of independence on important issues- she defied the California Democratic Party to primary challenge an antichoice incumbent Democrat and won in 2000. As Secretary of Labor, she massively expanded the wages and hours enforcement division, oversaw the levying of record fines against BP for a disastrous piece of 2005 negligence. Solis was also able to suspend some guest worker restrictions that Bush enacted shortly before leaving office. Hell, I like Obama more for reading about this woman being in his cabinet! She was the most underrated part of his administration, but hasn't caught any major flak since 2009. She's also a longtime Clinton supporter, for what it's worth. I can't think of a better choice for the first Latina on a major party national ticket, or for Bernie's vice president.
- 2. Former Governor of Massachusetts (2007-2015) Deval Patrick.Following a major increase and redistribution of school funding, Governor Patrick presided over the biggest improvement in student performance in the country. He also brought Massachusetts into the New England Greenhouse Initiative, increased infrastructure resources, preventing the institution of a regressive, unfair toll system, and has always done whatever it takes to protect Planned Parenthood from anti-choice terrorists. Has a rock-solid gun control record too. Governor Patrick would strengthen any administration, and any campaign- highly intelligent, truly progressive, two term governor of a major state... He also happens to be African-American, though we get no regional bonus here- Vermont and Massachusetts being close as they are.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray- a popular Obama appointee from swing state Ohio, Cordray leads the bureau set up under Elizabeth Warren to investigate market manipulation and swindling by financiers. Again, very little policy difference, and a nominated Sanders frankly shouldn't give the only office sure to be in his gift: the Vice Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party- to a white man in 21st century America. Cordray is a brilliant administrator though, and if Solis and Patrick are both out of the picture, we could do a lot worse.
- Attorney General Loretta Lynch: though she, like Obama and her predecessor, Eric Holder, has been known to cozy up the the big banks and get them off the hook, but has been an effective spokeswoman on issues important to the Black Lives Matter movement, and gotten major international star power for her role in the investigation into football/soccer corruption. She'd bring a lot of star power with no real drawback except that she is pretty much a Republican on many economic issues. Put it this way- I'd love to see her working WITH Bernie, not INSTEAD of him. She's be a great leader on so many issues, but I wouldn't trust her with Bernie's economic plans.
Past the top
tier now, these others will be less ideal choices but still worth
considering as the previous ones are eliminated from consideration by
one mishap or rejection or another.
- Non-Profit Director Michelle Nunn- a moderate Democrat from Georgia whose highest political office has been a losing run at a senate seat might not top many people's lists, but Nunn has years of experience and contacts heading Bush 41's charitable foundation, and is well respected by many political actors. She also ran a really, really fine effort in a very bad year, and came up closer than she could have. Having a native daughter on the ticket could help put certain areas of the south that are crying out for economic justice into play.
- Admiral Mike McMullen- a true ticket balancing choice despite being another white male- this former Joint Chiefs Chairman does tend to be pro war, however he did testify honestly about the impossibility of successfully maintaining our occupation of Iraq in 2007, and has been a strong advocate of LGBT personnel in the military. But he's almost as old as Bernie. (No wikimedia picture available)Ok, here come the really bizarre choices who could nonetheless be helpful in some areas and terrific in office- I'm sure there are more possibilities here- if you know of some awesome congressman or former governor I've forgotten, comment! Actually, comment anyway.
- Milwaukee Congresswoman Gwen Moore: great advocate on Civil Rights and childcare issues, she's at least as good a campaigner as Bernie himself. Also has the distinction of being the last person to defeat Scott Walker in anything. She's not terribly well known, and congressmen seldom make effective running mates.
- Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Bradley: maybe my former local colors are showing, but Wisconsin is a midsize state that has turned sharply over the cliff of Right Wing Extremism, and most any Democrat will need to pull it back somehow in a close election. Why not look at the last progressive to win a statewide election in Wisconsin then? Picking a judge is an extremely unusual choice- it was last seriously discussed in 1944 I think- but I can see certain advantages to it: for one, it reinforces the concept of rule of law, which can be handy to have around when you're talking about a revolution. For two, this particular judge has a great history on union rights, and three: she has no power in her current position anymore. The Republican response to losing to Bradley was to relocate the meeting place of the Supreme Court and refuse to tell her when or where, preventing her from voting on most cases. I'm not kidding. This is actually moderate compared to the abuse she usually suffers- her fellow Justice, Bart Prosser actually vaulted the table and strangled her to try to persuade her to vote in favor of Walker's union busting Act 10. She didn't back down, which is more than can be said for many Wisconsin Democrats who weren't so physically threatened.
- Gavin Newsom- progressive Lt. Governor of California, former San Francisco Mayor, as far as I know everybody likes him though he doesn't command a very well-respected office yet. Since Kamala Harris is precluding him from running for senate, he might be amenable. He should be considered as an up-and-coming rockstar in his own right, not for the office he holds though. If this were in the offing, Jerry Brown should probably step down to give him a year or so as governor
- Nina Turner- badass Ohio state senator, who bravely led the fight against round after round of voter suppression last year in her campaign for Secretary of State. I can't really imagine a state senator making it onto a national ticket, but she's looking to be Ohio's next Sherrod Brown if not next Dennis Kucinich, and we should pay attention to her at least.(No wikimedia picture available)Ok, Genossen und Genossinnen- that was wildly premature, but I hope you like what you see. Most of these leaders are worth watching and supporting in their own right, so look into them and think who you'd most like to see with Bernie.SolidaritätGenossin Elise
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