Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Veep Watch: Condi?
Pros:
-International diplomacy background further highlights McCain ticket advantage in this area
-Experienced at the highest levels of Executive Branch politics
-Even temperment
-Gets credit for moving the tone of the Bush foreign policy off of unilateralism
-Powerful intellect, academic background, speaks 5 languages
-Checks off multiple diversity boxes (I hate this category, but it's real nonetheless)
-Classy and universally well regarded
-Plays piano
-Looks good on TV (another dumb but real category)
-Is the right age for Presidential politics (mid 50's)
Cons:
-Ties McCain closer to Bush Administration and his failing approval ratings
-No exerience as "the decider": is she ready to be President if something happens to McCain?
-Too liberal for many in the conservative base (has described herself as "mildy-pro choice")
-Personally tied to the decision to invade Iraq when she was NSA.
Discuss.
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9 comments:
I think Condi and Powell are interesting choices, since they are viewed somewhat favorably by both Repubs and independents, but they are also both "tainted" with the invasion decision. The Dems are going to try to paint McCain's position as 4 more years of Bush/neocon, and adding Condi to the ticket could (unfairly IMO) feed into that.
This article suggests Brownback and Pawlenty. Pawlenty's name seems to come up the most often, and McCain tapped him early to help out the campaign, so that seems to be the early favorite (as pointed out a while ago by Fredo). But it's probably also wide open now, and also subject to behind-the-scenes discussions with RNC about who would best help the ticket.
There's no way McCain will run with either Condi or Powell. He'll pick someone in the establishment but not closely tied to Bush. He's been in Washington for a long time and has many strong relationships (and many enemies) and owes and is owed favors. All of this will play into his choice.
I also think we can rule out adding another old man to the ticket, so I think Crist and probably Thompson are also out. I think two old guys won't play well especially if young Obama is the contrast.
I keep thinking that Powell, who has admitted to advising Obama (in an informal capacity, I believe), is not interested in running, period. Especially against the first black nominee in US history.
According to Woodward, Powell feels badly burned by W and the GOP establishment.
Is the fact that Condi is tied to the Iraq invasion a possible good thing for McCain? After all, McCain keeps saying it was the right decision to invade Iraq. He's going to be saddled with the war one way or another. In fact, he wants to be saddled with the war, and wants to point out that he would have waged it better.
What more powerful message could you send than picking someone involved with the initial decision, especially if that person were willing to say, "Senator McCain was right about the post-invasion strategy, whereas we were wrong."
Or if running for veep as "the wrong one" isn't palatable, maybe the contrast could be with Sec. Rumsfeld (who was wrong).
And I'll be the guy to throw the unspoken out there--Condi's a black chick, which helps counter either Dem candidate for all those who are voting only based on color or sex...
Guess I wasn't clear when I said "Checks off multiple diversity boxes"...
Oops.
I can't believe you think I actually read these posts--I'm all about scanning the comments...
My bad--credit to Fredo