Veepstakes: Fill out your brackets
Posted: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 9:02 AM by Domenico Montanaro
As mentioned above, debuting on MSNBC.com is our GOP veepstakes tournament.
The Washington Post's Cillizza notes yesterday’s Bob Novak column, which went after potential Obama veep pick Kathleen Sebelius for her pro-choice abortion stance. Is Novak hinting that a Sebelius pick would fire up the pro-life movement in a way that McCain isn't just yet?
So did the New York Times’ David Brooks make a funny in the lead of his column? Ok, funny for the New York Times op-ed page at least. "My first thought on the running mate question is that to balance his ticket, Barack Obama should pick a really old white general. Therefore, he should pick Dwight Eisenhower. John McCain, on the other hand, needs to pick someone younger than himself. Therefore, he also should pick Dwight Eisenhower."
Here's his Obama short list: "Obama will need a vice president who knows the millions of ways that power is exercised and subverted in Washington… Sam Nunn and Tom Daschle seem to fit the bill. Nunn is one of those senior Democrats (like David Boren and Bob Kerrey) who left the Senate lamenting the dumbed-down nature of modern politics. Daschle was more partisan as majority leader, but he is still widely trusted and universally liked. As experienced legislators, both could take Obama’s lofty hopes and translate them into nitty-gritty action."
As for McCain: "If John McCain is elected, he’ll face a political culture threatening to split at the seams. In defeat, Democrats will be enraged at everything and everybody… McCain will need somebody who radiates calm… McCain seems to be looking at business leaders like Meg Whitman. But among politicos, the shining stars would seem to be Rob Portman and Tim Pawlenty."
And the Boston Globe’s Peter Canellos draws a comparison between Indiana Jones and McCain when it comes to young sidekicks and veeps -- and whether or not it’s a good idea (e.g., Bobby Jindal). “When Harrison Ford, now 65, decided to take out his bullwhip and reprise his most famous character, the studio followed a time-honored formula for broadening the appeal of movies with aging stars: They added a kid. So Ford now gets to huff and puff his way through action scenes while 21-year-old Shia LaBeouf gets to learn the ropes from the father that he (and we) never knew he had.”
More: “Action stars have faced this reality for generations. In the '60s, a thickening John Wayne was forced to share the marquee with a series of forgettable young heartthrobs whose purpose was less to drive the cattle to market than to drive young people into the theater. Now, the Republican Party is wondering whether the same formula that worked for the Duke and Indiana Jones might work for John McCain.”
NBC's Abby Livingston reports, Another member from the round table of Camelot plunged a dagger in the heart of the Clinton legacy last night. Kennedy speechwriter and Obama backer Ted Sorenson entered the fray last night on PBS’ Charlie Rose. Sorenson does not want another Clinton in the White House in either the number one or two slots.
“He [Obama] must decide who among the possibilities shares his view of the world, his method of governence, who would be a congenial companion or compatriot in the running of the country, and who, if anything happened to Obama, would be prepared to carry on the Obama program and the Obama ideals," he said, adding, "So if you think Mrs. Clinton fits all those criteria, and I don't, then he should pick her.” He also expressed disappointment with Bill Clinton’s performance as president. “After Dick Morris persuaded him to triangulate and step back, he backed away from most of the important international challenges.“
