The VP Wars

If you are focused on the upcoming battle between former Vice-President Joe Biden (D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) you are missing the real tale of skullduggery, backbiting, hypocrisy, and intrigue – the quest for the vice-president nod.  (Please note that I have left off mention of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg because with the resurgence of Mr. Biden in South Carolina, those who fear a socialist challenge from Mr. Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) can feel safer in uniting behind Mr. Biden and there is no need for a person like Mr. Bloomberg that represents everything Democrat elites love to hate – hard work, wealth and success.  However, Mr. Biden could implode in a nanosecond with his knack for gaffs, his inflated claims of accomplishments, and his family’s corrupt practices.)

So let’s review the bidding in the aftermath of the South Carolina primary election on Saturday and the early returns from Super Tuesday.  First, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-South Bend) finally got the message that nobody cares.  Being a so-so mayor of a town of 100,000 is quaint but hardly a demonstration of competence.  While Mr. Buttigieg made a big deal of being openly gay; not even the gay community found that to be compelling.  The good news is that we may have finally arrived at a point in our history that accomplishments count more than the striations of identity politics proffered by the Democrats.  Mr. Buttigieg will endorse Mr. Biden in short order so as to remain on the list of possible vice-presidential candidates – he won’t be seriously considered.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) withdrew her candidacy after dismal finishes in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – and even more dismal finishes to come on Super Tuesday.  She has a history of treating her administrative and campaign staff as if they were her personal servants.  Not nice.  She immediately endorsed Mr. Biden in an effort to remain on the list of possible vice-presidential candidates for Mr. Biden – she too won’t be seriously considered.  Particularly after the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) gets done badmouthing her to Mr. Biden.  (SEIU was the dominant public employees’ union during President Barack Obama’s tenure.)

Tom Steyer (rich kid) announced his withdrawal after an embarrassing third place finish despite spending literally millions (over $250 Million) courting the African-American vote to no avail.  Mr. Steyer, like Mr. Bloomberg, was on an ego trip.  How much better we would have all been had both of them followed the path of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and given those billions to medical research and educational improvements.  But wealth can distort your self-evaluation and make you believe that only you can save the country – a crock of guano at best.

In contrast, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is still going.  She too has had dismal results in the first four primaries and will likely have a continuation of that experience after Super Tuesday.  In fact, early returns from Super Tuesday indicates that Ms. Warren lost her own home state of Massachusetts to both Mr. Sanders and Mr. Biden making her the biggest loser of the year.   But Ms. Warren has burned her bridges already and is best known for the whoppers she tells on the campaign trail – her Native American heritage, the bigotry that drove her parents to elope, her experience of discrimination while pregnant with her first child (she reiterated that whopper last week in criticizing Mr. Bloomberg) as well as the cost of all the give-aways that she and Mr. Sanders support – free healthcare, free tuition, free everything and taxing the rich – well at least those richer than she and her husband.  Ms. Warren knows her candidacy is going nowhere and she is busily negotiating a means by which she can become Mr. Sanders’ vice presidential choice.  But this is not likely to happen given her high negatives.  Ms. Warren should do the world a favor and go back to berating students at Harvard and quit lecturing the rest of us.

Both Mr. Sanders and Mr. Biden are likely to choose women of color as their running mates – that checks off two categories in the Democrats’ identity politics play book.  Mr. Biden is likely to pick Stacey Abrams in Georgia despite her having lost her only statewide election in a state that is nearly one-third African American and having no visible experience beyond that.  (Giving a keynote address at the Democrat national convention written by somebody else hardly qualifies as an accomplishment.)  Mr. Sanders is likely to pick Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) – a member of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’ “squad” and an ardent socialist like Mr. Sanders.  Ms. Pressley has even fewer accomplishments than Ms. Abrams unless you consider bad mouthing the United States at every turn an accomplishment.

As it stands now, the only things standing between President Donald Trump and his re-election is Mr. Trump.  Assuming that he does not succumb to some major faux pas Mr. Trump will have the advantage of watching Mr. Biden disintegrate in a series of gaffs and corruption disclosures, or Mr. Sanders being abandoned by Democrats everywhere, including a whole slew of congressional candidates, as people come to realize that a Socialist will guarantee an existence like Cuba or Venezuela for America.  You can hate Mr. Trump all you want but will you sacrifice your country’s well being for a Socialist?   At the end of Mr. Trump’s second term you can catalogue all of Mr. Trump’s personal traits that drive you nuts but you will still have a well-paying job, a better shot at retirement and a nation more secure against terrorism.