Thursday, August 28, 2008

McCain selects VP -- and why he should have selected me

Politico reports this morning (the link is to Yahoo! News, where I read the article) that John McCain has selected his running mate.

He'll reveal his choice just as soon as he thinks he can get media down from their collective Rocky Mountain high after Senator Obama's speech tonight in Denver.

We don't yet know who the nominee will be; Robert Novak reports this morning it won't be Senator Lieberman.

It won't be me either.

And that's a shame. For me.

I'd make a great Vice President. (I'd have made an equally good choice for Senator Obama, in my opinion, but I'm ineligible to serve with him since we are both Illinois citizens.)

So why would I be a good choice?

I can wear a suit. I'm an Irish-American from Chicago -- so I have experience in attending wakes and funerals. I'm over 35 and a natural-born American citizen so I meet all constitutional requirements. And I wouldn't upstage anybody.

These are the real qualifications for the office. Wikipedia has a small treasure trove of quotes about the Vice Presidency. I was looking for the quote by John Adams ("the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived") but I liked this one by Thomas R. Marshall, Wilson's VP, better: "Once there were two brothers. One went away to sea; the other was elected vice president. And nothing was heard of either of them again."

Since FDR's time, Vice Presidents have been invited to Cabinet meetings. And the job comes with a nice house to live in, limos, motorcades, Secret Service protection -- all of the trappings of power... and virtually no responsibility except that which may be conferred (and withdrawn at any time) by the President.

George W. Bush apparently gave Dick Cheney quite a bit of executive responsibility over the last two terms. Bill Clinton gave St. Al Gore a lot of responsibility as well. Both presidencies were extremely controversial. Coincidence? Maybe not.

They had to find Teddy Roosevelt when President McKinley was shot. Nobody seemed to know where TR was (he was off hiking in the mountains in New York, if I recall the story correctly).

Maybe what this country needs is a return to the traditional role of the Vice President... and if you're looking for someone who's good at doing nothing... I'm your man.

There's still time to reconsider, Senator McCain.

6 comments:

sari said...

Yes, but if you *were* the VP, would you actually *tell* us?? (ha ha)

Jean-Luc Picard said...

Just to eliminate, he didn't ask me, either.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

me either. ha ha ha

smiles, bee
tyvc

Ben and Bennie said...

TC, I love you dude. I was all ready to say give Curmie the Veep. It's just too bad you weren't a finalist for Miss Alaska.

Barb said...

I think you may be possibly as qualified as Mrs. Palin. :P

But on a somewhat similar theme.. I was wondering if you knew, or knew where to find, the answer to a question I came up with..

With all the talk of McCain's age, I was wondering what would happen if, say, he had a heart attack and died between now and the election? (Or Obama, for that matter?)

Would the person in the VP spot continue on? Would there have to be a new election? Has this ever happened before?

I'm very curious about this! Please let me know if you find out.

sari said...

Skittles, those are some interesting questions!