15 July 2008
The Next Vice President
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: Presidential Election 2008 .
Next VP Will Benefit From Job’s Increased Stature
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
The vice presidency is now worth far more than a warm bucket of spit — at least that’s how leading vice presidential scholar Joel K. Goldstein sees it.
Goldstein, a law professor at Washington University in Saint Louis and a highly-respected expert on the second highest office in the land, says those vying for spots on the tickets of presumed nominees Barack Obama and John McCain are the beneficiaries of the modern transformation of an office famously loathed by most of its occupants.
“Here’s an office that there’s just a long list of disparaging comments form John Adams on about and yet I think that it has become an office where the ongoing responsibility has really become significant,” Goldstein said in a Monday interview. “The office has gone from being something of a nothing office to one that is sometimes described as imperial.” (See related story, CQ Weekly, June 11, 2008)
The current president’s extraordinarily influential wingman, Vice President Dick Cheney, is no doubt responsible for morphing the notion of an imperial presidency into a belief by some that, in President Bush’s administration, it is the vice presidency that was imperial.
Goldstein notes there has been a trend toward greater inclusion of vice presidents in decision-making processes that dates back to President Jimmy Carter and his vice president, Walter Mondale. That level of vice presidential inclusion has varied since they took office in 1977. . .
Running mates for Obama and McCain can probably expect to have less responsibility than Cheney and more than Mondale’s predecessors.
The increased stature of the office is one of the reasons Goldstein envisions former Vice President Al Gore as a strong contender to run with Obama.
“The fact that he cares so much about the issues and the growth of the vice presidency makes plausible to me what once upon a time would not have seemed very plausible,” Goldstein said. “Gore is clearly presidential. He covers the vulnerability of inexperience. He’s been in the situation room more than anyone on either side. And he fits within the change theme in terms of his record.”
On the Republican side, Goldstein said McCain’s pick may depend on the tightness of the race when he makes his decision.
“It seems to me that if the election is perceived as being close, that then you’re more likely to make a conservative pick. Why take on a problem if you don’t have to?” he said, identifying Mitt Romney, Tom Ridge, Tim Pawlenty and Rob Portman as less risky picks.
“If it looks like McCain is way behind, then it would seem to me that then maybe he starts thinking about more of a Hail Mary,” Goldstein said.
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5 Comments so far...
E.E. Says:
15 July 2008 at 3:14 pm.
If Mitt were the VP then I think he would make the office more important than Cheney does because the country would so desperately need his expertise. I think it would immediately give a boost to the economy because of the psychological lift of having an economic genius in there.
M.G. Says:
15 July 2008 at 4:43 pm.
I don’t think McCain would pick Romney under normal circumstances but now that there is such a meltdown in the economy he may be forced to.
Matt Says:
15 July 2008 at 4:57 pm.
My entry in the veepstakes
June 5, 2008
By Keith C. Burris
Published: Monday, July 14, 2008 2:12 PM EDT
With the choice now clearly Obama and McCain, the veepstakes have begun.
I have no idea who John McCain might pick, though given his age and health history, the question is an important one.
It seems to me that Mitt Romney would be logical, were it not for the fact that McCain seems to heartily dislike the man. Romney is qualified, having run a business, a large non-profit (the Olympics), and a state. You could argue he is better equipped than McCain, who has only legislated. At the very least, Romney would complement McCain. And, unlike Hillary Clinton, Romney has been a good soldier, placing party unity over his own desire to hang in and/or stick it to the person who beat him.
But a veep must be trusted to be effective. And McCain does not trust Romney.
SGS Says:
15 July 2008 at 7:01 pm.
M.G./Matt, actually McCain is starting to trust Romney more and more. He was asked blank-pointed by a reporter last week about Mitt, and McCain said they have worked together so often that he has come to respect Mitt for his expertise and management skills. McCain has increasingly use Mitt as his stand-in for many talk shows on TV and radio, rather than others. They both also are starting to appear together at a few events. For example, yesterday, McCain campaign opened its regional headquarter office in Michigan, and McCain and Mitt were presented together. Let me see what some of McCain’s exact words were…
“I’m appreciative every time I see Mitt on television on my behalf,” McCain said at a fundraising event in New Mexico. “He does a better job for me than he did for himself, as a matter of fact.”
From McCain’s video clip tribute at last month’s Massachusetts Republican Party’s gathering to honor former Gov. Mitt Romney
“I’d like to join my fellow Republicans in Massachusetts paying tribute to Mitt Romney…. I know Mitt as a formidable adversary during the primary. Since then I have been touched by his support and friendship…. This is a critical election year and no one understands that more than Mitt Romney.”
Press release from Romney’s PAC, Free & Strong America
About 275 enthusiastic supporters turned out today for the official opening of Senator John McCain’s Michigan HQ in Farmington Hills, joining former Governor Mitt Romney, Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis and National Committeeman Chuck Yob for the festivities. The office will coordinate not only the McCain Michigan effort, but activities throughout Indiana and Wisconsin.
Carrie Says:
16 July 2008 at 11:42 am.
SGS, that is such great news. It shows how smooth Mitt is to get someone like McCain who hated him so much to start to feel better about him.
GO MITT!
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