A Black Woman for VP Is Smart Politics for Biden!

Sometimes you just do the right thing. Sometimes what is right is also what is smart politics.

Vice President Biden would not be the Democratic nominee for President without black support. Can he lead in this moment when George Floyd has united much of the country? Leadership is not about business as usual. It is not about a lot of heart-felt talk and no action.

Biden’s VP pick will show whether he understands the moment. Surely there are many women qualified to be his VP pick. Everyone has their strengths. One such strength for a VP candidate is the potential to deliver a battleground state. Senator Baldwin of Wisconsin and Governor Whitmer of Michigan, two excellent choices, could deliver a state. But Biden is as Midwestern as it gets and if he needs the help of a Midwesterner VP to win there, his campaign is in too much trouble to be rescued. Alternatively, picking a candidate to win Florida with a VP pick and expanding the electoral map would suggest that Biden is on his way to win in a landslide. His VP pick wouldn’t matter much. Overall, the idea of a VP pick to help win a state just doesn’t make sense for Biden in this election.

If the election turns out to be close, can Biden help himself with a VP pick? Only if that pick helps him turn out the vote better than in 2016 with at least three key constituencies: Moderate white women, blacks, and young voters.

More white women voted for President Trump than Senator Clinton in 2016. The reluctance to put a woman in power perhaps played at least a role in the decision of some voters. With Biden at the head of the ticket and his promise to pick a woman, they are looking for a VP pick who is capable and who can carry him to electoral victory.

A capable VP pick like Senator Warren will energize many. But at this pivotal moment in the country’s history, if Biden fails to choose one from among several capable black women—even after blacks propelled him to the Democratic nomination, starting in South Carolina — it would only serve to confirm suspicions that he is taking blacks for granted. He needs to make a pick that would excite them and rally them behind the Biden ticket in huge numbers. Hispanics who are pushing for diversity will turn out to vote for that ticket too!

If Biden has paid any attention to the George Floyd protest marches, he would notice that many protesters are young. They have not been Biden fans because they have not yet seen him share their values. Their values are clear in this defining moment for America. They stand with blacks. Nothing will energize them more to rally for a Biden ticket than a capable black woman as his VP.

That is game, set, and match. That capable and exciting VP pick? That is for a future blog.

A bit more about me.

My dad taught history. History has so much to teach us!