Prominent Democrats, some who may or may not be on the shortlist for Vice President, are hitting the campaign trail across the country this week, showing their enthusiastic support for their new candidate. (Or at least faking it to the best of their ability.) They are hearing from plenty of Democrat voters along the way, also, and those people have some thoughts on the veepstakes that are probably quite revealing about the mentality inside the party. For example, Gretchen Whitmer was in New Hampshire this week and some members of the audience chimed in on whether or not Whitmer might be a good pick. It turns out that there is not a lot of interest in that choice. Why? Because many don't believe that America is ready to elect two women to the top spots. In fact, they believe she should probably pick a white guy.
From Politico:
Democrats believe America is ready to put a woman in the White House. Two women? Not so much.It was a frank observation made freely and repeatedly across New Hampshire this week, as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hit the campaign trail to get party activists and operatives fired up about Democrats’ likely new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris...“I don’t know that the country is ready for two women at the top of the ticket,” Alison Hamilton, a Portsmouth Democrat, said after hearing Whitmer speak at a house party Thursday evening in Durham.”We’re there for Kamala,” added Jan Collier, Hamilton’s sister. “Two women? I don’t know.”
In case you think I'm making this up, that phrase was literally in the title of the Politico article. "Harris should probably pick a white guy." But why? Aren't they all about inclusion and historic nominees and "breaking the ultimate glass ceiling?" Well, sure. But apparently only to a point. Having one Black(ish) Asian female at the top of the ticket should be more than historic enough for them. They're concerned that adding a second woman or even a second person of color to the ticket might be a bit more inclusivity than the voters are ready for.
This isn't the first time we've seen this effect unfolding. You will recall that when Barack Obama was running for the presidency, there were plenty of other highly qualified Black candidates out there he could have chosen as a running mate. There were also plenty of experienced, high-ranking female Democrats available. But Obama played the same card and decided to go with an elderly white dude, that being Joe Biden. Obama himself was caught admitting that Joe Biden was someone who could "f*** up anything" he put his hands on, but he got the nod because even Obama was nervous about the voters bolting if the ticket looked "too diverse."
Democrats are already rightly nervous about Kamala's prospects despite the brave face they are painting on themselves for now. There are too many people already talking about how she was the DEI selection for VP, not someone who enjoyed the confidence of the voters in their party. Harris is currently enjoying her "honeymoon" period after all but tying up the nomination, but even with that boost she's doing slightly better in the polls than Biden was, but only by a tiny amount. She still trails in many polls against Trump, particularly in some of the key battleground states.
Despite all of their talk about diversity, the Democrats are aware that even their own voters are capable of reaching the point where they will jump off the train if they are pushed too far. Their policies are uniformly disastrous and that will be a big enough albatross around Kamala's neck in November. I rarely find myself agreeing with Democratic strategists, but in this case, they are probably correct. Kamala Harris probably needs to pick a white guy and he should be a moderate with a solid and somewhat less-crazy record than her. Nobody near the top of the list is leaping to my mind at the moment, but she could do a lot worse than Joe Manchin. Of course, that would be far too big of a pill for the left wing of her party to swallow.
