There have been a few diaries lately promoting the idea of Elizabeth Warren as Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate. But from a purely objective, logical perspective, there are a whole host of reasons why she might not necessarily be the best choice.
Among those reasons:
1) It would open up a Senate seat to be filled by a Republican governor, making an already uphill battle for Democrats to take over control of the Senate even more difficult.
2) While she was quite popular among many progressives, she ended up not being all that popular among most members of the more progressive of the two major political parties, Democrats.
3) She’s from a state that is already highly likely to vote Democratic, so, therefore, doesn’t add “balance” or strength to the ticket from that perspective.
4) While it would be great to have a woman as vice president, there are many others who would be just as qualified, at least as exciting, if not more so, and who could add more to the ticket.
5) Those much talked about “lanes” may not really exist to the extent that some people think. While many people do like Elizabeth, especially progressives, and she has clearly staked out progressive positions, there is no evidence that most Americans vote based on ideology. In fact, there’s all kinds of evidence that most Americans vote on a more complex set of criteria, of which ideology may...or may not...play a part. The whole idea that a progressive will garner “x” number of votes because another progressive candidate received “x” number of votes...is simply not based on anything other than...conjecture and theory.
6) While many of Warren’s former supporters may have swung to Joe after she dropped out, they were not necessarily the critical factor in Joe’s resurgence. In fact, all evidence shows something else was behind it: the single largest demographic in the Democratic Party. So, if you want to “reward” those most responsible for getting you the nomination, Elizabeth isn’t necessarily the one who represents that group.
7) In the case of Elizabeth, making her vice president wouldn’t necessarily be a “promotion” as much as it would neutralize her efforts in support of progressive issues. Her staunch support for structural changes in our political system and society would either have to be pushed aside or she could risk endangering his administration’s success.
While Elizabeth wouldn’t be a bad choice for vice president, per se, there are an awful lot of reasons why someone else would be so much better.
And, finally, let me just say this. Just because you had a favorite candidate who ended up not being able to obtain the nomination, doesn’t mean that candidate would be the best vice presidential choice just because of your own personal preferences. It seems to me that too many people are looking at things through the rose-colored-glasses of their favorite, preferred candidate, rather than trying to step back and look at things from an objective perspective. An objective analysis would clearly show that there are a whole host of people who would better suit Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, no matter how much you might like Elizabeth because her stance on the issues is closer to yours (myself included).