We will know more about Barack Obama after we learn his choice of a running mate. But the people he chose to help him make the selection also reveal something about him: namely, that — at least in this instance — his judgment is questionable.
What expertise do Caroline Kennedy, Eric Holder and James Johnson bring to vetting a veep?
By all accounts, Caroline Kennedy is a lovely woman, and Lord knows she’s had a tragic life. But except for very occasional and brief appearances in the years since her brother’s death, she has studiously avoided politics, choosing instead to live, essentially, as a Manhattan soccer mom.
Are we now supposed to believe that she has been feverishly tracking the achievements of Democratic politicians around the country? Can she speak knowledgeably, for instance, about the strengths and weaknesses that Tennessee Gov. Phil Breseden would bring to the Obama ticket? Can she even name the governor of Arizona?
Obama would be better served by the advice of a James Carville type — someone who knows the party’s policies and players inside and out. Choosing Caroline Kennedy as an adviser is a triumph of style over substance, mirroring what many of his critics believe is the secret to Obama’s own success.
Another concern about Obama is his stunning lack of experience. Before becoming a U.S. Senator three years ago, he was a member of Illinois’ part-time legislature. After 24 months in the U.S. Senate, Obama announced he was running for president. To succeed in that role with such limited experience, he will have to surround himself with the best and the brightest: people who have demonstrated impeccable judgment and bring records of achievement. Eric Holder does not meet those criteria.
Recall that as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, Holder helped secure a presidential pardon for the traitorous Marc Rich, an act so unfathomable that Congress launched an investigation to determine whether bribery was involved.
Holder also played a prominent role in removing 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from the custody of his Miami relatives so the boy’s father could take him back to Cuba. To retrieve the 45-pound child, more than 130 federal agents in riot gear stormed the house where the boy was staying, with one waving a submachine gun near the terrorized child’s face. Yet responding to critics afterward, Holder rejected the notion that the government “acted in a heavy-handed manner.”
God help us if Obama is elected president and taps Holder to be attorney general.
Another rap Obama needs to beat is that he is the candidate of elitists. As Hillary Clinton repeatedly pointed out, she had the support of the working class. So for Obama to announce that one of the people helping him choose a vice president is James Johnson — a multimillionaire Washington insider who lives on the top floor of the Ritz-Carlton — was hardly a way to defend against the criticism that Obama is an A-list darling.
Johnson at least has experience vetting vice presidential candidates: He helped Walter Mondale select Geraldine Ferraro and vetted John Edwards for his run with John Kerry. But since neither of those choices proved capable of delivering a victory, why would anyone continue to put faith in Johnson’s recommendations?
To be sure, Johnson is a model liberal: He believes in being philanthropic with other people’s money. As the chairman of Fannie Mae, Johnson established Fannie Mae foundations that gave away millions of dollars to charities around the country. But as a 1997 Slate article pointed out, although Johnson was reportedly earning an annual salary of $21 million, “the fount of Johnson’s generosity is Fannie Mae’s foundation. … It is essentially the taxpayers’ money that Johnson is giving away.”
Obama has been in the Senate for only three years and has spent nearly half that time on the campaign trail. Because he cannot claim even to be an experienced senator, it is crucial that he have the wisdom to rely on people who can compensate for his deficiencies. It is therefore revealing — and somewhat unsettling — that Obama chose as his initial consultants a woman who has determinedly eschewed politics and two men known for having tin ears. If this trio represents what Obama values in advisers, imagine what his Cabinet would look like.
