With his unforced error of a promise that he would tap a woman as his running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden preemptively limited his options for the single most consequential choice he will make in his political career. To make matters worse, the prison abolitionist Left made Biden’s safest and most electorally beneficial choice, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, politically toxic to the ticket by claiming that during her tenure as Hennepin County attorney, she failed to prosecute the police officer who killed George Floyd, though, in actuality, the case was dropped by a grand jury after Klobuchar had left the post.

Now the pressure is on for Biden to pick to a woman of color, and a black woman in particular. Biden didn’t have many great options to begin with, and today he has even fewer. The fact that President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser Susan Rice is under serious consideration for Biden’s running mate is a testament to the silent crisis plaguing an otherwise stellar presidential bid.