I was really disappointed to hear Barack Obama pick fellow senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential nominee. While I had long since given up hope of his choosing Hillary Clinton, I thought a fine compromise option--and certainly the most intriguing candidate from the insurance industry's perspective--would be Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, former president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Unfortunately, Sen. Obama played it safe and picked Sen. Biden--something of a windbag--as his running mate. Biden has the foreign policy credentials to shore up Obama's weakness in that department, and he can serve as Obama's attack dog in the campaign. But Biden was definitely not an inspired or inspiring choice--especially for someone who has vowed to bring change to Washington's business-as-usual. What will change if your choice for running mate has been around Capitol Hill for decades?
It's also embarrassing to choose someone who said during the primaries that Obama had no business being in the White House because we cannot afford a president who needs on-the-job training. That's what Biden said during the debates, hammering away at Obama's lack of experience, words that are already coming back to haunt them both.
I had hoped Sen. Clinton would be the choice, having drawn millions of votes in the primaries, generated a ton of excitement among her devout supporters, proven herself an able political street fighter, and reestablished her credentials as the leading crusader for healthcare reform. But Obama never seemed comfortable with Clinton--or her husband.
However, I thought Gov. Sebelius would be a solid compromise choice. Sen. Clinton's supporters might still have been disappointed, but their deep sense of offense might have been eliminated had Obama chosen another qualified woman as his running mate.
Plus there would be no sound bites with Sebelius trashing her running mate, like we have with Biden, as she endorsed Obama's candidacy early on. She was a true Obama supporter, not someone who accepted a second banana role when we all know they feel they are the superior candidate for president. (The same criticism could have applied to Hillary Clinton had she been chosen as veep.)
It would certainly have been interesting to have Sebelius on board, and just imagine the impact on insurance had an ex-commissioner and NAIC president made it into the White House!
Would a former state regulator talk President Obama out of an optional federal charter?
Would she have been given responsibility for seeing to it that that health insurance reforms were passed and implemented?
How would a former NAIC president advise her White House partner on catastrophe insurance issues? Terrorism coverage? Flood insurance? Long-term care coverage? The possibilities would have been endless.
With an Obama-Biden ticket, however, insurance is probably doomed to remain in the backwater of Washington politics--always an afterthought, addressed only when Congress is put in a corner and given no choice but to vote on some insurance-related bill, such as when deadlines on renewing the National Flood Insurance Program come up.
Ah, what might have been!
What do you folks think???
Comments (4)
I to am less than enthusiastic about the choice of Sen. Biden as Sen. Obama's running mate.
I have supported Sen. Obama from Day One, and I will just have to settle for his choice. Trying to "fix" Washington with Sen. Biden will go nowhere. Even as a Liberal Democrat, I can live with term limits.
Posted by Anonymous | August 25, 2008 5:52 PM
Posted on August 25, 2008 17:52
I believe Obama's best chance of moving into the big job involved Hillary as his running mate.
The only good news with the Biden selection is that he's locked up Delaware.
Obama is beginning to look very beatable, which is somewhat surprising under the current circumstances. He really hasn't done much right since the Ohio/Texaas primaries.
Some months ago, I believe I might have told you Obama had the potential to make George Bush look like Winston Churchill. I love it when I'm right about this stuff.
SAM RESPONDS:
I doubt anyone could make W. look like Churchill, but I agree that Obama is struggling to find his footing.
However, it's still really early. I think no matter what either candidate says, each has about 40 percent of the vote locked up, with the remaining 20 percent deciding on the basis of the debates and their gut feelings come Election Day. It's going to be very, very close.
Posted by Charlie | August 26, 2008 7:59 AM
Posted on August 26, 2008 07:59
It will be hard enough to convince some folks to vote for a black man for President. Ask them to vote for that plus a woman and, unfortunately, there are too many people who just couldn't handle that. They may not admit it publicly, but I think it's true.
As I see it, Joe Biden was picked for three main reasons. 1) Foreign policy and overall experience; 2) He is very popular in a key swing state, Pennsylvania, where he was born; and 3) He's the typical looking candidate for President.
Despite what we would like to believe, for both candidates and both parties, it's primarily about winning, not principles. And how I wish that weren't true.
Posted by David | August 26, 2008 11:17 AM
Posted on August 26, 2008 11:17
While Sebelius seems to be an impressive person, based on her resume, her big flaw is that she is part of a new political class that has done nothing but been in government. She is the daughter of a governor and married to another politician from another political family.
Biden brings the same problem--very limited real world experience.
This, to me, is certainly THE problem with our current situation and with many of the people in Congress and in the governors' mansions.
We have people who are professional politicians and have not made their bones anywhere else but in elections. I contend that a person like Michael Bloomberg has been a success because he came into political life after spending decades building and running a company.
If I was Obama, my picks would have been Mark Warner, Jim Webb, heck, even Jack Reed. People who have had lives before running for office.
Posted by James | August 26, 2008 1:42 PM
Posted on August 26, 2008 13:42