For Democrats, the third week of June 2012 was a good one, as Republicans floundered over their Vice-Presidential sweepstakes. Consciously or sloppily, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney eliminated Florida Senator Marco Rubio as a potential VP nominee. When Latino forces joined by the few other Republicans who support diversity voiced racism on the part of Romney, the former Massachusetts governor switched gears in less than half a day.

However, Rubio does carry some baggage. He has not been forthright about his lineage, having said that his parents fled Cuba following Fidel Castro’s revolution. He was off by three years; they left prior to Castro’s revolution. Rubio also has been charged with using a state credit card for his own personal purchases when he was a member of the Florida House of Representatives.

There have been worse transgressions by candidates for executive office (see Spiro Agnew), but what we know about Rubio could be gateways to other more serious offenses. Furthermore, Republicans present themselves as those who are most morally virtuous, religious, and straight arrows. We know from recent history that this is not true, particularly in Florida, but this does not stop the GOP from trying to perpetrate this misperception upon the public.

With doubt now cast about Rubio, one of the names that became a more likely candidate was former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty is not exactly Mr. Excitement, and during the 2011-12 race for the Republic nomination, he distinguished himself by withdrawing from the campaign before he could even lose a real race. Four months prior to the Iowa caucuses, he  was roundly defeated in the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames, finishing third behind his fellow Minnesotan, Michele Bachmann. This clearly indicated that he did not have a chance to win or even perform well in the state just south of his own.

Pawlenty may have the charisma of Agnew, with more integrity. In his case, integrity may have negative components. There seems to be nothing exciting about him; no panache; only the straight-arrow personality that a bland mother would want in her most precious son. Minnesota has a rich history of engaging politicians including Paul Wellstone, Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey, and even Walter Mondale, who while not Mr. Excitement at least passionately held values and ideas that advanced the quality of life for middle and low income families in America. And who can forget one of the most outrageous yet semi-effective politicians of the past half-century, the former wrestler independent-Democrat Jesse Ventura, who truly shook things up in defense of civil liberties and the best interests of those in need.

There was a theory that Nixon chose Agnew because he wanted someone who was not as good looking as him and who generated less excitement. Pawlenty might fit such a bill for Romney. While more honest than Agnew, he just “doubles the fun” to the ticket by being another bland white man. If Romney doesn’t want to take the risk of running with Marco Rubio, surely there are other Republicans who either represent diversity or have the appearance of it. He need not go to the extreme and find a Sarah Palin clone. He merely needs to find a vice-presidential nominee who can successfully mix it up with Joe Biden and appear to be someone who has lived the life of middle income families; the life that is terribly distant for Romney.

Whatever Romney does in selecting a vice-presidential nominee, it will indicate one of two things. Either he will want someone less exciting than him and thus ensure his position as top billing on the ticket. Or, he can add excitement to the ticket, a play that will seem as disingenuous as the rest of Romney’s platform. He’s in a no-win situation. Joe Biden can handle just about anyone in a debate and on the roads of America. While many observers are pessimistic about President Obama’s chances of winning reelection, another major advantage that he will have will be his vice-president.

The post Romney’s VP options: Exciting vs. boring appeared first on Occasional Planet.

The ability to sell a contradiction is sometimes the measure of a man or woman, at least when it comes to success in politics.  But nowhere does such artifice cry out for our attention more than when displayed by candidates for our highest elected offices.  The habit of disassociating what one says from what one does has turned our electoral process into a game of rope a dope.  And too often, when the dust of election season settles into the daily grind of lawmaking, the voters are no longer interested enough to hold politicians accountable when their actions fall short or simply diverge from their rhetoric.

This is not simply a matter of broken campaign promises that waft just out of our reach like suspended election night confetti.  Many of today’s politicians are adept at assigning certain aspirational characteristics to themselves or their party that just don’t ring true when compared with the public record of accomplishment or incompetence and everything in between.  A third variation on the theme is the art of condemning the behavior of one’s opposition while shamelessly indulging in the same conduct.  All of these behaviors are duplicitous and none should go without challenge when they are acted out by those holding the public trust.

For a recent example of Alice Through the Looking-Glass logic in political discourse, take Minnesota Governor and probable 2012 presidential contender Tim Pawlenty’s recent excoriation of President Obama to stop making apology tours.  The timing of the remark suggested it was in response to the President’s efforts to right the course of a domestic agenda that had been tossed too long and hard on the tide of an intractable healthcare debate and to refocus on the priorities of unemployment and economic growth.  Governor Pawlenty and others on the right are in no mood for being patient.

But, as it turns out, the Governor is infinitely more gracious in handling the remorseful utterances of his GOP colleagues who are still reeling from the reversal of fortune they suffered in 2008.  Lately, when asked whether Republicans should still be trusted with the mantle of fiscal conservatism, even as the nation struggles to put its financial house in order after the Republicans sponsored eight years of Fat Tuesday on Wall Street, Pawlenty offers up the results of an apology tour of his own.  According to the Governor, he’s met with GOP leaders around the country who all say that they have learned their lesson on excessive spending and won’t do it again if given the chance.  A caravan of contrition is far better than an apology tour.

While it remains to be seen whether voters will be as quick to forgive as Pawlenty’s group of apologists hope, there are plenty of men and women still in the ranks of incumbency that seem to be enjoying unearned good will.  While Congress’s favorable ratings indicate almost universal distaste for the legislature as a whole, nearly all Congressmen and Senators fare much better as individual representatives.  Among other privileges of office that help cultivate good will at home are well timed victory laps through the home state or district bearing goodies from the Washington.

But beware the contradiction.  For a case in point, we in Missouri need look no further than across the Mississippi where Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois, 27, enjoys the spotlight as our nation’s youngest legislator.  As the freshest face in the minority party and potential thorn in the side of our President from the same state, Congressman Schock has been favored with an abundance of committee appointments to which he would not otherwise be entitled under the rules of seniority and has been named Deputy Minority Whip.

As further evidence of his party’s favor, Congressman Schock was trotted out on Valentine’s Day for an appearance on Meet the Press. In discussing his resistance to the current healthcare reform plan, Schock explained he was representing the views of the majority of Americans.  While the statement was seemingly excused as so much partisan puffery, moments later his co-panelist Rachel Maddow called the Congressman out on the two faces he wears when it comes to pork barrel spending.  Seems Congressman Schock’s Washington beltway persona had voted against a stimulus bill on grounds it contained too much earmarked spending, while populist Congressman Schock ran back to Illinois to celebrate the award of a green technology research grant made possible by the bill he’d just voted against.  The fact that the public display of largesse occurred on a community college campus may have permitted it to fly under the radar of cynicism in the short run, but Maddow was not going to let such rank hypocrisy lie.  First he decried such spending as imposing long term debt to be paid in perpetuity by his constituents and their kids, then he followed the trail of stimulus funds right back home to get his picture taken without red ink on his hands.

It is critical that voters remain engaged throughout the processes by which we are governed and not just the processes by which we choose who will do it.  For even the most earnestly intentioned voters, elections can become an empty exercise when we pay too little attention to the words, actions and votes of our Congressmen and Senators in between elections.  As much as possible, we should use technology to follow our representatives to the Capitol so that we can talk to each other and to them about how well or how poorly they are honoring the public trust of their constituents.  A couple of excellent resources are http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/ and http://votesmart.org/ There you can check the voting records of your Congressmen and Senators and see how well their votes reflect opinion at home among constituents and how well they match statements or actions of the representatives in the public record.  We can’t afford to continue letting contradiction be a commodity that is sold to voters in order to get to Washington and then traded there at our expense.

The post We all live in glass houses but some don’t realize it appeared first on Occasional Planet.