Who Will Be Romney’s Vice President?

May 3, 2012

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President Obama has his reelection strategy underway.  His campaign slogan “Forward” has been unveiled.  Obama is currently leading Romney in the polls and the money is pouring in to his campaign fund.  The question that a lot of people are wondering though is who will be the running mates to Obama and Romney?

Will Obama Keep Biden?

Official portrait of Secretary of State Hillar...

Is Hillary Clinton in line for a promotion?

Obama has experience with Biden and we all know exactly what Biden’s slip ups provide us; humor.  Really, of all the individuals that Obama could have chosen for his 2008 campaign, he has the horse’s ass of the Democratic Party.  Biden has more slip ups that someone with a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome.  It makes me wonder if whoever did the vetting of Biden was awake or asleep.

Obama could choose Hillary Clinton who is a hard worker, has well established relations (no, not those type of relations) on Capitol Hill and is arguably much more of a “moderate” than Obama or Biden.  Clinton could help secure the female vote that has been alienated by Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney never working a day in her life.

Romney’s Options

Chris Christie at the 2011 Time 100 gala.

Christie

Romney has a few more suitors to consider for his running mate.  Chris Christie would win the hearts and minds of many with his true conservatism. He’s the current New Jersey governor and has not ruled out a run with Romney.

Romney and Santorum butted heads a lot in the primaries and there is little doubt that Romney is left with bruises and Santorum is likely still frustrated.  Santorum would bring the vote of evangelical Christian hard-core, traditional conservatives. The question is. “Can each of them get past the heated tiffs from the last 6 months?”

 

Official portrait of US Senator Marco Rubio of...

Rubio

Marco Rubio, the Senator from Florida is a high energy up and coming politician.  He is loved in his home state and would certainly help bring on board some of the Hispanic vote.  The tea party loves him and I believe he’d help bring back some of the hard core conservatives that don’t like a lot of Romney’s past.  His lack of experience though is a big deficit. (He’s more experienced that Obama was in 2008, but that isn’t saying much)

Condoleezza Rice is not a new name in politics and is has a great deal of experience with the White House.  Condoleezza was the Secretary of State under President George W Bush and probably has some negative feelings associated with her because some do not view the GW Bush years as favorable.  Condi though is a mainstream conservative with her head on straight.  She’d strengthen the female vote and certainly give some feelings of comfort to those of us that aren’t sure Romney is very conservative.  On top of all that, Condi is hot.

The Endgame Nears

Both candidates have plenty of short comings that they need their VP’s to help overcome.

Obama now has a 3 year record to run on and not much to show.  The recent politicizing of the Usama Bin Laden killing was the only major victory of his term and now that has led to harsh criticism.  Obama is a wealthy man, a lawyer and a member of the 1% that the OWS crowd protests.  He needs this same group to get him elected.

Romney has weaknesses as well.  He governed as more of a liberal than a conservative as the Massachusetts Governor.  His religion (Mormonism) has also upset many traditional conservatives.  He’s independently wealthy making him also a target of the 99% OWS group.  If wealth is evil, Romney is more evil than Obama when you compare his $240 Million to Obama’s $10 Million.  I’m sure Romney’s camp will use this as an advantage in dealing with America’s failed economy and recovery.

One thing is for certain. Obama stepped in it with the SEALs when he politicized their killing of Bin Laden.  I’m also wondering how the Right will use the dishonorable discharge of Marine Sergeant Gary Stein over his Facebook posting concerning Obama. In Sergeant Stein’s situation, there needs to be one more exception placed on the First Amendment for off duty military personnel on social media sites.  Obviously this is not considered protected speech and most certainly has been proven to have serious consequences.

We have some exciting campaigning and debates headed our way over the next few months.  Of course, we also have a lot of annoying phone calls and TV ads.  Hopefully after all that grief we have a conservative president with an intelligent and ready to lead vice president.

Squeaky…

 

 

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Harder Than Becoming President

November 4, 2009

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Hillary Clinton has found out that being first lady has its challenges, becoming president is not so easy, but hardest of all may be going to the Middle Easte and being liked by all. In just a matter of days she has needed adjustment in her rhetoric as she met with leaders from different side of the Middle East conflict.

Early in the week during her visit to Israel she made statements praising the Jewish state for taking unprecedented steps towards peace by committing to slow the building of settlements in the “occupied” territories. Later in the week she quickly found out why it is called the Middle East conflict and not the Middle East friendly negotiation as she was roasted by the Arabs for these comments as they are considering the freeze of building of new settlements as a pre-condition to negotiations.

Hillary back peddled faster than an intern leaving the oval office after having “relations” with the President. And regarding the President’s stance on the Middle East she was quoted as saying “Perhaps those of us who work for him and communicate about this issue should have made very clear that there was no change in our position, that we were absolutely committed to the end of settlement activity.”

I am not a Hillary hater but she has to be fairly ignorant to think you can go into the Middle East tell everyone what they want to hear and not only walk away a hero but get anything accomplished. I think this little jump around in stance has gone a long way in destroying her reputation as a serious negotiator. I am not saying I have the skill set to succeed in very so many have failed but here are my opinions on how you have to approach negotiations in the Middle East.

  1. Recognize that both sides are deeply tied to their views and in some cases see certain factors as not issues up for negotiation but a critical factor for their survival.
  2. Recognize that unfortunately the Palestinians are highly influenced by groups that would not benefit from peace so they are in no position to really negotiate and continue to use the lack of negotiation as just fuel for would be extremists.
  3. Recognize that Israel wants peace as it can gain nothing through conflict but it is a tiny country surrounded by its enemies so it can’t realistically give away key pieces of land as this would threaten its survival.
  4. Finally, recognize that the Palestinians are in no position to have an effective government, as they have proved so many times, so this conflict cannot be solved just by awarding land. A Palestinian state would quickly fall apart and be a home to terrorists if they do not first evolve at simply governing themselves and having a healthy economy. I am not really sure why they have not tried this at all in the territory that they do have or in one of the Arab states around them who have plenty of land to give them.

So, my solution would be to make sure that both sides understand what is on the table and what is off the table as currently some things being asked for just cannot be given under any circumstances. Second, I would make sure that concession from either side can be monitored to make sure it is executed and each concession is reciprocated. This is important as promises are easy to break and if you are getting nothing in return then they become routine to break. Third, part of the negotiation must involve one of the “neutral” Arab states that can sponsor the Palestinians as they establish themselves. Lastly, drop the dumbest idea in the world which is preconditions. Why on earth would anyone give up something before negotiations even start.

This last point explains why negotiations have stalled as the Arabs have made it a precondition that Israel stops building new settlements. Why would a country with limited space and a growing population ever do that? Plus why would they give up one of the key things on the negotiating table before they ever sit down at the table?

Anyway, that rant is probably a good place to stop.