He WILL pick a woman, this is a matter of record. He declared that he would commit to choosing a woman to be his running mate, during the last debate. At the time, it was my judgment that his proclamation was an impulsive spur of the moment statement because he was under the pressure of a question from the moderator about his record on women’s rights. Others here have disagreed with this assessment, claiming that they think he planned to choose a female running mate well in advance of that debate, and that he simply chose that moment to announce this. I remain deeply skeptical of this viewpoint, and I think I can read Biden well enough now to know that he was put on the spot by the question, the wheels in his brain were spinning, and he said “fuck it” and popped the clutch.
Again, just my opinion.
I think Biden made a dumb call for two reasons, for the record. One: I’m against the idea of categorically excluding an entire gender from the position. It’s sexist. It smacks of pandering. It’s one thing to decide, privately, “I think a woman would help balance the ticket”, and then choose one. But to openly announce it just has bad optics. Just my opinion, others may see it differently.
Two, and more importantly: he failed to take into account the fact that the tide of current events in the months leading up to the election could potentially shape a stellar VP choice who would then be locked out because it might be a man. Let’s say that in the next few months, one of the state governors does an absolutely amazing job of rising to the occasion, truly distinguishing that state’s mitigation efforts above all the others. Let’s say just hypothetically that Jay Inslee, for instance, in the course of governorship during this pandemic, comes up with some kind of amazingly creative and effective plan that leads to a situation when, after the initial dust has settled in a few months, the whole country is looking at Washington State and saying, “wow, they did something right - their response to the virus was head and shoulders above the rest of the country.”
Imagine this is a poker game. It’s Hold 'em. Biden has his cards. The coronavirus is the flop. The mitigation efforts are the turn. The resolution is the river. But wait, none of that matters because Biden folded as soon as he got his cards.