It’s been suggested recently that the Democratic nominee should try to heal the rifts in the party by making the losing candidate his or her running mate. I don’t think Clinton or Obama would accept a chance to be VP. Not because of personal rancor or political principle, but because the Vice Presidency is a crappy job that would be a significant demotion for senators of their standing. I submit that no individual of political means and ambition would want to be vice president.
Constitutionally, the VP has three duties:
Replace (temporarily or permanently) the president should the president leave office.
Serve as the President of the Senate, which boils down to breaking ties.
Protect the time-space continuum.
Is very important (and justifies the office all by itself) but rarely invoked. I doubt many politicians are ghoulish enough to take the job because they hope their boss drops dead.
Is also very important, occurs much more frequently, and in theory very powerful, but in practice the VP will be under intense pressure to vote as his party and president want him to. Very few would be bold enough to defy that.
Is a Futurama reference offered in jest and isn’t actually in the constitution.
Of course, the VP has a variety of other jobs. State functions, initiatives falling under the executive branch. Advising the president. That sort of thing. Of course, all of those are only as important as the President would let them be. The POTUS doesn’t have to let the VP do much at all of importance, and the VP has no real recourse to get any more power or influence.
The one perk of the job would seem to be an almost guaranteed nomination for president following two terms as VP. But historically, that’s not a winning bet. After so many years of even a popular presidency, people seem ready for a change and the sitting VP seems like a continuation of the sitting president. ISTM that a governor or even many congresscritters would do better from where they are.
So, who would want to be VP? Well, lesser congresscritters, those who could never hope to be real powers in the Capitol I mean, and governors who are staring at a term limit but aren’t big enough to make their own runs for POTUS are also good contenders. Those types don’t have anything better to do and may get more influence as VP. But someone with as promising a career as Clinton or Obama? No way.
As much as I despise his politics, it strikes me that the Republicans were really on to something when they chose Dick Cheney. Cheney had no presidential ambition of his own, but promised to be an able advisor to the president. Perhaps that’s the way we should think of the VP, not so much as the president-in-waiting, but as a functionary of the president like any other, except with those two additional power/responsibilities.
I forget his name, but there was a Lieutenant Governor who said that his only duties were to wake up early in the morning and call the Governor. If the Governor answered, he went back to bed.
I mean, what other job pays six figures and you do (could if you wanted) absolutely nothing? Stay drunk 24/7 and if on the odd chance the President dies, then sober up, but otherwise still collect your pay. Where do I sign up?
ETA: What about McCain’s VP? McCain isn’t exactly young. There would be a chance there to jump into office…
Me…I want to be VP. I want a job that I make a lot of money at to essentially do nothing. Besides, it comes with a cool house and body guards and lots of other perks. I bet the VP never has to pay for tickets to the big game, or buys his own dinner…and I bet if I were VP I’d have boxes of Cuban cigars and 30 YO single malt whiskey. Then there is the private jet…
Yeah…sign me up!
I hear you can shoot people in the face and they will apologize for having gotten in the way. I also hear you can change the spelling of popular words (like “potato”). Of course, you can always invent things like teh intarwebs.
13 of our 43 Presidents have been vice presidents. 8 by the death of the president, one by resignation of the President, and 4 by later election (go Wikipedia)
Given the odds of running again after losing in the primary, the VP slot may well offer the best chance of eventually becoming the President.
Nope…wouldn’t be caught dead in a RW blog (honestly I don’t actually read many blogs of any stripe). Are they trying to say she is gay??? :dubious: Not that it would be bad if she were, mind, but…I’m not seeing it.
Dick Cheney has proven the VP can run the country if the POTUS will listen to him. And has the advantage of being part of the executive branch, the legislative, or neither as he pleases for purposes of the moment.
I’m sure posts along these lines are in jest, but one should point out that anybody who’s the sort of person to 1) want to be a senator and work hard enough to get there, and 2) claw and bite and scratch to being a top party candidate for the presidency is no way no how going to want a job where you sit back and rest on your laurels. They’re by nature ambitious, workaholic people.
Access to power is not a little thing. All of us have brilliant ideas about how to save the world, but no one listens to us. They might listen to us a bit more as VP. Provided the president you serve with is someone who actually likes/respects you, I think it’s at least a chance to become a real mover and shaker in the world. More powerful than being a senator? I doubt it, especially not if the president marginalizes you. But more powerful than a lot of other jobs. Don’t ignore the value of having influence.
Well, sure, but many of the people that are suggested to be VP don’t have close relationships with the president, and do have positions of considerable political power. If the nominee offered you or I the slot, our status would be increased. But your or I won’t get the nod, because we don’t have any status.
I guess if you’re hellbent on being president, and have already lost a primary campaign, VP is your best bet, if delayed and a bit of a long shot. But if you want to maximize your political power, you’re likely better off wherever you are now.
There’s the ceremonial duties like attending funerals on behalf of the American government. I think Clinton made a joke about that back in 1992 when he said that he might not have met as many foreign leaders as Bush had but all the ones he met were alive.
Aside from the the incredible perks, prestige and relative lack of responsibility, a lot og people see it as a springboard to the top spot. If you last two terms, you’re virtually guaranteed the next nomination, and even if your top guy gets retired after one term, you still have a pretty good shot in the next cycle. There are exceptions, of course, Cheney (who doesn’t want it) and Quayle (who no one could take seriously), but the Veep spot is still usually a much btter spot to run from (and raise money from) than a Congressional spot.
Also, you might luck out, if you know what I mean. It happens.
Even if you never get the big promotion, you can still parlay the Veep experience into great quantities of $$$$ after it’s over. Books, speaking tours, cushy jobs in the private sector. You can live out a very comfortable retirement.
