Obama will announce that Chris Dodd will be his VP. Chris Dodd should not be a total surprise, as Obama's VP search requested info from him just last month. And Dodd fits very well with all of Obama's stated and unstated requirements of a VP candidate. But I'm not totally happy with a VP Dodd...
Update: if you don't like "VP guess" diaries, don't read them. Don't hassle me for expressing myself in public just because you're not interested in my reasons why. Diaries that come late in the process, but before the choice is truly known, shouldn't have to suffer just because they waited for more info. If you didn't slam the early diaries, don't waste our time with slams now just because you can't change the channel to watch something else. Constructive discussion is always welcome, even (and especially) if it does "push against my preconceived notions".
Obama has said very little about his criteria for VP, but this week he said he wanted somebody:
"prepared to be president" and who will be "a partner with me in strengthening this economy for the middle class and working families."
"I want somebody who's independent, somebody who can push against my preconceived notions and challenge me so we have got a robust debate in the White House."
Chris Dodd ran fairly strong in the primaries, and disagreed with Obama, sometimes sharply, during the debates until he folded to endorse Obama pretty early. Dodd's biggest performance was forcing the FISA surrender into overtime, a sharp disagreement with Obama's final vote for telco amnesty. Dodd is known to be independent, a leader in the Democratic Party. And though Dodd declined interest in either VP or Senate Majority Leader jobs when he withdrew back in January, it wasn't strong enough a decline to rule out "if it were offered".
Chris Dodd was "the Constitution candidate" in the primaries, invoking the Constitution repeatedly and credibly as he leveraged a post-campaign fight over FISA. He never went truly negative, except against Republicans on specific political issues, though he didn't pull punches in the debates or his campaign, so he didn't make any enemies. He, like Obama, opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, and campaigned on that policy.
And Chris Dodd is the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee. The banking crisis is at the heart of America's most fundamental problems, an obstacle to solving most of our others. Obama has highlighted the specific and exclusive criterion of the economy, not the war, not regionalism, not gender, not any other issue which each has its own champion among people speculated as the VP. "It's the economy, stupid" is going to be the standard lecture to the Democratic Senate as all kinds of rules are overhauled to protect the banking foundation of the economy
Chris Dodd will probably neutralize a lot of fellow CT senator Lieberman's attacks - and would crush Lieberman if WcCain makes the "Independent Democrat" his VP candidate. Dodd was reelected in 2004, so can safely return to his Senate office if he and Obama lose the 2008 presidential race. Dodd is fluent in Spanish, and can campaign for Hispanic votes very credibly. He can show off his own 2 young daughters along with Obama's own slightly older daughters, to appeal to the idea that he has a vested interest in both the young people who put Obama over the top, and the coming generations of women inspired by Clinton's strong second. He was the Head Start org's "Senator of the Decade" in the 1990s for his educational efforts, and is responsible for the Family and Medical Leave act which also protects adoptive parents (of whatever sexual orientation). And though no one remembers him as the DNC chair at the height of President Clinton's popularity, he did indeed serve for years as the public cheerleader for many still in office in Congress, during the depths of their unpopularity.
Chris Dodd has a lot to recommend him, and fits with what Obama has said and signaled are his values in a VP. But Dodd's campaigns have been paid by the finance, insurance and real estate industries that he "oversees" in the Senate Banking Committee. He took more money from Arthur Anderson than any other Democrat, and worked to shield them and Enron from fallout from the central economic crisis of this decade. Despite Dodd's opposition to telcos violating FISA with warrantless wiretaps, he is pushing the privacy-destroying rules that would require reporting every single electronic financial transaction to the Federal government.
Other than my personal pick, Representative Robert Wexler (D-FL), Chris Dodd is probably one of the better picks for VP. He seems determined to insist on Constitutional integrity, though his electronic finance registry doesn't seem at all covered by the Constitution, and in conflict with the 4th Amendment he's waved so hard in this campaign. His years in banking are another double-edged sword, as he'll have the familiarity with both the financiers and the Senate that is their main Federal governing body to transition into helping run the Treasury and the Federal Reserve that is so tightly integrated with them. But regardless of my own reservations, those specific defects seem to be no problem for Obama, who has made his own "compromises" on privacy, and hasn't said anything that would make banks, accountants, insurers or real estate people nervous.
Chris Dodd is "the guy". I just hope he really has the integrity to burn the Cheney Bunker to the ground, even if his safe deposit box is in no danger with his pals, the bank.