Whitebread Veepage

Kathleen Sebelius. Governor of Kansas.
Sarah Palin. Governor of Alaska.

That's it. Those are the the only names being mentioned in all the VP speculation that happens to be a person of a female persuasion. The rest are all lamentably white, male and overly coiffed. It's almost depressing really. Granted, the job of the Vice-President has on occasion been compared to a 'pitcher of warm spit' but in the wake of Dick Cheney, the VP has been transformed forever more. Yes, we can thank Vice President Skeletor for that but the fact remains: Cheney's legacy is a simple one- other than being a creepy, puppet master type who accidentally shoots people, he changed the Vice-Presidency rather dramatically and made it a position of power. Whether this was due to the shortcomings of our noble leader (as some from the left would suggest) or because of the extraordinary times we live in, following September 11th (as some from the right would suggest) the undeniable fact is that the Vice-Presidency in this election matters a great deal.

On candidate is old, the other young and relatively inexperienced- both need to pick the right candidate and if they don't, then it could have real ramifications for both campaigns. McCain needs to pick someone who can be ready on Day 1 to be President if needs be. His age demands that. Obama needs some balance. He's young, telegenic and can give a could speech, but he needs someone who's got some bench strength to back him up. Who that could be, I don't know.

But in all the stories floating around the MSM, the pointless speculation- every single picture on the television screen, every single one has been white, bland and male. Ann Althouse rightly rips Obama a new one for even considering Indiana Senator Evan Bayh as VP. It would be refreshing to see someone not white, middle aged and bland as cottage cheese on the bottom half of the ticket. It would be even more refreshing to see someone not male on the bottom of the ticket.

Women are achieving record levels of participation and positions within government. Nancy Pelosi, despite irritating me greatly is the Speaker of the House. Third in line for the Presidency. There are more women senators than ever before. Same with Congress. There are women governors, senators and congressmen, all of whom are eminently qualified and probably work a heckuva lot harder than some of their male counterparts. Yet two is all McCain and Obama can come up with. Two. And I think it'd surprise everyone if either Sebelius or Palin is chosen as VP. Sebelius is considered a long shot because of her rather ill-received response to the State of the Union last year and, unbelievably, there are still Hillary Clinton supporter who claim they would be 'insulted' if another woman besides Hillary was chosen.

I think that's a crock of shit. There are plenty of qualified women out there who could bring to the ticket a lot other than the massive amounts of baggage that Clinton would bring with her. Like it or not, when married to Bill, Hillary is stuck with his baggage. And that's a drag on the ticket that not even I would be willing to countenance. Sebelius, Gregoire, McKaskill, Klobuchar, Napolitano- there's a long list of better candidates. Plus, Hillary doesn't belong at the number 2 slot. Number one or nothing for her.

Hmmm, basically, it's a sad state of affairs when the VP candidates are white overly coiffed men. Is there no creativity out there?