EDMUND BURKEVeep games continue. As I previously noted, until Romney announces his selection his campaign will float rumors that so-and-so is the leading candidate for the GOP vice presidential nomination, to be followed after a respectable pause that the leading candidate is now someone else. The objectives are to gin up as much eager anticipation as possible in Romney’s choice, and to flatter a number of politicians and their constituencies.
The current rumor – reported by a banner-headline story on the Drudge Report, and reverberating through the conservative blogosphere – is that Condoleezza Rice is the frontrunner. Undoubtedly, his campaign believes that this rumor puts Romney in a favorable light among some women, African-Americans, neoconservatives, and the remaining handful of admirers of the George W. Bush’s administration.
I previously speculated that Romney would seriously consider Rice – she is smart and would bring badly needed foreign policy expertise to the team – but that Romney would ultimately decide against choosing her because she’s associated in the public’s mind with the invasion of Iraq. The last thing Romney needs is to provoke reevaluations of that disastrous episode. What about arguing that the real boosters of the Iraq invasion were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and neoconservatives within the administration such as Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle – not to mention George W. Bush himself – and not Rice, who reportedly argued that America should concentrate on Afghanistan and not become embroiled in a second invasion? Forget about it. That would only make Rice look weak, that is, as someone who, despite her extremely close relationship with George W. Bush, failed to prevail within his administration’s inner council.
On the simplest level, anything that reminds voters about George W. Bush also reminds them that many of the nation’s current problems – including the recession, the ballooning deficit, bailouts for financial institutions – originated under his watch. Fair or not, putting Rice on the ticket would do just that. Rice was an important and visible member of Bush’s administration, and Bush’s close friend and trusted adviser. The prospect of having all of that exhumed in profiles of Rice – including photos of Rice and Bush together – is more than enough to drive a silver stake through the heart of a possible Rice vice presidential nomination.
As we proceed along the path of one implausible name being floated after another as Romney’s vice presidential pick, I’ll keep saying “I told you so” – right through Romney’s ultimate selection of Rob Portman as his running mate.