Dear F,
Joe is the only one to make the vice-presidential pick.
But it is within the nature of politics to fight - tooth and nail - for one's political preference.
For nearly 200 years, virtually no one questioned "The System" when "The System" DICTATED that "The President MUST be a white Anglo-Saxon protestant male."
But now, when "uppity" black women are saying Joe's pick MUST be a black (and Joe saying it has to be a woman) it's seen as scandalous.
To what extent are black women warning that black men will vote Trump if Joe doesn't pick a black running mate?
In 2016, only 81% of black men voted for Hillary, whereas 98% of black women voted for her.
I see blacks desire for a black running mate as a quest for restorative justice.
And I admire that quest.
In any event, in the end, the choice will be Joe's.
And if it's not, then you have an issue with Joe - not with black women who seem to be sounding a reasonable warning that black men will bail.
Look at the following chart and ask yourself: "Why am I always complaining about the black vote "perhaps" declining from 93% for Joe to 90% for Joe instead of HOWLING -- incessantly -- at the fact that only 39% of white people voted for Hillary?"
Remember those two numbers 93 and 39. 93 and 39. They are mirror images of one another. A simple mnemonic.
An interesting sidelight...
What little information I can find online about Italian-American voting prefrences in 2016 (and this information is not high-quality data) suggest that significantly fewer Italian-Americans voted for Hillary than other white ethnicities.
To put stress where it is due, the blacks you criticize most in this current election season are black women who voted 98% for Clinton.
And you're laying into them!
Mingya!?
I mean WTF.
In democratic electoral politics -- where numbers count -- I too would want meaningful consideration if I were part of a lethally-oppressed ethnicity that has ALWAYS been the Democratic Party's MOST faithful servant.
But you get pissed off at them; expect them to "stay down on the plantation."
"Give us your vote, but keep your mouth shut."
At the end of the day, selecting the veep IS Joe's choice.
It is ONLY Joe's choice.
And if Joe doesn't make the choice he honestly considers best, then YOUR problem is with JOE, not with dark-skinned women who "don't know their place" and who want their voices to be better represented, and who are understandably afraid that black men might bail.
After all, black women can't count on white people!
And God knows black women can't count on white Trump cult Christians!
"Choosing A Mate"
Texas. This one word explains the otherwise inexplicable decision John Kennedy made in 1960. He chose the Texan Lyndon Johnson, a man he didn’t trust and who didn’t trust him, as his running mate because he needed to win Texas to win the White House.
For better or worse, "horse-trading" is how politics works.
If you want (or expect) the very Nature of any phenomenon to be other than what it is, then your problem is with God who, apparently, designed phenomena to be the way they are.
Hasta las 9!
