As Barack Obama gets closer to his choice of a running-mate, speculation today is focusing on Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, whose allies are letting it be known that he's being fully vetted as a short-lister.
Kaine's political strengths and weaknesses are pretty well known. He's a very successful politician in a state that hasn't gone Democratic in a presidential election since 1964, but that may be winnable this year. He's a civil rights lawyer by profession, but has built on Mark Warner's efforts to reach beyond party lines for both electoral and legislative support. On the other hand, he's still in his first term of office (and ineligible to run for re-election in 2009), and has no significant foreign policy experience.
It's Kaine's faith background that makes him an interesting option for Obama.
He's not only a practicing Catholic (an area of relative weakness for Obama during the primaries); he once served as a missionary in Central America. (His Spanish-language fluency is definitely an asset beyond Virginia). And in his 2005 gubernatorial campaign, he provided an interesting example of how faith can provide a defense against wedge-issue attacks.
His Republican opponent, Jerry (No Relation!) Kilgore, launched a barrage of ads attacking Kaine's opposition to the death penalty, as part of an effort to convince Virginians that the Democrat was well to the left of the popular Warner. Kaine responded by attributing his death-penalty position to Catholic teaching, and then argued that he could be trusted nonetheless to enforce the death penalty after he took the oath of office on a Bible. By most accounts, Kaine won this exchange decisively, without changing his position or acting evasively.
If Obama and his team are fully familiar with this incident, it may add to Kaine's appeal as a running-mate, given the avalanche of wedge-issue attacks the Democratic ticket is going to undergo in the fall.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Kaine's position on abortion and the death penalty are consistent...as a practicing Catholic he opposes both, but he recognizes that in a Democracy he must obey the rule of law if he is to govern constitutionally, and unfortunately the law in Virginia permits the death penalty. If he didn't sign death warrants he would be in violation of the very laws he had sworn to uphold. I am sure nothing would make Tim Kaine and a lot of the rest of us happier than to see the Virginia General Assembly repeal the death penalty, but so far that hasn't happened. It's the law though many of us wish it were not. I
suppose he could have stayed out of politics entirely if didn't want to have to obey Virginia law (even though he personally opposes capital punishment) but if everyone who disagreed from a religious standpoint with any law of any state stayed out of politics that would be a sad thing.
I live in Virginia, and I can tell you that Tim Kaine is THE REAL DEAL. A moral, kind, honest and wonderful person. How anyone like that ended up in politics is a mystery I know. But everyone who has ever met him or had any dealings with him will tell you that he is a very fine man indeed.
I thought this 'new' blog was supposed to be about the 'new' "rising religious left".
Instead we get this nonsense.
"Kaine's response is the type of thing you're more likely to hear from Republicans, or conservative judicial nominees."
How this is in any way indicatvie of this "new rising religious left" escapes me entirely.
Perhaps it shows that the rising religious left will be a "big tent"...unwilling to exclude fine men like Tim Kaine. He has served the citizens of Virginia well, without letting his personal religious views affect the exercise of his constitutional duties. In my view that's not inconsistent with the religious left in the least.
Let's look at the thinking behind this.
Four years ago, the Democrats nominated a Catholic as their Presidential candidate .... and the GOP candidate still got the majority of Catholic voters.
Now, the Democrats will nominate a Catholic as their VICE Presidential candidate ... and they think that will produce better results?
Say again?
Let's look at the thinking behind this.
Four years ago, the Democrats nominated a Catholic as their Presidential candidate .... and the GOP candidate still got the majority of Catholic voters.
Now, the Democrats will nominate a Catholic as their VICE Presidential candidate ... and they think that will produce better results?
Say again?
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.