As former Vice President Joe Biden has recently indicated he would be open to the idea of a Republican as a Vice Presidential candidate, it is important to consider some of the possible consequences of such an action. Two key issues stand out: The first is that, as there is a significant possibility of a very close Senate after the 2020 elections, with no more than a narrow majority for either party, or even, potentially, a tie, the role of the Vice President, who serves as president of the Senate, to break a tie, could be critical. Would it be sound judgment on the part of Mr. Biden to entrust that power to a Republican? It is no trivial matter. Potentially, a rogue Vice President could block judicial and other appointments in a narrowly divided Senate. And once in office, replacing a Vice President is not easy. The 25th Amendment requires a majority vote of both the House and Senate.
The second issue is that, especially given that he will be 79 in 2021, but one that is really fair to pose about all candidates, is: the ‘Johnson Issue’ (As in Andrew, not Boris Johnson). In the unfortunate event that a President Biden would be unable to complete his term, A Republican would take the helm. Would he (or she) attempt to reverse the changes Biden had implemented, or to stymie progressive reform?
This is exactly what happened the last time that a president of one party picked a vice-president of another, when in 1864 Republican Abraham Lincoln jettisoned the by all accounts successful and competent (and progressive) Vice President Hannibal Hamlin for the slave-owning Southern Democrat Andrew Johnson, who was also a person of disagreeable character and racist tendencies. When Lincoln was slain by an assassin’s bullet, Johnson used the full power of the presidency to block the reforms of Reconstruction, until the political tide turned when Southern states were readmitted to the union and most of the reforms which had been made were reversed or watered down by courts and replaced with ‘Jim Crow’ laws. Despite the impressive efforts of Radical Republicans, including impeachment, in the end, Lincoln’s choice of a “bipartisan” Veep set the country back over 100 years on race relations.
We can not entrust a Republican with the potential to block the next Supreme Court Justice.
We can not entrust a Republican to potentially become the president in case of an emergency.
To do so would be utter political, strategic, and moral malpractice.
