For a few months now, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine has been rumored to be on the short list of vice-presidential picks for Hillary Clinton. Today, Politico Magazine explores the potential choice in an article, “The Left’s Beef With Tim Kaine”:
Everyone assumes Senator Tim Kaine is Hillary Clinton’s “safe” pick for vice president. He’s geographically safe: hailing from the swing state of Virginia, where a Democratic governor can name his replacement. He’s demographically safe: a white male Catholic who speaks fluent Spanish. His résumé is safe, checking the senator, governor and mayor boxes. Even his personality is safe. “I am boring,” Kaine assured America on NBC’s Meet the Press last Sunday.
But ask anyone from the Bernie Sanders wing of the party about Kaine, and suddenly he doesn’t feel very safe at all.
“An establishment Wall Street Democrat like Tim Kaine … will do nothing but confirm to progressives she’s learned nothing from this primary,” Jordan Chariton told Politico Magazine, who reports for the Bernie-friendly online talk show The Young Turks.
As many as 22 million potential voters in November are thought to be Sanders-leaning Democrats, and they’re looking for evidence that Clinton is paying some heed to the surprisingly strong insurgency of the socialist from Vermont. Bernie’s success was a clear anti-establishment uprising, strong enough that his supporters expect their agenda will now help shape the future of the party. But choosing Kaine may send them the opposite message: This is her party now, and you aren’t the ones calling the shots.
