Terry Michael of Politico wrote an article back in June, singing the praises of Claire McCaskill, wondering why Obama didn’t have her on the short list for VP. Although Obama didn’t follow Terry’s advice and choose Claire, he has relied heavily on her to act as a surrogate, campaigning for the women’s vote. Some excerpts of Terry’s article follow.
she exhibited the political courage to step out front for Obama when other Democratic women in the Senate took the safe route and endorsed Hillary Clinton.
View some YouTube clips of this woman speaking on Obama’s behalf. Start with her Bill Maher interview, perhaps. Though I realize it’s not good for my emotional or intellectual health, I have watched countless hours of cable babble this past winter and spring, and McCaskill has been one of the rare voices of sanity and reason among the talking-points-scripted verbal food fighters.
She is unflappable, genuine, likable, feminine, strong, warm, articulate, tough. The list of pleasing human attributes could go on and on.
Claire McCaskill, much ballyhooed surrogate for Obama, out there garnering the women’s vote with her thrilling communication skills, gives us a stunning example of the new level of discourse we can expect from the Democratic party, as she occasionally shows her real self. Also from Politico, comes the story of Claire’s behavior towards Mitt Romney the day they were both interviewed by MSNBC.
McCaskill was stepping out of her chair at the end of an MSNBC interview, and Romney was up next. She and a staffer unplugged her various wires, and she handed Romney the earpiece the guests use to hear the host.
“I spit on this before I put it in,” she said to Romney, with a sweet smile.
What a classy, likable, feminine, warm lady. If Terry was so right on the mark there, surely he was right when he said the following too.
She sounds like real change to me.
And she has the depth and breadth of experience to provide the most important quality we should always seek in someone a heartbeat away from the presidency: good judgment. (Would you prefer as a Supreme Court justice a brilliant law professor or an intelligent lawyer who served a term as county sheriff or state’s attorney? The first Cold War president, McCaskill’s fellow Missourian Harry Truman, was served well by a high school diploma and autodidactic knowledge of world and American history.)
Two candidates on the same ticket with good judgment. If I can take a little license with Nirvana’s lyrics, smells like team spirit to me.
Go, Claire, go!
Again we see what type of change today’s Democrat party is bringing to politics, the higher calling, the new breed of politician. True courage, class and good judgment. Thanks, Claire.
