BY Chris Ryan
Concord, NH
Tim Kaine just doesn’t seem like a Vice President or even a U.S. Senator.
But, I mean that in a good way!
Very often there’s a certain pretense, even arrogance that accompanies such figures. Kaine is very much void of those less than admirable traits.
Kaine is more of a friend than a looming statue, and that is why his pick made so much sense for Hillary Clinton.
Fact is the Clinton campaign can be a pretty tense place. The stakes are extremely high and you can feel that whenever you’re around them.
Kaine brings intellect and capability to the ticket, but perhaps more importantly, levity.
He can talk in depth policy with the wonkish Clintons, but seems just as comfortable having a beer and engaging in small talk.
The focus of our conversation in Concord on Friday was on what Kaine’s role would be as Vice President.
When John McCain’s campaign was in the gutter in the fall of 2007, he was asked routinely if he’d serve as VP. The answer was always some variance of, ‘The Vice President has two duties, to attend funerals, and inquire about the health of the President.’
Ohio Governor John Kasich was reportedly asked through intermediaries to be Donald Trump’s running mate a few months ago and was told he would be the most powerful Vice President ever. The Donald would have left all foreign and domestic policy to Kasich while he was in charge of, “Making America Great Again!’. Trump denies this. Kasich doesn’t.
Kaine’s duties will fall somewhere in between McCain’s description and Trump’s likely offer. But, where?
“Having been a Mayor, and a Governor and a Senator and having especially working on (the) Armed Services and Foreign Relations (committees) issues, I think that I can help on the governing side with whatever President Clinton would want me to do, offering advice and then taking on projects of interest,” said Kaine in a exclusive interview with WKXL.
Kaine sees himself taking a key role on economic policy and says that Hillary Clinton’s number one priority is creating a economy that shows better sustained growth and allows that growth to be shared amongst all U.S. citizens.
This is an area that he feels his previous experience as a Mayor and Governor will help him in identifying and helping to implement successful models for economic growth and the corresponding education pieces.
“I really have a deep respect for Joe Biden,” said Kaine. “Joe Biden basically said to President Obama, let me be involved and offer my two cents on all the major decisions of the administration, and it’s the President that makes that call, but Joe said, I have a lot to offer, and of course he did. I’ve heard President Obama over and over again say that’s the smartest decision I’ve ever made. So I think the main thing is to be in the room and offer a perspective on the important decisions.”
Kaine also noted that President Obama has given the Vice President various issues to work on that he was uniquely qualified to tackle and it seems that will also be his role.
Given his answers it would appear that Clinton-Kaine will be very similar to Obama-Biden in some ways.
Biden had been a U.S. Senator for 35-years and was 65-years-old when selected as President Obama’s running mate, but lacked the executive experience that Kaine has, although he is currently 58. Both appeal to blue collar voters and have a every man quality, but Kaine is much more disciplined and on message. This will allow for him to have a much more public role in a Clinton administration where Biden has been important to Obama, but much of that has been out of the public eye.
