The recent Wikileaks info dump of hacked emails has turned up a list of possible vice presidential picks that were apparently considered by the Hillary Clinton campaign, before it ultimately settled on Virginia senator/amiable stepdad Tim Kaine.
The list of potential running mates was helpfully if crudely divided by Clinton advisers into the following groups: Hispanic politicians, female politicians, white dude politicians, African-American politicians, military figures, business people, and Bernie Sanders (yep, he was put in his own category… right at the very bottom of the list). Unsurprisingly, it was a member of the historically successful “white dude politicians who aren’t Bernie Sanders” demographic that ended up in the VP slot, but the list still provides an interesting look at what could have been.
The business people category is especially intriguing, and includes the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates (as well as his wife Melinda), billionaire and former Republican mayor Michael Bloomberg, and yes, even General Motors CEO Mary Barra.
There would have been many pros and cons to a Mary Barra candidacy. Presumably, she could have further shored up Clinton’s popularity among women voters, while also undercutting some of Trump’s “we need a business person, not a politician” argument.
However, she also presents some drawbacks. Because of the (successful yet largely unpopular) 2008 auto industry bailout, many people still view General Motors as the beneficiary of corporate welfare and the “rigged system” that has been railed against during this election season. Additionally, the ignition switch scandal would likely haunt Barra, despite evidence suggesting that she was kept in the dark about its severity until after being named CEO.
Of course, in all likelihood, Donald Trump would have neglected to follow through with any of those lines of attack, choosing instead to berate Barra for the fact that she is frankly, not a 10, folks—maybe not even a 4, if you really wanna know the truth.
After all, in the Republican primaries, Trump criticized Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina by wondering aloud how anyone would vote for someone with “that face,” and he just recently implied that he wasn’t impressed by Hillary Clinton’s butt. Just imagine all of the gross stuff we would have gotten to hear Trump say if there were two women on the Democratic ticket!
Would he have called her “Bailout Barra” in all of his tweets? Almost certainly. Would he have engaged in casual sexism by saying that Mary Barra doesn’t have the same presidential “look” or “stamina” as his boy Mike Pence? Very probably. Would he at some point have called her the b-word, or even the c-word? Honestly, it wouldn’t be that shocking at this point!
Anyway, the nice (?) thing about this election is that no matter what hypothetical scenario we dream up, reality ultimately produces something much more bizarre and entertaining/disturbing.
Via: Jalopnik
Patrick Grieve was born in Southwestern Ohio and has lived there all of his life, with the exception of a few years spent getting a Creative Writing degree in Southeastern Ohio. He loves to take road trips, sometimes to places as distant as Northeastern or even Northwestern Ohio. Patrick also enjoys old movies, shopping at thrift stores, going to ballgames, writing about those things, and watching Law & Order reruns. He just watches the original series, though, none of the spin-offs. And also only the ones they made before Jerry Orbach died. Season five was really the peak, in his opinion. See more articles by Patrick.