New News Means New Thinking
Arthur SolomonA couple of days ago, I wrote a column giving my opinion on who is the best person for Joe Biden to select as his vice-presidential running mate. My first choice was Elizabeth Warren. My second choice was Susan Rice. Unlike TV political pundits who never admit they were wrong and, when they are proved wrong after a happening try to spin their way out of being perceived as being wrong, I am going to change my choice now, before Mr. Biden makes a decision.
I now think that Ms. Rice is the best choice and will be chosen by Mr. Biden, for three reasons:1-She's a woman.2-She's a woman of color, and importantly.3-She has extensive foreign policy experience, the need of which was highlighted by the exposure by the New York Times that since the beginning of the year the U.S. had intelligence showing that Russia paid bounties to Taliban-linked fighters if they killed American soldiers in Afghanistan, which I believe to be true because of the muddled response to the allegations by the Trump White House. (Each spokesperson gives a different reason for Mr. Trump not acting on the intelligence.)But the main reason I think that Ms. Rice will be the chosen one is because of what happened on June 30 and July 1.On June 30, during a press conference largely about President Trump's response to the spreading coronavirus situation, Mr. Biden also criticized Trump's handling of intelligence regarding the killing of American troops for money. Mr. Biden said, “The idea that somehow he didn’t know or isn’t being briefed, it is a dereliction of duty if that’s the case. And if he was briefed, and nothing was done about this, that’s a dereliction of duty.” That was round one.On the following day, round two occurred, when Ms. Rice wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times harshly critical of the Trump's White House's handling of the intelligence. Using her experience as a national security adviser and describing how intelligence is handled, the column detailed why she doubts the claims by the president's defenders that the matter didn't reach the president.It might be a coincidence, but to me it seems like the Biden/Rice attacks against the president was a coordinated effort.
Click here to read the column, "Op-Ed: If Donald Trump And Joe Biden Would Ask My Advice Regarding Choosing Their 2020 Running Mates (With a Look Into The future And A PR Lesson)"
