Word: ‘White, southern, corporate dude’
June 29, 2008 at 5:00 pm by Michelle Ye Hee Lee in Word/Found
Political commentators are divided over whether former U.S. Senator from Georgia Sam Nunn would make a good running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
“Some might doubt whether Obama is ready for that 3 a.m. phone call, but Nunn – who is already an Obama policy adviser – certainly would be, especially in an era when that phone call is ever more likely to involve a loose nuke.”
– Michael Crowley, June 25, The New Republic. Nunn is CEO of the anti-proliferation non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative.
“[Nunn] was not above channeling base, “yuck factor”-based objections to homosexuality in service of his retrograde policy views. Even today, he only says he’d “reconsider” Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and insists he was right in 1993.”
– An excerpt from “Having Nunn of It,” an online petition against selecting Nunn as Obama’s running mate.
“Putting a 70-year old, white, southern, corporate dude on the ticket would almost entirely wipe away any notion that Obama is a “change” candidate.”
– Chris Bowers, June 16, on the blog OpenLeft
“Few things are certain in presidential politics, but here are three: it will be expensive; it will get negative; and, at some point, former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia will be mentioned as a possible Democratic running mate.”
– Mark Leibovich, June 22, New York Times
“Nunn himself cited a lack of “zest and enthusiasm” for politics when retiring from the Senate in 1997. Putting Nunn on the ticket could also take some of the sheen from Obama’s image of change.”
– Bryan Bender, June 16, Boston Globe
While many Democratic congresspersons make a habit of capitulating to Republicans, they still need to appear marginally liberal in order to get elected. Nunn, however, made no bones about being as conservative as he was liberal. He opposed raising taxes and homosexuals in the military; he favored tort reform, limiting death penalty appeals, and school prayer.
– Russ Wellens, May 3, on the blog Scholars & Rogues
“How odd would it be to have a ticket of a man who ran his first political race in 1996, and a man who ran his last political race in 1990? I like Sam Nunn. But how many liberals would be slack-jawed at the thought of a running mate who had spent most of his legislative career voting against the ideas that make up the Obama vision?”
– Jim Geraghty, June 23, National Review Online
“Nunn, while solid, has lost his star-power in the 12 years he’s been out of the U.S. Senate. But that may not matter. Obama needs a vice president like him, if not him.”
– Jim Wooten, June 18, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(Photo courtesy Nuclear Threat Initiative)
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June 30th, 2008 at 1:12 am
“70-year old, white, southern, corporate dude”
so many forms of bigotry in that statement
imagine if the blogger had written about the young, inexperienced, unqualified, black dude from the North running for President?
but that’s different isn’t it?
We’ve come so far that we may actually be going back -sigh-