Granderson: Herschel Walker’s candidacy is more interesting now that Senate control is decided in the Republican Party.
Herschel Walker’s candidacy is more interesting now that Senate control is decided in the Republican Party. I think it is too soon to discuss his running mate, but on one important issue, Herschel says, “If you can’t find a vice president, you can’t be president of the United States. And he would have just one vice president as all of us have one. He will have only one and we all know what that means.” (From a tape I have.)
This was probably the first time he had ever talked about the vice presidency. Now, I think it was the first time he had ever discussed the prospect of becoming first president.
It was also the first time he made public the fact that the election would be contested. He had not said this to anyone else, not even in the circle that would be his inner circle.
The question of what the vice president will do as president is no longer an issue. The question of what president will do as vice president is.
If the vice president’s job is to serve as a link between the president and the Congress, that is the job Herschel will be doing, and he would still have as little, if not more say, than most others.
There is one thing to be said for Herschel’s candidacy. His running mate, who will become the first female vice president of the United States, will have to overcome a great deal of her own baggage, and a great many questions, to make it in the first place.
Most presidential nominees, once they get into the race, have to overcome a great deal of their own baggage through the campaign. There must be no such thing as a “natural” VP because there is no such thing as a “natural” candidate. The one will always be asked to overcome something he or she has to overcome.
This is why the first vice presidential candidate who does run for president gets no say in choosing a running mate. The candidate must overcome things for which the vice president was not responsible.
For the record, I think Herschel would make the
