And now let us praise famous men, drum roll please: George Clinton, Elbridge Gerry, Daniel D. Tompkins, Richard M. Johnson, George M. Dallas, William R. King, Hannibal Hamlin, Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson, William A. Wheeler, Thomas A. Hendricks, Levi P. Morton, Garrett A. Hobart, Charles W. Fairbanks, James S. Sherman, Thomas R. Marshall, Charles G. Dawes, Charles Curtis, John N. Garner, Henry A. Wallace, Alben W. Barkley, Hubert H. Humphrey, Spiro T. Agnew, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Walter F. Mondale, and J. Danforth Quayle. If the names do not roll off the tongue, nor can you really identify who and what they are about, this should not surprise us. They are a particularly undistinguished lot in terms of their actual service record in the position in question. Even when their names are somewhat familiar, George Clintion, not the singer, nor related to "Slick Willie, or Gerry providing his name to a disreputable political practice, "gerrymandering," or even those more recent figures whose names might be somewhat known and may ring a bell: Wallace, Humphrey, Agnew, Rockefeller, Mondale, or Quayle, they are not easily identified. The point here is that Vice-Presidents, the list of unknowns here, really are "just a heartbeat away from the Presidency," but most Vice-Presidents simply retreat into the dustbin of history. It is true of course that numerous Vice-Presidents were known commodities, but that is largely because they went on to distinguish themselves as President or they were identifiable as part of a larger historical movement or made another important contribution.
To wit, Palin is a political choice for the Republican ticket, if she does not know all the intricacies of foreign policy, she will simply do what all Vice-Presidents do, study for the job and if history calls upon her, God help us if she is not ready.
This is the traditional role of Vice-Presidents anyway. Most just fade away over time. The more interesting aspect of the Republican ticket, it seems to me, is that many people already have poor McCain dead and buried while displaying an unhealthy predilection towards age discrimination.
Many older people can and do have important contributions to make to this country. I would hope that the nay-sayers would lighten up. McCain might not die tomorrow.
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