Perhaps no one aside from Beto O’Rourke has solicited so much undeserved media coverage and praise in the last few years than Stacey Abrams. The former Georgia politician has never held an office above the state legislature, and despite a wave election in 2018, she still managed to lose by over 50,000 votes in her bid for governor against Brian Kemp.
Yet, the realities of her situation have been cast aside for myth making about voter suppression and all but decided future prominence. Glowing profiles in outlets like The Washington Post (where she was compared to a super model) have pushed this narrative of inevitability.
Unfortunately for Abrams, Joe Biden’s campaign doesn’t seem to be playing along.
Last night on Stephen Colbert’s program, Abrams said she hasn’t gotten any calls related to vetting in Biden’s search for a vice-presidential nominee. It would be pretty remarkable if one of the most-mentioned and most-covered figures — compared to a runway supermodel in a Washington Post profile — was never seriously considered by the Biden campaign. Abrams wants to be considered, and quite a few ardent admirers in the national news media want her to be considered. But there is little evidence that she is actually being considered.
For her to not even get a call at this point means Abrams was never considered at all and almost certainly won’t be considered in the future. That’s pretty astonishing when you juxtapose it against the media lobbying for her to be Biden’s vice presidential nominee.
When you really step back though, is this really surprising? What does Abrams off to the ticket except an extremely divisive figure from a state she couldn’t deliver in just two years ago? Unlike the “I’m a moderate” act Biden puts on, Abrams wears her left-wing ideology on her shoulder as well. The last thing Democrats need is to be pulled further into the muck of woke-ism. That’s not to say that Biden hasn’t actually caved to almost all aspects of such, only that Abrams might as well be a flashing billboard announcing he has.
In the end though, I think it was the love affair between Abrams and the media that turned the Biden campaign off the most. You don’t want a running mate who overshadows the top of the ticket. You want someone who compliments the top of the ticket’s goals, values, and policy positions. Abrams has made it clear that she wants to be the star and that everyone else is just a stepping stone to be used. Her ambition is naked and no presidential candidate wants to deal with that.
If I had to guess, I think Biden calls an audible, picking a VP nominee for his ticket no one is talking about. I’m skeptical he wants someone like Kamala Harris, who quite literally accused him of racism less than a year ago and who failed so hard in the primaries. What I do know is that no matter who he picks, they’ll be lauded as an incredible, revolutionary figure that will surely help deliver Biden victory. The media narrative is already written. It just needs a name filled in the blank.
Via RedState
