Senator Tim Kaine - What is Hillary Clinton thinking?

Dear Friends,

There has been a lot of reporting in the last few days that Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia will be (could be, is likely to be) Hillary Clinton's choice for Vice President.  Turnout is always the key for  Democrats to win.  This year that is more true than ever because of the record high negative ratings of both major party candidates.  To ensure that Donald Trump does not become President, Hillary Clinton needs to generate enthusiastic support among Bernie Sanders supporters, independents and those that do not typically vote.  Selecting Tim Kaine as her running mate will not help.

Tim Kaine supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Tim Kaine just wrote a letter urging bank deregulation and less consumer protection by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.  Tim Kaine supports off shore oil drilling along the American coast.  Tim Kaine talks like a deficit hawk agreeing with the concept of "two or three dollars of cuts for every dollar of revenue".  Tim Kaine is a devout catholic who is personally opposed to abortion, although he is generally against government interference with a woman's right to an abortion.

Throughout the primary campaign Hillary Clinton has made moves to the left as a result of pressure from the Bernie Sanders campaign.  If she decides to move back to the right by selecting Tim Kaine as her Vice President, she will be making a strong case that she is a center right candidate who moved to the left when it was politically expedient and then moved back to her comfort zone; that she cannot be trusted to stay with the more progressive positions that she has taken during the campaign; that she  is just a politician who is seeking power; and that she is all the other things that people dislike about her.

Hillary Clinton cannot expect progressives to believe in her new found left leaning positions if she has her delegates keep an anti-TPP plank out of the platform and picks Tim Kaine as a running mate. While some of us will vote for her regardless of her VP choice, she will lose an opportunity to increase turnout and help Democrats win not just the White House but the down ballot races.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal