who should biden pick as vp?

he says he wants to pick a black woman to "reward their loyalty", which to me is conceptually weird. if he picks a kamala harris or a stacey abrams,  would random black women across the country feel as though they were being rewarded? why, exactly? neither candidate is particularly in tune with the issues that most affect black voters, with the exception of the issue of just being black.

regardless, running for president isn't like working in a coffee shop, and this isn't the time for black voters to decide they're going to get their 6th cup for free (especially given that the 2008 election already happened). in order to win, he needs to focus on winning mostly white states in the midwest...

elizabeth warren has demonstrated rather clearly that she's not going to pull very much of the vote. in a move in a very different direction than warren would take, biden has been doing townhalls with mark zuckerberg recently; you'll recall that the central plank in warren's platform was to destroy the internet, and zuckerberg was public enemy number one, for her. she was campaigning directly against him. so, biden doesn't appear to have her on his short list, and i would agree with people that are arguing that she would not be likely to help him win in any substantive way - she might even end up repelling voters that would otherwise lean in his direction, due to whatever hangover from hillary clinton.

likewise, i would strenuously avoid kamala harris, who demonstrated through the course of the process that she's neither a serious thinker nor a competent manager. she's like a black sarah palin. but, this is the outcome i'm more worried about. she could quite foreseeably cost him the election.

stacey abrams is also on the list, and i'm not entirely sure why, given that she's unlikely to even carry her own state. generally, you have to win a few elections before you get promoted to vp - you might want to even be a two-term governor. she may hinder biden less than kamala harris or elizabeth warren, but she won't help him where he needs to win.

so, if you're looking through black female candidates in the upper midwest, who stands out? the mayor in chicago?

he really shouldn't have boxed himself in like that. but, he may have conceded the process the moment he did it - don't be surprised if he does pick a black southerner, and then basically spends the next six months repeating the mistakes of bernie sanders, which were also the mistakes of hillary clinton, in ceding all of the actually competitive states, while trying to win states he has no chance in.

i don't have a suggestion.

but, avoid kamala harris. she's toxic.