Sometimes a delicious News McNugget surfaces, one that makes you shake your head and say Huh?!?
Last week, after Hillary Clinton’s solid showing in Georgia, a TV reporter asked Mayor Kasim Reed about a rumor that he was on the short list for the vice presidency. Of the United States, I assume.
The idea of Atlanta’s Twitter Warrior in Chief pumping up the black vote and playing the Clinton campaign’s nasty cop seemed like a crazy/brilliant scheme — especially if the opponent was The Donald, operator of the Political World’s Most Toxic Twitter Account.
Hizzoner has a healthy ego and enjoys eviscerating political opponents, as well as those who simply disagree with him. Atlanta’s top official also has experience in the No. 2 slot, performing as Robin to Gov. Nathan Deal’s Batman. (Or the governor’s Mini Me, if you want another sidekick.)
But the veep idea is far-fetched, of course. Mayors just don’t make such a jump to the big time, not even America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani.
Reed seemed genuinely bumfuzzled when asked about the VP talk. “Nnnnnnnn, I don’t have any comment on that. I don’t know anything about it,” he said. He continued with a take-one-game-at-a-time politicospeak: Shucks, he was focused on being mayor of this great city and just wants to help cement the Clinton dynasty.
“I haven’t been asked to be considered for the vice presidency,” he said. “I don’t know anything about that.”
But thanks for asking. It’s always nice to have been non-considered in public, preferably in front of cameras, no matter how crazy it seems.
It’s a time-honored tradition for a politician’s friends and/or minions to plant juicy aggrandizing rumors about said pol, about plum jobs or posts awaiting them.
Angelo Fuster, who worked for mayors Maynard Jackson and Bill Campbell said the episode reminded him of a press conference Campbell held 20 years ago. There was a rumor swirling that Campbell was heading to Washington for a Cabinet slot in the Bill Clinton White House. At the press conference, Campbell announced he was staying here.
“He found a way to turn down something he wasn’t offered,” said Fuster.
Last week, Reed had a little juice. He was Hillary’s most vocal booster in a state she won by more than 40 points. So he was feeling good and was basking in her effervescence.
So why not take the opportunity to build Brand Kasim?
For years, Reed has been touted as a rising star.
In 2013, Matt Towery, a former Republican state senator, polling firm operator and pretty fair political prognosticator, wrote an article entitled, “Kasim Reed Could Be the Next Obama.”
Towery is a smart guy, but I believe he wrote that after suffering a concussion. Reed has built some cachet outside Atlanta making frequent “Meet The Press” appearances where he has been called in to serve as pit bull for the Dems.
“I happen to believe that Republicans, verifiably, do a terrible job at governing,” he once told Roll Call, the D.C. political newspaper. “But when they come to fight, they have every knife, gun, nuclear weapon and all of the rest!”
Kabang!
During one appearance in 2012, he did a fine job of filleting the GOP’s VP candidate, Paul Ryan, as Sen. Ted Cruz sat nearby. It was verbal mugging, but Reed came away looking well. He is prickly, overbearing and thin-skinned, but compared to the eminently unlikable Cruz, Reed came across as almost cuddly.
Reed’s office sent me an email saying the mayor was going to travel around to battleground states acting as a “surrogate” and he supported VP candidates like HUD Secretary Julian Castro or U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.
So where would that leave Reed? There has been talk of him wanting be Georgia’s governor, but judging from the 2014 gubernatorial rout, 2018 won’t be welcoming to a Democrat, especially an Atlanta Democrat who has taken a few hits locally for his renowned irritability.
So that doesn’t leave many options in Georgia for an ambitious black politician with a “D” after his name.
Currently, a congressional seat is about as good as it gets. “And I don’t see (civil rights legend) John Lewis’ seat coming open any time soon,” said Aaron Turpeau, who worked under Mayor Jackson. “They may be fishing to try to find a spot for him.”
That spot, that brass ring, would likely be a Cabinet position.
Case in point for the path that Reed might want to travel is that of Anthony Foxx, Charlotte’s former mayor, who is the secretary of transportation. His career path is not unlike Reed’s: They are about the same age. Both are lawyers. Both are black politicians elected as mayors of ascendant Southern cities. And both like streetcars.
But, as luck might have it, Foxx may be well-positioned to stay in the job. A decade ago, he had the foresight to name his daughter Hillary.
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