ShareThisSam Nunn for Veep?
It's officially "Veep Week" over at The New Republic, and today Michael Crowley offers arguments in favor of former GA Sen. Sam Nunn as Obama's running-mate.
As I've noted before, I worked in the Senate for Sam Nunn back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and did some speechwriting for him after that. I truly revere the man, as much for what he has done after leaving the Senate (his often-lonely crusade to deal with nuclear proliferation and everything related to the threat of nuclear terrorism or accidental nuclear war) as for what he did in the Senate for 24 years. But having been out of touch with him for some time, I also have no idea if Nunn is interested in running for vice president (he's been in a grand total of one competitive political race, and that was in 1972), and have a healthy appreciation for the reasons other Democrats don't like the idea.
Crowley's argument for Nunn stresses his national security street cred (made more acceptable to many antiwar Dems because of Nunn's outspoken opposition to the First Gulf War and his statements deploring the current Iraq war as a strategic disaster); his ability to reinforce Obama's recently vulnerable claims to bipartianship; and his reassuring, "fatherly" personal image. He also acknowledges that strong antipathy to Nunn among gays and lesbians, thanks to his leading role in the 1993 Gays In the Military saga, could all but disqualify him from the ticket. (Nunn has recently indicated that it's time to reconsider "don't ask, don't tell," and I have reason to believe from watching him deal respectfully and supportively with gay staffers that he's not a homophobe, but what's done is done).
I actually think Crowley may have understated Nunn's potential value to Obama, either as a running-mate or as a prominent surrogote, on national security. Think about this: underlying all of the Bush-Cheney administration's arguments for its version of the War on Terror, including the Iraq War, the sweeping rejection of civil liberties, and the imperial view of presidential powers, has been the claim that the threat of nuclear terrorism makes this a unique period of U.S. history. Dick Cheney can hardly utter three sentences without mentioning the subject.
Sam Nunn has the unique credibility to demonstrate the fraudulent nature of these arguments, which conceal a dreadful negligence towards the actual threat of nuclear terrorism. Before and even after 9/11, the administration sought to dramatically reduce funding for the Nunn-Lugar initiative aimed at dealing with nuclear security in the former Soviet Bloc (forcing Nunn, eventually, to seek private funding to deal with the subject himself), and it took years for Bush to make nuclear security an issue in bilateral talks with Russia.
Moreover, and for the same reason, Nunn would be very useful in getting under John McCain's thin skin on the security implications of the GOP candidate's apparent determination to launch a new Cold War with Russia. And best I can tell, Nunn is in general accord with Barack Obama's overall national security vision, which has gotten scarce attention in the news media. That's probably why Nunn, surprising a lot of people, endorsed Obama for president back in April, a highly unusual step for a cautious politician who had last made political news at the beginning of the year by backing the idea of a third-party "Unity" ticket.
Crowley goes on to make an effort to turn one of Nunn's supposed handicaps--he's boring--into a strength, as a "fatherly" counterpoint to the youthful excitement generated by Obama. While I agree Nunn would be reassuring, particularly to older voters, to what's left of conservative Democrats, and most of all to the Senior Punditocracy, whose members typically think Nunn walks on water--I actually don't buy the premise. Nunn's reputation as "boring" is largely the product of the fact that he's gotten virtually no attention for anything he's said and done on subjects other than the inherently "boring" if essential nuts and bolts of defense policy. He and I once conspired to conduct a test case, by crafting a speech to the Atlanta Press Club that said not a word about defense issues. He even told the room full of reporters what he was doing, and challenged them to write about his views on non-defense issues. Not a single story was filed. He was supposed to stay "boring."
Sam Nunn actually has a wicked sense of humor. He once observed, in one of those back-handed compliments we all learned to expect, that "it takes a lot of boring staff to make a boring Senator." On another occasion, in 1990, he introduced Bill Clinton at an event as "the first politician in history to become a bright, young rising star in three different decades." (Clinton responded by saying: "Next time you hear Sam Nunn described as a dour, humorless man, tell them you heard him eat my lunch here today."). And even though he never had a serious political challenge in Georgia, he was always just as comfortable working the room at a Shoney's or a Waffle House as he was operating in the Senate cloakroom.
Crowley doesn't much mine Nunn's background as a very successful politician, but he does plausibly suggest that Nunn could help Obama put Georgia's 15 electoral votes in play, in part because the McCain-sapping ballot presence of former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, supplemented by the anticipated high African-American turnout rates, will make the state much closer than in the recent past. And although few Americans under the age of 45 would know Sam Nunn from a lamp-post, that's not true in Georgia, where he's perceived, if somewhat dimly these days, as some sort of political deity.
Having said all this about Nunn "shortcomings" that may well be smaller than people think, the real question is whether he wants the gig, and whether Barack Obama thinks his value is enough to offset the very genuine anger at Nunn among gays and lesbians--similar, in many respects, to the feminist hostility to Jim Webb--and the other "base" concerns that would emerge after a close scrutiny of his Senate voting record on a number of domestic issues.
But if nothing else, the serious discussion of Sam Nunn As Veep may illustrate the extent to which he could serve as a significant campaign surrogate, and next year, perhaps as a key member of the Obama administration, where being effective but boring won't be much of a handicap.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention a potential element of personal affinity between Obama and Nunn. Obama is famously a bad bowler, and his preferred form of athletic recreation is shooting hoops. A little-known fact about Sam Nunn is that he was an all-state basketball player in high school (granted, this was back when being "all-state" in Georgia required you to be white). Having attended a couple of basketball games with Nunn, I can tell you the man knows his hoops.
UPDATE 2: Another source of affinity, given Obama's highly communitarian rhetoric and ethic of service, is Nunn's history as perhaps his generation's most avid congressional supporter of voluntary national service. Back in the Bush 41 administration, Nunn represented the radical wing of congressional sentiment on the scope of a national service inititative (radical in the sense of scale, not meaning support for mandatory service), contributing a great deal to the eventual Clinton AmeriCorps initiative. It's really personal with Nunn: his wonderful daughter, Michelle Nunn (who mulled over a 2004 Senate race in Georgia before withdrawing, mainly because she had a very young child) is a long-time service professional who is currently CEO of the Points of Light Foundation.
Nunn must want the Vice Presidential nomination badly. His attempt to take the stink off his disgraceful fearmongering about gay and lesbian soldiers during the Clinton administration is transparent, but certainly more than he's ever done before. He must have clinched his fists as he said it:
"Last week, Nunn — whose name has been floated as a possible running mate to Obama — told reporters in Atlanta that he thinks it would now be appropriate for the nation to revisit the matter.
"I'm not advocating anything — except I'm saying the policy was the right policy for the right time, and times change. It's appropriate to take another look," Nunn was quoted as saying by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution."
He apologizes for nothing, advocates nothing new, promises nothing, and yet attempts to say something helpful to his ambitions. It's literally nothing at all, this statement, but the fact that he let the matter pass his lips at all must have seemed like the most painful of necessities to him.
Nunn's "Look how close the bunks are" hearings in the 90's were among the ugliest committee hearings in an era replete with ugly committee hearings. He will never wash away the shame, and he still isn't trying.
Sam Nunn is unfit for a place on the Democratic ticket. Let alone to be a heartbeat from the Presidency of the United States.