The Great Mentioner at Work

Newsweek, June, 2008 by Jonathan Alter

Strickland, Warner, Webb, Schweitzer, Kaine, Clark, Dodd, Nunn, Sebelius. Who does Barack want?

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first Vice President, John Nance Garner, was quoted as saying the vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit. But he didn’t put it quite that way. “Cactus Jack” actually used the word “piss,” and when a reporter changed it to “spit” for the family newspaper he worked for, Garner called him a “pantywaist.” Nowadays, the problem with the quote is that it’s not true. Nearly half of the presidents since World War II have been veeps first, and the job has become much more powerful. That makes choosing a running mate a more complex challenge than it once was, as Barack Obama is about to find out. He should think of the office not as a bodily fluid...

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