There was a time when the office of the vice president was considered a ceremonial job, wrongly, but that’s how it was seen. John Nance Garner, FDR’s Vice President once called the position “a warm bucket of piss.”  

The duties of the vice president have since evolved. In the era of Gore and Cheney, the position of VEEP has been catapulted to what some call co-equal partner. Of course, in the case of Bush-Cheney it might be called something else, but let’s not go there. 

Let’s instead revisit the “old” days, when the VEEP was not a policymaker but Cheerleader-in-Chief. You know: rah-rah-sis-boom-bah and all that boom-chicka-boom stuff.

Really, the job of vice president wasn’t such a bad position, and maybe the Founding Fathers, when they created the Office of the Vice President understood how powerful and important the role of the VEEP could be.

Compare the office of the vice president to its similar position in the corporate world. We all joke about getting to the right hand man (woman) if you really want to get anything done. In the corporate world we recognize the influence of the subordinate position, but I think we are wrongly missing its power in our government.

To state the obvious that the office of chief executive of the United States is the hardest office in land, understates the position, particularly in these challenging times.

I love the New York Times writer David Brooks description of the presidency. In his recent column Mr. Brooks said: “Presidents are buffeted by sycophancy, criticism and betrayal. They must improvise amid a thousand fluid crises. They’re isolated and also exposed, puffed up on the outside and hollowed out within.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, thank you Mr. Brooks.

In this era of slash and burn politics the pummeling of the president has turned into an art form. But it is in this era that we are sadly missing our cheerleader in chief, that position that allows the second in command to take a harder line on issues to ensure support, deflect partisan criticism away from the president, insulate and diffuse when necessary and all the other things the VEEP used to do for the president that the president can’t do for him-herself.

Here is the perfect speech for a vice presidential candidate: “If we want to change outcomes, we’ve got to change our politics. We have to end the influence of lobbyists, reduce the power of the special interests, dissolve the legislative gridlock.”

The speech is positive and motivating. Its words are symbolic rather than substantive, inspiring rather than wonkish, exactly how the head cheerleader’s speech ought to be.

They are the words of candidate for president, Barack Obama. 

Obama’s chief rival in the 2008 presidential campaign is the “wonkish” Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton is having a rough time these days. She’s not the most popular girl in school; she could never be the head cheerleader, or a cheerleader period. She’s all substance and no fluff. She’s the braniac in high school who everyone respects but can’t relate to because she is so much in smarts above the rest.

But America, we’re not in high school anymore. And these are troublesome times. We need inspiration, no doubt. But what this country needs even more is the smartest mind in the land sitting in our oval office. And just down the block, sitting in a co-equal position, the perfect cheerleader in chief.

So, in this new era of presidential co-equality, I am nominating Barack Obama for vice president, the cheerleader in chief – after all, ladies first. 

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