Tammy Duckworth is Campaigning to be Biden’s VP and That’s a Good Thing
Tammy Duckworth is suddenly on everyone’s radar thanks to her feud with Tucker Carlson which resulted in her scathing editorial in the New York Times. Senator Duckworth has been on my radar for some time.
She popped up in my Facebook feed in June seeking signatures for her petition to prevent Trump from being buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
What?
I did a little research and it turned out that the Trump administration is trying to change the rules for who can be buried at Arlington. Sen. Duckworth is sponsoring a bill that will prevent any president or vice president who has never served in the military from being buried at Arlington. Of course Trump wants to be buried at Arlington. He wants all of the glory with none of the sacrifice. I believe that if he were buried at Arlington, all of the dead heroes already buried there would rise up out of their graves, dig him up and toss him into the Potomac.
A few weeks later, Sen. Duckworth announced that she was going to hold up military promotions until she got assurances from Defense Secretary Esper that Lt. Col. Vindman would not have his promotion denied because he testified at Trump’s impeachment hearing.
A friend commented that it was a bit of grandstanding but it was understandable because she is in the running for Biden’s VP. And that’s when it hit me — Tammy Duckworth is breaking all the rules and actively campaigning to be Biden’s VP.
I love that both Stacey Abrams and Elizabeth Warren when asked, said they were interested in the VP position and would make good VPs, breaking with the convention of denying any interest in the job. And I love that Tammy Duckworth is making lots of noise and showing what a great VP she would make.
I came of age in the 70s when smoking cigarettes was fashionable. There was even a brand, Virginia Slims, especially for women. Their magazine ads always featured glamorously dressed women. The tagline was “You’ve come a long way, baby” referencing both the era when it was not fashionable for women to smoke and the current era of women having more rights.
Back then, women who put themselves forward as today’s candidates have were considered pushy and shrill. Their male counterparts, on the other hand, were considered assertive and firm. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am that no one said that any of these female candidates are pushy and shrill to reach for their dreams.
Those were our dreams in the 70s. That women could be accepted as equals to men. But it was also our dream that women would change the world that men had created. Change the rules, change the conventions. And seeing these smart talented women tossing away the playbook on how to act when you’re on the shortlist for VP thrills me to my core.
You’ve come a long way, baby.
