The prevailing idea among Democrats now is that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden must pick a black woman to be his running mate if he has any shot of beating President Trump in the November election. “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg disagrees.
According to Goldberg, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), an Asian American, would be a fine pick for Biden. The host’s suggestion stood in opposition to political commentator Tiffany Cross, who said that black women who previously served in the armed forces, as Duckworth has served, could be represented on the ticket.
“Black women have joined the military at disproportionate rates relative to any other demographic. We are overrepresented in the U.S. Armed Forces. Even those women deserve to have someone who looks like them,” said Cross, prompting Goldberg to say that Cross was suggesting Duckworth was “okay but not good enough.”
“That’s what you’re saying; that’s not what I’m saying,” Cross responded. “I’m saying, give something back because it seems like when Black people vote out of fear, it’s okay for every other constituency group to make demands. It’s okay for evangelicals to make demands, it’s okay for the gun lobby to make demands, it’s okay for single-voter issues to make demands, but when it comes to a Black voting base, it’s fear – it’s like, don’t make too many asks, we can’t ask them to pick a Black woman.”
“And it’s not ‘how Black are you?’; it’s ‘how Black are your policies?’ Are you willing to adopt a comprehensive agenda that addresses issues relevant to the Black community?” continued Cross. “Do you have someone who can go into these communities and connect with them on an intimate level, and relate to the struggle that they have … So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying, yes, you have well-qualified women who are just as qualified as Senator Tammy Duckworth – why not pick somebody who speaks to the base that upholds you, your candidacy, and this country? I don’t know why that’s a bad thing.”
While Goldberg agreed that a black woman on the ticket is not a “bad thing,” she did feel the sentiment might send an exclusive message.
“It’s not a bad thing,” she said. “But what it kind of sounds like is, ‘take care of us’ as opposed to, listen, we know you’re coming in, you got to take care of everybody because we’re sitting in a bunch of dooky right now – so I just want to make sure that the right people, the right people, whoever they happen to be, whoever they are, I want them to have the same opportunity. I want Tammy to have the same opportunity that everyone has.”
“I want Joe Biden to play to win, and when you look at this voting base, who are the people who resurrected your campaign?”@TiffanyDCross on why she says Joe Biden should pick a Black woman as his running mate: “It’s not a time to make safe choices.” https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik pic.twitter.com/PRipndqcwG
— The View (@TheView) July 16, 2020
While Duckworth may be gaining some traction in Biden circles due to her past service in America’s armed forces, her extremism may be a liability to winning over moderates and independents. Earlier this month, in the wake of mobs targetting statues and historic monuments, and tearing them down without due process, Duckworth signaled that she is in favor of having a dialogue about removing the statues of America’s founding fathers.
