Is Tammy Duckworth qualified to be president?
Illinois junior U.S. senator, Tammy Duckworth , is apparently under consideration for the vice presidential nomination with Joe Biden.
I was listening to the NYT podcast The Argument and they were talking about the top VP contenders. One of the people on the show said Biden should pick Tammy Duckworth. His reasons were not so much about her qualifications as they were about her personal story and her personal character. She is an Asian American who flew helicopters in combat in Iraq and lost both her legs when her copter was hit with an enemy RPG. (She is also credited with coining the phrase "Cadet Bone Spurs" in reference to Trump.)
The person on the podcast wants Duckworth to be the nominee because it will be very difficult for Trump to attack her. She has a real , earned, Purple Heart for example
Donald Trump Says Receiving a Purple Heart as a Gift Is ...
Aug 02, 2016 · — ASHBURN, VA -- In the wake of a New York Times report delving into his military deferments, Donald Trump said that receiving a Purple Heart as a gift is much easier than being awarded it for being wounded during military service.
At first glance though, Duckworth might not seem to have the resume of a U.S. president. She has only been in Congress for 8 years, and only four as a US senator. She is not a committee chairperson, and does not serve on any of the high profile senate committees. Her educational background does not jump off the page at you. Her masters degree is in international affairs. Her PhD is in "Human Services" from an online university. Duckworth is not in the Democratic leadership in Congress. And she is not usually considered a particularly compelling speaker.
So, given that Joe Biden is 77 and there is a more than usual chance that his vice president might have to step in at the top, is Duckworth presidential material?
Once upon a time ( 5 years ago) the answer would be "questionable". But today, as we know now, she is completely qualified. This is the gift we have been given by the Trump ascension. Anyone and everyone is qualified to be president of the United States. You dont even have to be honest, upstanding, non-corrupt, or even intelligent or articulate. You can be a terrible public speaker, a dimwit, and a buffoon and still be qualified to run the country.
On that scale, Tammy Duckworth is an outstanding candidate to assume the presidency if need be. She is honest, humble, intelligent, and sincere, and those characteristics are NOT EVEN REQUIRED.
What a country.
Tags
Who is online
99 visitors
Anyone Biden picks will be more fit to be president than the one we have now.
His reasons were not so much about her qualifications as they were about her personal story and her personal character.
Being a president and leader of ALL the people requires much more than a personal story and good character...I respect her for her personal sacrifice and her service to the country, but she is not qualified to be president. Biden is the weakest and most dimwitted Democrat candidate in recorded history.
If Biden by some miracle wins, the Democrats best be very careful in who they pick for VP, because I believe the Dems will try to replace him with someone more hard left.
Didn't stop people from electing the asshole in the White House now, did it ?
You seem to like to believe quite a number of weird, irresponsible ideas about democrats? Got any of those about today's republicans or are you good?
I thought someone would say something like that. Greg , how did you keep a straight face when you typed that, seeing as how you support the atrocity currently in the White House ?
So what makes him unqualified to be President that his opposition wouldn't have exploited?
How is she just like him? She has served in government. She has shown herself to be intelligent and articulate. She has an education that would be helpful - a master's degree in International Affairs.
And she's not an imbecile. That alone puts her head and shoulders above Trump as a qualified candidate.
I don't find a Purple Heart recipient (one who actually earned it) to be a joke.
This comment alone is remarkable in how ill-informed it is. Drawing duplications that simply are not present. One of the drawing points for certain conservatives was just how rude and pitiless, Donald Trump can be mirroring themselves. Tammy Duckworth by comparison is civil and selfless.
Unbelievable.
She lost her legs in serving her country.
She is a hero.
'You bitch and moan about Trump and his lack of experience, but you don't find it a tad disturbing that people want another one just like him?
Already, she's a joke.'
I find it disturbing that you're attacking Ms. Duckworth like this.
I really don't care for the man, but either way, like it or not, he still won fair and square. I really don't care to see him reelected but I want a leftist liberal Democrat even less.
I am curious if you would be saying the same if she were a Republican. Probably not...
A joke Suz? Really?
Did you serve in the armed services?
Can you fly a helicopter?
Ever run for national office once?
Twice?
Had a couple of kids along the way?
Really, what are the qualifications for President nowadays?
Just asking for a friend that no longer participates here.
I think you misunderstood the comment but
going with yours...\
Then Duckworth would be running against Trump and I would be driving her car for her throughout her campaign.
Does the military generally allow imbeciles to pilot its helicopters?
And my opinion of Trump's imbecility is supported by members of his own administration. Or former members, as the case may be.
But then again, Trump certainly isn't either.
What a hoot!
You are correct. I have no respect, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, DIDDLY SQUAT for the current crop of republicans/gop. There is nothing good to say about them.
But what does that have to with it?
Derail, deflect?
You respect the service.... I respected Johnny Mac up to the point to where I almost voted for him.
If he had won the nomination in 2016, I would have voted for him. But by then it was too late for him
To each their own.
Not to mention she served her country in the military. That makes her a good contender for political office, as she was willing to and literally bled for her country as well as risking her very life. That's something to be admired and praised. She would be a good choice for VP.
I would probably have voted for him in 2008, but Sarah Palin was an insult to the intelligence of women everywhere. Assuming that they had my vote wrapped up by trotting her out was a mistake on the part of the GOP.
I think McCain's loss is largely due to Palin. Had he picked someone else, he might have had a better chance.
idiotic nanook of the north cost mac the election
That seems likely.
I am a conservative Independent and Sara Palin was way too over the top for me! I also agree that McCain picking her as his VP choice cost him the election.
In that we are in agreement. Him picking that nitwit Palin cinched it for me.
Unfortunately I can't see Alaska from my balcony.
I agree, naming Sara Palin was his big mistake.
And why is that?
Why what Ed? I mean you're asking me a question from yesterday.
What?
Sorry, I did not see your response until today. Refer back to post #1.1.10 where I stated that I really do not care to see Trump reelected, but I really care to see a leftist liberal even less. Your reply in #1.1.17 was "What a hoot". Just curious as to the reason for your response.
Okay, I am going to be the professor here again. Nouns do not modify other nouns; it is something drilled into me by third grade. I find this misuse very distracting and, to me at least, it diminishes the writer's argument. (Don't get me started on the use of homophones or other improperly used words!)
Are you talking about Sarah Palin?
No. I don't, I leave that to others.
Tammy Duckworth has more real world experience under her pinkie finger nail than trump does in his whole bloated, disgusting body. Who's a joke ?
She is MORE qualified than the Traitor in the WH who spends his time stealing, corrupting the Justice Department, sucking up to Putin, and turning America toward a RACE WAR to get himself re-elected.
Trump is a hate-filled scumbag.
What is a LEFTIST LIBERAL?
Is Joe Biden a Leftist Liberal?
What is Trump?
I suppose one could thank you for your honesty, but that's sad.
You only restrict your own choices by labeling and sticking to said labels.
"You only restrict your own choices by labeling and sticking to said labels. "
Interesting choice of words. So is it your position that if she had said she did not want a Republican that would have been okay? But because she said Democrat that was not. If that is the case, it seems you are guilty of the same thing you accused her of.
Well said Kathleen, well said!
Frank Bruni column: Here’s why Tammy Duckworth is the obvious choice to be Joe Biden’s vice president pick
Whatever his wobbles, Joe Biden has, from the start of his presidential campaign, got one thing exactly right: The 2020 election is a battle for the soul of America. That’s not just a pretty slogan. It’s the stomach-knotting truth — and it’s the frame he should use for choosing his running mate.
She’s a paragon of the values that Donald Trump, for all his practice as a performer, can’t even pantomime. She’s best described by words that are musty relics in his venal and vainglorious circle: “sacrifice,” “honor,” “humility.” More than any of the many extraordinary women on Biden’s list of potential vice-presidential nominees, she’s the anti-Trump, the antidote to the ugliness he revels in and the cynicism he stokes.
Americans can feel good — no, wonderful — about voting for a ticket with Duckworth on it. And we’re beyond hungry for that. We’re starving.
That ache transcends all of the other variables that attend Biden’s deliberations as he appraises Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Val Demings and others: race, age, experience, exact position on the spectrum from progressive to moderate.
Duckworth, a former Army lieutenant colonel who lost both of her legs during combat duty in Iraq, is a choice that makes exquisite emotional and moral sense. Largely, but not entirely, because of that, she makes strategic sense, too.
For the uninitiated: Duckworth, 52, is in the fourth year of her first term in the Senate, before which she served two terms in the House. So, unlike several of the other vice-presidential contenders, she has ascended to what is conventionally considered the right political altitude for this next step.
But it’s her life story that really makes her stand out. It’s the harrowing chapter in Iraq, yes, but also how she rebounded from it, how she talks about it. It’s her attitude. Her grace.
As my colleague Jennifer Steinhauer explained in a recent profile of Duckworth in The Times, she didn’t just serve in the Army: She became a helicopter pilot, which isn’t a job brimming with women. And as she flew near Baghdad one day in 2004, her Blackhawk was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. The explosion left her near death.
She later received a Purple Heart, but she bristles when she’s called a hero. That designation, she has often said, belongs to her co-pilot, Dan Milberg, and others who carried her from the wreckage and got her to safety.
She put it this way when, as part of a “Note to Self” feature on “CBS This Morning,” she read aloud a letter that she had written to the younger Tammy: “You’ll make it out alive completely because of the grit, sacrifice and outright heroism of others. You haven’t done anything to be worthy of their sacrifices, but these heroes will give you a second chance at life.” She paused there briefly, fighting back tears.
To Steinhauer she said, “I wake up every day thinking, ‘I am never going to make Dan regret saving my life.’” Her subsequent advocacy for veterans, her run for Congress, her election to the Senate: She casts all of it in terms of gratitude and an obligation to give back.
Tell me how Trump campaigns against that. Tell me how he mocks her — which is the only way he knows how to engage with opponents. Or, rather, tell me how he does so without seeming even more obscene than he already does and turning off everyone beyond the cultish segment of the electorate that will never abandon him. Duckworth on the Democratic ticket is like some psy-ops masterstroke, all the more so because it was she who nicknamed Trump “Cadet Bone Spurs.”
I asked her about that on the phone Thursday, remarking that it was uncharacteristically acerbic of her.
“This guy’s a bully,” she said. “And bullies need a taste of their own medicine.”
Warren, too, is terrific at giving Trump that. Her placement on the Democratic ticket might fire up the progressives who regard Biden warily. And she could make an excellent governing partner for him.
But mightn’t she also give moderate voters pause? What about her age? She’s 71. Biden’s 77. Can the party of change and modernity, whose last two presidents were both younger than 50 when first elected, go with an all-septuagenarian ticket?
Governing partners don’t matter if you don’t get to govern. The certain catastrophe of four more years of Trump demands that Biden choose his running mate with November at the front, the back, the top and the bottom of his mind.
Harris also ably prosecutes the case against Trump. But many progressives have issues with her, and the idea that she’d drive high turnout among black voters isn’t supported by her failed bid for the Democratic nomination. She lacked support across the board, including among African-Americans. And in a recent national poll conducted by The Times and Siena College, more than 4 in 5 voters — including 3 in 4 black voters — said that race shouldn’t be a factor in Biden’s vice-presidential pick.
Duckworth is neither progressive idol nor progressive enemy. That partly reflects a low policy profile that’s among her flaws as a running mate but could actually work to her advantage, making her difficult to pigeonhole and open to interpretation. Trump-weary voters can read into her what they want. And in recent congressional elections, Democrats have had success among swing voters with candidates who are veterans.
Duckworth certainly can’t be dismissed as the same old same old. Her vice-presidential candidacy would be a trailblazing one, emblematic of a more diverse and inclusive America. Born in Bangkok to an American father and a Thai mother, she’d be the first Asian American and the first woman of color on the presidential ticket of one of our two major parties.
She was the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office and the first to bring her baby onto the Senate floor. You want relatable? Duckworth has two children younger than 6. She’s a working mom.
She’s not the product of privilege: In fact her family hit such hard times when she was growing up in Hawaii that at one point she sold flowers by the side of the road. But she went on to get not only a college degree but also a master’s in international affairs.
Cards on the table: I’m not at all sure that running mates matter much on Election Day. There’s ample evidence that they don’t.
But in any given election, they sure as hell might. Biden would be a fool, given the stakes, not to consider his running mate a victory clincher or deal breaker and to choose her accordingly.
Duckworth’s virtues include everything that I’ve mentioned plus this: She projects a combination of confidence and modesty, of toughness and warmth, that’s rare — and that’s a tonic in these toxic times.
I asked her whether she deems Trump a patriot. She said that he wraps himself in the American flag — a flag, she noted, that will someday drape her coffin — for the wrong reasons.
“I would leap into a burning fire to pull that flag to safety, but I will fight to the death for your right to burn it,” she told me. “The most patriotic thing you can do is not necessarily putting on the uniform but speaking truth to power, exercising your First Amendment rights — that’s what created America, right?”
I asked her how it felt to have her name floated as a possible vice-presidential nominee.
“It’s surreal, right?” she said, recalling that she was once “a hungry kid who fainted in class for lack of nutrition. It’s unbelievable I’m even a U.S. senator.”
“But it’s one team, one fight,” she added, referring to the Democratic quest to defeat Trump. “I will work as hard as I can to get Joe Biden elected because the country needs it. It doesn’t matter where I end up on that team.”
Yes, Sen. Duckworth, it does. In the right role, you could help guarantee the right outcome.
BRAVO!!!
Thank you for that brilliant post, as always, packed with facts and no Bull Chips. You are my HERO!
I have to say, after that editorial, Senator Duckworth certainly seems like a good VP choice: she has political experience, is a wounded military veteran, had a leadership position, is humble, is educated, didn't grow up privileged, and generally seems to care about the country overall rather than political parties. While I'd like to see what the other potential VP candidates can bring to the table, Senator Duckworth seems like a solid pic. A presidential candidate's VP pick can be a make-or-break deal for their campaign.
I think on character ,and policy, Tammy Duckworth is very solid. She is a progressive but a moderate progressive I guess you could say.
Her major "flaw" is that she is not a highly polished public speaker and her charisma is more subtle than you might want in a candidate.
Fair enough.
Nothing wrong with that.
And I don't think she can be appointed President if Joe Biden suddenly couldn't continue his presidency, as she is not American born.
If it were to come down to it, I would rather see Duckworth as president far more than Biden or Trump.
Not necessarily true regarding american born citizenship. She was born in Thailand to a Thai mother and a American father on miltary active duty in Thailand. As such, and especially if she was born on a U.S. military installation which is considered sovereign U.S. territory, it is the same as if she had been physically born in Hawaii or the continental United States.
If she wasnt eligible to be president I dont think they would be considering her. Her situation is much like John McCain's was - born overseas with a US military parent.
Good point John. As Panema was still a U.S. Trust Territoty as the time McCain was born there on a military installation there, as you said he falls under the same category I listed above for Duckworth.
As would I. She is a least much more qualified to handle the position.
Good point. I had not considered that.
As a 20 year U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman with years on small bases overseas, I physically assisted in the delivery of numerous infants. I was also responsible for the submission of paperwork for birth certificates and citizenship paperwork through the U.S. Embassy in the host country.
Thank you for sharing.
As far as the high class degree goes, that is more like spending money to get in with the big money people. It is mostly still not what you know, but who you know.
This is exactly what happened to me. I got into a fairly high end engineering school & ended up with undergrad & graduate degrees. However, during my sophomore year I met someone who gave me a intern job. I ended up graduating with years of real world experience, and recommendations from people for whom I worked. Not one person who interviewed me for my first job out gave even the slightest shit about the degrees. The recommendations and projects accomplished list were golden keys.
Six years after graduating, I started a computer consulting firm. I had to learn to interview. I learned pretty quickly that completely useless people could get degrees. We ended up giving people tests where they had to write a little program. These were really simple, but fewer than 1 in 10 could do them. Needless to say, I am not impressed by degrees. What a degree in the absence of experience means is that the person is not hard-code uneducable; you *might* be able to teach them to do something useful.
She’s not black. Isn’t that the defining characteristic for the dems?
She would be an excellent choice.
Why?
She has proper credentials. She is likeable. She appears to be grounded in commonsense and in her professionalism. That said, the job of president seems to be going in the other direction, but whose fault is it? All the truly "senior" power players for the job are discounted, canceled out, or fed up with the trash-talk they get from the 24/7 news cycles!
I think that she would be a good pick as VP.
Here are the odds for various people to become Biden's vice presidential nominee, according to the site
I don't see how Michelle Obama is even that high, considering she has expressed no intention of taking public office herself.
I think she is just popular. People still really like her.
I like Harris but I would really really like to see her as Attorney General. It would be glorious.
I think that would be a wise choice
I think it's going to be Susan Rice. She would be the most ready of all of them to step in as president if Biden became "unavailable".
Yes she wants to make slaves out of free people I could see him picking her.
" A reported possible Joe Biden vice presidential pick this week reiterated her support for a program that would require all Americans to dedicate time in service to their country, at least in a civilian capacity.'
There are a lot of people across the political spectrum that have advocated for a form of national service.
Should the U.S. have drafted men into the armed forces during WW2, or should it have just waited and hoped that enough people would enlist ?
The draft for Vietnam was a failure that ruined many men’s lives for nothing. I fully support Jimmy Carter’s decision to pardon the draft dodgers.
I am pretty sure you have misappropriated the word, "slavery" in the context of its prior operation in this country. But, you know what? I think you meant to do that!
At least she's had more experience in government than Trump did. If she's capable of appointing and listening to ministers, staff and advisers who are themselves intelligent and capable, then why not? As for her disability, has everyone forgotten Franklin D Roosevelt?
Of course Trump already has ammunition to use against her. Tammy's mother was of Chinese Ancestry, and he's already sown enough xenophobia against Chinese people with his racist comments, and is bound to use her ancestry as a weapon (that he created) against her.
Her link to China as a Thai Chinese is about 130 years more distant than Mitch McConnell's wife's link. That might be an interesting discussion on the debate stage.
Well, as you know it's an ancient civilization, and if she were named VP you can bet your boots that even if she were 1300 years more distant than Mitch McConnell's wife's link, Trump would slander her for her ancestry. Or do you think that he's too kind or polite to not do that?
The first president with not one but two wives from Communist countries. Yep, this could get nasty.
LOL
I did not forget FDR! No way. Just did not see an opening to mention it! Good job on the insert, Buzz!
Before the Trump administration I would have said - yes she is very well qualified.
Now however, while she is still very well qualified to be president, the bar is so much lower that even my cat might meet the requirements. At least my cat knows enough to just poop in her litter box. (Ok there was this one time I left my cap on the floor ...)
it will be very difficult for Trump to attack her. She has a real , earned, Purple Heart for example
Why would it be difficult? It wasn't difficult to attack Mattis as well as several other high ranking (and highly accomplished) military officers.
What's a "wait for it Asian"?
(I suppose its the opposite of a "Get it Now Asian"?
Is Tammy Duckworth qualified to be President?
Yes.
Well she told a brazen lie about trumps Independence Day speech in her first big national interview, so she’s moving toward the top of the leaderboard.
I think she conflated a bunch of Trump's recent speeches and comments.
So now that Tammy Duckworth has "lied" once, is she on an equal plane with Trump's 18,000 lies, none of which you have ever commented on negatively?
Give her time John. That was a preposterous lie. She's obviously a natural if she can pull that off in her first big VP test. The MSM media rewarded her for it, so it's not like there is any incentive to stop.
She'll hit 18,000 easy if anyone cares enough to document everything she says.
She is easily 100 or 1000 times the human being Trump is.
it always cracks me up when supporters of the current POS/POTUS break out the lie detectors.