Obviously this is inherently political, which isn’t my intent — for what it’s worth, I have no strong opinion or agenda here. I’m writing about this because of the connection to aviation, and because I found it interesting and surprising.
Who will Joe Biden pick as his running mate?
With Joe Biden now being the presumptive Democratic nominee, there’s a lot of talk about who he’ll pick as his running mate. He made headlines by stating during one of the debates that he would pick a woman as his running mate.
Names like Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris, and Amy Klobuchar, are being thrown around most.
That brings me to an interesting story in the International Business Times, which has the title “Five Potential Vice President Picks For Joe Biden.” There was a name on the list that caught me off guard — Sara Nelson.
Who is Sara Nelson?
For those of you who don’t know who Sara Nelson is, she’s the President of the Association of Flight Attendants, and she has been a United Airlines flight attendant since 1996. On the surface it seems rather farfetched to select a union leader as a VP pick, but she has been called America’s most powerful flight attendant, and her influence has gone way beyond internal flight attendant issues.
For example, during the government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, she was one of the most vocal people about the dangers of not paying federal workers. The same has been true now with getting funding for airlines through the CARES Act.
The author’s argument for Sara Nelson as a VP pick boils down to the following:
- Biden might pick a progressive running mate so that he can get support from Sanders supporters
- While Elizabeth Warren may seem like a logical choice, she is just seven years younger than Biden, and Massachusetts has a Republican governor who would appoint her replacement if she became VP, meaning the Democrats would lose a seat in the Senate
- Nelson is a well known progressive labor leader
- She has some foreign policy experience as well, as she was part of the industry’s response to 9/11, SARS, and more
- “There is likely no other potential progressive VP pick who checks more boxes for both the left and the center of the party”
I’m certainly no political strategist, though this still all seems highly unlikely to me. Secretary of Labor? I could see that. Vice President? Well, I guess we’ll see…
I suppose largely politicians don’t have the “traditional” qualifications they used to have, so maybe this isn’t that far out there…
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