Hopemoir: Veeps (Part 2)

And now, for part 2 of the Veep-related excerpt of my book, "Looking Forward: A Hopemoir."

A Future President's Vice (Part 2)

I will need to find a person who not only shares my values, but has values just slightly askew of mine. If they read my positions on a certain issue like the environment, the reaction I want to see is one of curiosity. I want to know they are taking in everything I believe and then to feel free to disagree with me. The ideal candidate would, of course, disagree just enough to have a mind of his own, but not so much as to cause me to doubt myself. The Vice President, after all, is not a member of the Cabinet.

He can serve in a capacity similar to that of a Cabinet member, however, doling out advice and providing me with strategy that comes not from a sycophantic point of view, but from a bright, educated person who was more than qualified enough to be personally chosen by me to help represent my positions, character and capacity to lead to the entire nation. Ideally, my Vice President would also champion those issues I will not have the time to take on in my daily presidential duties. He or she should have the capability to take on foreign policy issues, diplomacy, national crises, massive financial disasters or keynote speeches at college graduations at a moment’s notice. When the Vice President is as capable to run as I am, then he has proven himself as a Qualified Potential Successor.

I cannot discount the possibility that my Vice President might be a woman or a minority. With that in mind, I don’t. As the political landscape changes, a new variety of politicians will show up to graze on that landscape’s fertile and abundant grasses. I am more than open to balancing my ticket with any person willing to take my ideas and run with them, especially if they represent a portion of the population I can’t possibly understand. Though I, myself, have lived not only in Los Angeles but in New York, Chicago, Oklahoma and England, I could easily find room in the executive branch for someone from a state neighboring any one of those I could at one point have claimed residency in.

As a partial minority with one-sixteenth Native American blood, I would be honored to run with a candidate who is at least fifteen-sixteenths of any minority, including Native American. Should my Vice President be a woman, I will make any and all accommodations needed to provide her with the comfort necessitated by her sex. She may also help assay the office with a refreshing perspective that any of her male peers might not be privy to.

Regardless of whom I choose to take over when I pass on, one thing remains consistent about that choice – I must consider many things when making it. Most important of those things is you, the reader. There is a likelihood that you are just the person I need at my side in 2020 and 2016. I mean this quite literally. Should you be in agreement with at least 94 percent of what you read in this book, and currently qualified to eventually be of age to run alongside me, I ask that you consider how you can best make the changes you want to see. Do you want to make these changes on your own, with no one to assist you in realizing your dreams? Or do you want the assistance of someone with the potential to make 94 percent of those dreams a reality?

Whether or not you are the specific potential candidate to be my Vice Presidential candidate, one thing is certain – you will be there when I choose my VP. I will make my choice known, on jasonklamm.com and to all the other readily available and interested media. Before that happens, however, you can have a say in who or whom I choose. You can send suggestions of qualified candidates my way, as they become so qualified. Your recommendations mean more to me than those of people who have spent their entire lives insulated from the world by Washington, DC. You, the people, who remain insulated from the realities of Washington and the political process by having lives to live, have the power to take precious time out of those same lives to participate in a decision normally reserved strictly to a candidate and his paid advisors.

- Jason C. Klamm
Visit JasonKlamm.com for more fake campaign info.

Hopemoir: Veeps

A man who is second-in-command is always first in line with regards to those beneath the commander.
- Jason Klamm

Okay, so that's not an ACTUAL quote of mine. Well, not of the real me. It's a quote of the me to the right. With the Biden beat ever slower, I thought I'd do my best to give our loyal readers a taste of previously-published material. Namely, my book. Namely, "Looking Forward: A Hopemoir," my alter-ego's campaign "mani-festive," based off of our award-winning pilot presentation that got us national exposure through Comedy Central & FX.

As I finished the book up last October, just in time for the elections, I realized that, with my new knowledge on the country's least-appreciated office, I would be remiss not to have my character examine the office in his... way. What I later realized is that his "way" is not unlike that of an historian. He goes against the grain for impact, rather than being able to back everything he says up. Unlike historians, however, he has no idea why he's doing that. As far as he understands it (from watching a lot of TV news as a kid), politics is saying things with conviction. He is passionate about having passion.

Following is the first of a two-part blog series of excerpts from the chapter on his choice of VP, entitled "A Future President's Vice." If you like it, please purchase the book on "Amazon.com and tell your friends.

A Candidate’s Potentia Pro Tempore (Part 1)

It is no exaggeration to say the average candidate overlooks the Vice President. Prior to any major election, the choice of VP is left until the last second as a surprise to increase interest in a candidate’s campaign, at least temporarily boosting their numbers in the polls. The choice of Vice President is always a cold one. If you are from the North, pick a Southerner. If you’re white, choose an older white candidate. The basic and contrived opposition that comes with the Vice Presidential choice grows tiring to the average American, who inevitably votes for the primary candidate, without much thought, if any, put towards the qualifications of their VP as a potential president.

What presidential candidates fail to realize is that the Vice President is not simply the most unappreciated officer in the executive branch. He might also be the most important.

Though I haven’t made a choice – I have a rather lengthy list to cull from, and a list of those whom I feel might grow to be good potential VPs – I am always pondering on how to best make my choice. I have to choose a man or woman with such extreme duality in their personality that both sides almost cancel one another out. I have to find not a blank slate, but a slate so completely covered in chalk as to be illegible. This person must not simply be prepared to take over all of the duties of Commander-in-Chief at a moment’s notice, and have the skill and capability to serve the office as well as his predecessor, but he must function exceptionally in the constitutionally-mandated duties of the Vice President.

The law of the land lays out a very specific path for the VP to take. He must preside over tied votes in the Senate. This single duty allows the VP to be perhaps the most useful person in Washington simply because he isn’t weighed down by a constitutionally-required function, other than the rare tie-breaking Senatorial vote. With a substantial expense account and the free time to serve at his own pleasure, unlike the inundated Cabinet, the Vice President can bring about social and political change unlike any other office-holder in the entire government.

With this in mind, I must find a person who can capably hold down such an office while still finding time for themselves, as they may be called, any time, to serve in my stead. At the same time, I would like my future Vice President to leave the office in a professional state should I, in the case of Vice Presidential illness or incapacitation, need to take on the duties of both President and Veep.

-Jason C. Klamm

Cheney's Book-Update!

Hey "Vice-Precedence" blog readers! Thanks for becoming Fans of us on Facebook, we really appreciate it. Please encourage family and friends you know to become Fans as well. Also, please post some comments here on the blog-we want to know what you think and if you have suggestions for stories or interviews you'd like to see here.

As I mentioned in my first blog posting here; former VP Cheney is writing a book about his years as Vice-President. Al Kamen at the Washington Post recently wrote about how its coming along, and posted the picture you see of Cheney here in the blog taken on Air Force Two-the Veeps official plane-last year. The picture shows the Vice-President hard at work, with a copy of Bart Gellmans book Angler, on his desk opened but face down with some pages even bookmarked. Gellmans book rips and shreds at Cheney like a tiger on cocaine attacking a baby deer. Apparently the Vice-President was interested in what people were saying about him back in early 2008. Imagine that. Cheney got a $2 million dollar advance on his book-so in case you were worrying about his financial situation-no need! In the interview Cheney claims his book "won't be a screed" and that it's not about "trying to settle grudges." Well, we'll see, but, either way, I will be reading it. Hope he's working hard on it.

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