By Lisa Fabrizio on 2.20.08 @ 12:07AM
It's not often that people look to the SEC for vice presidential material.
Word is that Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama
snuck down to North Carolina last weekend to meet with John
Edwards, possibly to seek his endorsement, sound him out for the
vice presidency, or to brush up on his snake-oil salesmanship.
After all, why wouldn't the black knight of the new Camelot go for
the guy with the pageboy haircut?
So what's happening in the GOP vice-presidential world? Last
week at CPAC, after the initial shock of McCain's inevitability set
in, lots of VP ideas were bandied about. Conventional wisdom had
John McCain going with someone like longtime supporter, Minnesota
Governor Tim Pawlenty, a tax-cutter and fellow traveler on the
global warming merry-go-round. Others said that maybe Florida's
Charlie Crist would get the nod in the hopes that he could put his
state in the Republican win column come November.
Some thought that old pal Fred Thompson would go a long way in
mending conservative fences while others felt sure that a marriage
of convenience with Mitt Romney was in the offing.
But one of the oddest suggestions I heard was that of
Christopher Cox. Chris Cox? The former California congressman who
is currently chairman of the SEC? I yawned at the time, but have
since warmed to the idea.
COX, AS YOU MAY remember, served as a member of the House for 16
years with impeccable conservative credentials. And although he's
probably best remembered for the report on the Chinese espionage
scandal that bore his name, he also compiled a sterling 98 lifetime
rating by the American Conservative Union.
In contrast, his consistent pro-life voting record earned him a
big, fat goose egg from the abortion-lovers at NARAL. Ontheissues.com rates him "a hard-cord
conservative"; a lovely sobriquet, no?
His resume is the stuff of conservative legend; he
simultaneously earned his MBA and JD from Harvard, and before
serving as an associate counsel in the Reagan White House, he
joined the firm of Latham & Watkins, where he specialized in
venture capital and corporate finance.
With Cox's knowledge of the Russian language -- he is fluent --
in 1984, he co-founded Context Corporation, which translated
Pravda into English, and was used in 26 countries around
the world. The man is not your garden-variety policy wonk.
Cox would be nearly bullet-proof to the attacks of the media,
with no sharp edges for them to get their hooks into. Although
certainly conservative, he has managed at every level to achieve a
high degree of bipartisanship, working with and earning the
admiration of men like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Ron Wyden.
He has also experienced the kind of personal tragedy that
unfortunately appeals to the media beast; when he was a boy, his
little sister was accidentally killed by their father while backing
out of the driveway on Easter Sunday. In 1978, Cox was severely injured in an off-roading incident in
Hawaii which resulted in his being partially paralyzed for six
months and left him with two metal screws in his back and chronic
pain that will never abate.
YET HE IS AN extremely fit-looking man of 55; the devoted husband
and father of three children who is possessed of a sunny
disposition and an air of equanimity that would be a nice
counterbalance to the public image of John McCain. McCain has
infamously admitted that he is basically a babe in the financial
woods and so would hugely benefit by associating himself with
someone with a fiscal pedigree like the "cerebral and punctilious"
Cox.
The thought of the brilliant, virile and handsome Cox climbing
the platform at the Republican Convention in St. Paul -- where he
was born and raised and also might swing votes -- alongside the
aging McCain, presents a pleasant physical as well as mental
image.
And, much as this has aggravated us in the past, McCain's status
as moderate maverick, combined with his military appeal and Cox's
ties to Orange County and Silicon Valley, might actually put
California into play for Republicans, especially against that tower
of charm and personality that is Hillary Clinton.
And if, after all of this, you're thinking that Cox might better
serve his party and nation as presidential timber, who other than a
Vice President Cox would be better positioned for 2012?
topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Abortion, Global Warming, Military, Russia, Oil
