What Does Elian Gonzalez Have to Do With Obama's Search for a VP?

I'm still waiting to hear whom Barack Obama will appoint to head his three-person VP vetting committee. Jim Johnson (the Washington insider, former CEO of Fannie Mae, former chairman of the Kennedy Center and the Brookings Institution, and vetter for the disastrous VP choices of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and, 20 years later, John Edwards ), was forced, a couple of weeks ago, to resign. The reason was an alleged sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide.)
The RNC has been pushing hard to keep the name of Obama's second appointment to the vetting committee, Eric Holder, in the headlines, but, as columnist Bob Novak grumbled, "The news media have shown no interest."

Still, Barack's opponents are trying to hang around the neck of Holder, deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, the seemingly indefensible pardon of Marc Rich. Now the "RNC Research Department" (aka opposition researchers) have another weight to add to Holder's burden -- the reminder, backed up by statements from Holder, that the DOJ's number two was an active defender of returning Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba.

Watching the video eight years later, it is shocking to see heavily armed federal agents snatch the six-year-old from his sleep. As they removed him screaming from his relatives' little house in Miami, the terrified expression on his adorable face is hard to forget. The news of Elian, now a teenager, joining Cuba's Young Communist Union was heaven sent for the RNC and another curse for Holder, who had seen his expectation dashed that he would be the first African American attorney general in an Al Gore administration.

To complete the circle, those who wanted Elian to remain in America, out of Fidel Castro's propaganda machine, are lecturing that what cost Gore the election in 2000 was losing Florida by 537 votes. Had the Clinton administration not been on the father's side in the Elian case, Gore would have won Florida and the election. (That Gore's position at the time was that Elian should stay in Miami--Gore said he disagreed with the forcible seizure -- until a family court could resolve the matter, apparently didn't matter to Cuban American voters.)

In the Politico, David Paul Kuhn describes Holder as "a legal adviser and a member of the [Obama] vice presidential search committee." Kuhn forgets the latest item on Holder's resume. Obama also appointed Holder to his Senior Working Group on National Security. There Holder is alongside such other Clinton-era advisers as Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, William Perry, and Anthony Lake.

If the Holder connection to the Elian story catches on with the media, that last appointment will be one Obama will regret. The RNC will do what it can to make sure, at the least, that the residents of Miami's Little Havana remember it when they go to the polls in November.

Comments

[nypoet22]

if barack can't choose hillary, i actually like Allyson Schwartz for vp. she's from pennsylvania, a vocal feminist and a hillary person, but new enough not to have the clinton albatross hanging around her. plus she's jewish and the daughter of a holocaust survivor, which could give her some pull in florida.

[bonmcgrath]

on one hand, a lot of people are saying maybe Barack should just forget Florida.... there are so many great opportunities to swing some new states. on the other hand, would it be so terrible if Caroline singlehandedly made the VP recommendation all by her little lonesome?????

[JimR]

Elian Gonzalez? What the? Tell you what, when Elian develops a killer fastball, give the Red Sox a call. Until then, he's old news.

[wizened]

Obama has to be mindful of the frightful controversies that arose in the last years of the Clinton Administration. These are not his problems and he should avoid linking himself to them. On the other hand, good people shouldn't be frozen out of the political process bwecause of one mistake either. there are too few good people.

[Unless]

With Holder as lightning rod, they have to be praying the public just sees Caroline Kennedy as far as the VP search committee goes. He is, indeed, an interesting choice.

[danproft]

Good institutional memory, Carol.

I had forgotten about the Holder connect to the Elian Gonzalez case. I'm not sure this makes much a difference in the ultimate outcome in Florida as I believe McCain wins the state going away.

But perhaps the Holder connect further steepens the incline Obama must traverse to attract the necessary support from Latino voters (even Latinos less inclined to be GOPers than Cuban-Americans) in key swing states like New Mexico and Nevada.

Anything McCain can do to build upon his currency (and weaken Obama's) among Latino voters will be significant.