We are in that time period known as vice presidential nomination guessing game. Since only Hillary (and Bill) knows who she is truly considering, let me make the case for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
First, Americans are fascinated with the idea that if someone is successful in business, he/she will surely have the skills needed to be successful leading the government. We have been down this road as a country with our initial excitement for Ross Perot, Mitt Romney and now Donald Trump.
What we seem to forget is that the kind of businessman we admire really does matter. If you outsource jobs, behave in a cruel way to your employees, and take advantage of the law, voters will learn about it and ultimately disapprove.
Schultz provides a sharp contrast to this behavior: His history of supporting workers and encouraging them to attend college is well known. His efforts to start a national dialogue about race may not have been completely well received, but they showed his heart is in the right place.
The Clintons, more than most, understand the power of a narrative. Trump’s inherited wealth that he has grown through fraud vs. Schultz the self-made man will give Americans much to think about in this election year.
Schultz, in fact, is more than a self-made man; he practically invented the coffee industry as we know it. Then, after building Starbucks into an international winner, he returned to the CEO position when it faced a downturn, and brought it back stronger than ever.
In a year when voters seem to hunger for someone outside of Washington, D.C., the man from Washington State’s Seattle could be the answer.