Hillary Plays it Safe

Every once in a while I ask myself if Hillary might actually surprise me. Might she, for example, choose someone interesting as her running mate, perhaps even a non-politician? But then I remember, this is Hillary, so the guiding principle of the pick was "first, do no harm."

I have no gripes about Tim Kaine, who is ideologically similar to me and was a competent governor with no real scandals. And I agree with Patrick Healy that this pick was as much about what will happen after the election as anything about the campaign: Hillary picked someone she wants to work with in the White House, not someone who might energize the campaign but then not fit into her style of doing business.

Mr. Kaine is a strong advocate of gun control, opposes the death penalty and favored the Iran nuclear deal. He has also backed some restrictions on abortion and is a strong supporter of Israel. While he holds many progressive views, the fact that he does not come across as a fire-breathing partisan has helped give him a reputation as a moderate. He comes across like the nuts-and-bolts governor and mayor he once was — perhaps even a little boring — but it’s a style and approach to governing that won’t upstage Mrs. Clinton.

“Tim is a sensible and pragmatic guy whose presence on the ticket will be very reassuring to centrist Democrats,” said Steven Rattner, a Wall Street financier and longtime ally of the Clintons.

In one sense Hillary is clearly the conservative choice in this election. Because whatever issue you care to name, I can tell you what Hillary thinks about it and I can guess what sort of priority she will give to it in office. Does anybody know that about Trump?