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Trustbuilding
An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility
by Rob Corcoran; introduction by Tim Kaine


(Click for Amazon book review)

OnTheIssues.org BOOK REVIEW:

Tim Kaine is not much of an author, so upon his nomination to the vice presidency, we dug up the only book on Amazon with his name on it--he wrote the introduction to this book, and is featured prominently in its pages. The book itself is about racial reconciliation--a subject in which Kaine figured historically: as Governor, he led Virginia as the first state to apologize for slavery. Prior to his governorship, Kaine served as Mayor of Richmond, which formerly served as the capital city of the Confederate States of America. The rest of the book is about other apologies and other forms of racial reconciliation--mostly about starting a conversation on race as the means to accomplish national healing of the wounds of slavery, segregation, and their modern vestiges.

But what about Kaine? Is he a national leader on racial reconciliation? A post-Obama white guy who "gets it" on race? Well, yes--that's why the author asked Kaine to write the introduction. Kaine is well-suited to that role--mayor of the capital of the Confederacy! Who now opposes the institution that founded the Confederacy! -- and America will likely see a lot of that in the presidential campaign.

Kaine is also well-suited for reconciliation with Hispanics, America's second largest minority group after African-Americans. Kaine served as a missionary in Honduras on a year off from law school, where he became fluent in Spanish. Political junkies will note that Kaine's introductory speech as the vice-presidential nominee took place in Miami, home to a huge Latino population, and Kaine peppered the speech with lots of Spanish.

So that likely defines Kaine's role in the presidential race: outreach to blacks and Hispanics. Many suggested a href='Hillary_Clinton.htm'>Hillary should have accomplished that by nominating Cory Booker, the African-American Senator from New Jersey, or Julian Castro, the Latino Cabinet Secretary and former Mayor of San Antonio. But she didn't; she nominated Kaine instead; so he gets that role. Kaine brings the added advantage of coming from swing state Virginia (which voted for Obama in both his elections, but voted for the Republican nominee for all 40 years prior to that), while New Jersey and Texas offer no swing state electoral status.

Kaine also fulfills one more role: that of "nice guy," offering a softer side to Hillary's hard edges. Kaine is not a native Virginian--he was born in Minnesota and raised in Kansas and Missouri. His Midwestern roots show in his Midwestern "niceness"--he is polite and always willing to compromise on a moderately liberal solution--not a political firebrand like many who share his politics.

Kaine will contrast with Mike Pence, his Republican counterpart from Indiana, who has a similar Midwestern niceness from the conservative side. Vice-presidential nominees often take on the role of "attack dog"--saying nasty things about their opponent so that the presidential nominee can stay above the fray but still get the attacks made. Hillary seems to have anticipated that Kaine would not adopt that role, and assigned it instead to Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who has made a hobby out of attacking Donald Trump; Newt Gingrich fulfills the same role for Trump, perhaps relieving Pence of that duty. So perhaps Kaine and Pence will have the most polite Vice Presidential debate ever!

-- Jesse Gordon, editor-in-chief, OnTheIssues.org, July 2016