Constitutional Quirk and the VP

Before Obama and McCain make their final decision on running mates, their advisers should remind them about one curious constitutional feature of the vice presidency of the United States: namely, that the vice president can’t be fired.

You can’t send the vice president packing a couple of years into your first term after he or she makes a sizable gaffe. Unless they decide to resign, the president is stuck with whomever he picks. Sure, the vice president can be largely sidelined to tie-casting votes in the Senate and clogging traffic on Massachusetts Avenue, but if the vice president were to become openly hostile to the president, there would be no recourse for the president to remove him (that power is reserved for the Senate).

The elevation of the modern vice presidency to an almost co-partner in the executive branch (or Dick Cheney’s fourth branch) means that it’s unlikely that an unruly and rebellious vice president could be contained without causing a significant media headache. Both candidates have reportedly considered politicians from the opposite party and members from their own party with whom they have had antagonistic relationships in the past. President John Adams had a difficult enough time dealing with Vice President Jefferson; imagine if had to deal with today’s news cycles. President Lincoln flourished with rivals in the Cabinet; however, his choice of Andrew Johnson as vice president was slightly less successful.

Before considering either possibility, our contenders today should think to themselves, “Is it possible I may want to fire this person at some stage?” If the answer is yes, then it’s time to move on to a more collegial choice.

The views expressed in this blog do not represent the views or opinions of Generations United.