The wisdom of John Adams.

John Adams was the first vice president of the United States and he didn’t much care for the job. He is famously quoted as having described it as:

…the most insignificant office ever devised.”

But in a less famous quote, he also said:

I am vice president. In this I am nothing. But I may be everything.”

All our adult lives we have largely looked upon the party nominee’s selection for VP through Adams’s insignificant office lens. We pay only nominal attention to who the presidential nominee picks as a running mate, and that attention is almost totally driven by political considerations. We talk about how the VP nominee might help with this or that group of voters, or how the VP nominee might help bring his or her state across the finish line in the Electoral College.

But events today call upon us to consider the office from Adams’s “I may be everything…” perspective.

Here’s why.

The White House’s contortions of language to the contrary notwithstanding, it is now obvious to any observer possessed of even the tiniest shred of objectivity that President Joe Biden is badly diminished.

Just listen to the progression of his decline.

Here he is at the Vice-Presidential debate against Paul Ryan in Danville, KY on October 11, 2012 (and disregard what he says and instead concentrate on how he says it):

Let’s look at where we were when we came to office. The economy was in freefall. We had the Great Recession hit. Nine million people lost their job. One point seven, $1.6 trillion in wealth lost.”

That was a bit more than 11 years ago. He sounded sharp.

Here he is from the second presidential debate against Donald Trump in Nashville in October 2020.

I represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me. And I’m going to make sure that you are represented. I’m going to give you hope. We’re going to move. We’re going to choose science over fiction.”

A little weaker but still OK.

But here he is last Friday in East Palestine, Ohio:

I also want to thank…uh…, EPA administrator here with me…[unintelligible]…okay…Administrator Regan…as well.”

Political pundits are punditing as to whether he hangs on to become the 2024 Democratic Party nominee. What about hanging on to the end of his term? If he doesn’t, here’s what we get to take his place:

Talking about the significance of the passage of time. Right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time.”

That was Vice President Kamala Harris – someone I regard as an industrial strength idiot – a year ago in March in Sunset, Louisiana.

The two presumptive nominees for president in 2024 are 81 and 77 years old. If elected, either will be a one-term president.

Which is to say, 2024 will likely prove that John Adams was right. The vice president could very well be everything.

Let’s hope, at the very least, that Donald Trump picks accordingly.