Famed economist: Sessions for VP in 2016

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC. (Photo: Gage Skidmore)

Famed economist and political philosopher Thomas Sowell wants a governor to become president in 2016, but also believes that one senator in particular could be an invaluable asset to the next Administration.

Sewell wrote in his latest op-ed that America should reject untested rookie senators from both parties who are trying to rise to power too quickly.

“After the multiple disasters of Barack Obama, at home and abroad, that self-indulgence should not be habit-forming,” he said. “We can certainly hope that the country has learned that lesson — and that Republican rookie Senators get eliminated early in the 2016 primaries, so that we can concentrate on people who have had some serious experience running things — and taking responsibility for the consequences — rather than people whose only accomplishments have been in rhetoric and posturing.”

Sowell believes history has proven the best Republican presidents to be those whose backgrounds included executive experience.

“If you think back to the most politically successful Republican presidents of the 20th century — Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower — they were all men who already had the experience of being responsible for results,” he said, “whether as governors or as a military commander in the case of General Eisenhower.

“Those Republican presidents who self-destructed politically — Hoover and Nixon, for example — lacked that kind of background, however much they might have had other assets.”

But before the next Republican presidential hopeful can make it to the White House, he’s going to need a strong running mate. Sowell believes Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions could be that man.

“If Republicans choose a governor as their presidential candidate in 2016, someone like canny Senator Sessions could make a very valuable contribution as vice-president, able to pass on to a new president the fruits of his experience in the Washington environment, along with his ability to resist the pitfalls of that environment,” he said.

This is not the first time a notable conservative has thrown Sessions’ name into the mix as someone who could be well suited for the White House.

“Jeff Sessions, we need Sessions for President,” Nationally syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham said last year on her show. “Really, is there anyone out there who is better than Jeff Sessions on any of these issues? He’s great. I think someone like Sessions could probably attract Democrats, Hispanics who are here legally who are tired of these stupid trade agreements and who have had their own wages undercut by illegal immigration, African Americans, certainly I think a lot of Tea Party people. Sessions is one of the few people to actually say it like it is.”

Sessions, for his part, has always dismissed the idea that he should run on a national ticket.

“I always say, unlike my opponents, I know I’m not qualified,” he says with a laugh.

But it’s that kind of humility that his proponents say may make him the ideal leader to serve.