The axiom of revealed preferences? Dems: "Give us a black woman, as long as we don't have to vote for her"

 I just have a simple observation for the morning.  When Justice Breyer's retirement was announced, I put up a characteristically snarky post, but one of the observations that I did not bother to make, thinking it too banal, was that Biden would obviously pick a black woman, because the politics of the Democratic Party require thinking in terms of "identity" first.  I had actually forgotten that Biden had made that a formal promise long ago!  Joke's on me, I guess.  So as I think back on my failure to remember the blatancy of the identity pledge, another relatively simple observation followed.  Now this one is a little complicated, so bear with me.  You see, Joe Biden is what we call, "white," and a, "man."  By the incredibly complex rules of "intersectionality," that makes him a "white man."  I had to check my math three times on that, and then get personal confirmation from Kimberle Crenshaw, because this is really hard stuff, but yup.  Joe Biden is a "white man."  And, and... and... and in 2020, the Democratic nomination contest actually had a bunch of other candidates who were-- did you know this?-- not white men?  One of them was even a really smart black woman named [hang on, I gotta check the spelling on this, 'cuz I'd never heard of her before], K... "Kamala Harris!"  And she doesn't do the Biden gaffe thing!  So, y'all had your choices, with a lot of people who weren't "white men," and in the end, you went black in 2008, and then you broke the rules and went back.

But only on the condition that he appoint people who are not "white men!"

Way back when, long before the contest was resolved, I did a veepstakes post, easily predicting that no matter who got the nomination, the nominee could never pick a white man as VP, because the Dems don't work that way.  I got it wrong on Harris, but the identity thing is easy in the Democratic Party.

Which is totally weird, if the party votes for the old, white guy, if you think about it!  It is easy to predict that the party requires appointing only not-white men, but votes for the old, white guy.

The premise is that there is something about "representation," but fuck you if you assert that I am somehow represented on the Supreme Court by Rapey McDrunkface or the maskless plagiarist.  And really, do you honestly believe that women are better served by that creepy cultist lady than Breyer?  Or that black people are better served by soda can garnish man than by Breyer?  No?  OK, then.

Also, Joe?  You still owe Anita on that.

So a simple observation.  "The axiom of revealed preferences."  In economics, this is the principle that you reveal your preferences by your choices when presented with options.  This does not mean that Democrats don't actually care about race or gender.  After all, the 2020 nomination contest was a constrained choice.  It is possible to prefer Biden to Harris, and still believe that there is value in having black women in positions of power.  Just... having other considerations too.

Yet that caveat is important, because if you accept that caveat, it means that you don't think of race and gender as determinative, yet once it gets to the appointment stage, suddenly you do.  These, too, are constrained choices, but within these constrained choices, race and gender suddenly come first.

When voting, Democrats are willing to say, yeah, it would be nice, but gimme old honkey again.  Let Harris be VP.

If I were Harris, I'd be a little insulted.  Just sayin'.

Bert Jansch, "Courting Blues," from his self-titled album.