Last night, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius gave the Democratic response to President Bush’s State of the Union Address. It was a sober, confident message, looking past the end of the Bush presidency and arguing for an Obama-style politics of national unity. The tonal similarity to Obama was no accident: Sebelius endorsed the Illinois senator today and will campaign for him in her home state’s February 5 primary.
HPR published an interview with Sebelius in the Summer of 2007, and the full article is available here. In our interview, the Governor was charming and open, answered questions directly, and made one comment that might shed some light on her activities this week. In the last question of the interview, I asked her why she – a successful and popular Democratic governor in a deeply red state – wasn’t running for president. Her response: “I love the job I have now…I plan to help elect a Democratic President and to be involved in any way I can, both in the election process and hopefully the governing process” (emphasis mine).
With her endorsement of Obama, Sebelius has definitely begun to get involved in the election. And if Barack Obama is his party’s nominee, Sebelius might have a chance to participate in the next administration, too – perhaps even as Obama’s vice president. It certainly sounds like the governor’s interested in working on the federal level, and she could be a real asset to Obama’s campaign. She has a great story to tell about her work in Kansas, and her experience as a female politician might seem, at least to some, more compelling than Hillary Clinton’s matrimonially-based ascent.
Obama-Sebelius ’08?
–Alexander Burns