Days, perhaps hours, before an expected announcement of his running mate, Barack Obama offered some clues Tuesday as to what he’s looking for, suggesting that his pick might be an independent-minded person with a strong populist streak.
“I won’t hand over my energy policy to my vice president without knowing necessarily what he’s doing,” the presumptive Democratic nominee said.
Obama dropped the masculine pronoun several times in an answer to a supporter’s question here about his plans for his running mate. It was not clear whether it was a generic “he,” or a signal that New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius are no longer under consideration.
Obama’s campaign has kept deliberations over the campaign’s next big decision under tight wraps, but time is growing short: The vice presidential candidate is scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention a week from today.
In the good old days of good grammar, the generic “he” included both men and women. If this is Obama’s usage, it is one of the few things on which I agree with him. 🙂