VICE PRESIDENTS: Obama has picked Biden. McCain will announce his running mate soon. But whichever winds up President, he might want to think of giving his Vice President a less active role than Dick Cheney has enjoyed. I’ve argued elsewhere that such a strong role might be unconstitutional, but I’m pretty sure — for reasons also set out there — that it’s a bad idea. The Vice President’s most important role is as a replacement President, one who can start fresh. Too much day-to-day executive responsibility can limit that — while you don’t want someone kept in the dark as Truman was about the atom bomb, you don’t want the VP involved in policies, etc., that might go bad and compromise his/her ability to come in as a fresh leader if the President dies, resigns, or is impeached. Just a thought. Will anyone listen? Doubtful.