The astonishing political events of the last four weeks make plain, once again, how much of America's history depends on what voters have come to accept as the choice of one person: each presidential nominee's choice of a vice presidential candidate. Even as the nomination process was expanded, half a century ago, to include millions of primary voters, the choice of the vice presidential nominee has devolved from smoke-filled rooms of bosses who represented large constituencies to the choice of a single person.

Consider 47-year-old Barack Obama's selection of 65-year-old Joe Biden in 2008. For 2016, Obama shoved Biden aside in favor of the rival he bested in the Feb. 2008 primaries, Hillary Clinton. The Biden family and many others think their man would have beaten Donald Trump and would be in the twilight of an eight-year presidency now.

Obama has continued to affect Democrats' candidate choices. In 2020, in the wake of Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), he squelched the candidacy of 78-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and crowned the 77-year-old Biden. This year, in the wake of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), he shoved aside Biden for Biden's own one-man 2020 vice presidential choice, Kamala Harris.

Obama's continued role in designating Democratic presidential nominees echoes, perhaps faintly, the records of two historic Democratic presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson, who, after two terms, effectively chose their successors for the rest of their........

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