Why in the world have so many presidents , especially modern ones, chosen such mediocre (I use this word out of kindness) vice presidents? I believe it may be insurance against assassination.  No matter what we may think of Obama, who wants Joe Biden for president? His penchant for foot-in-mouth disease even embarrasses Democrats. Remember the time he was in the Democratic presidential primary and dropped out because was caught plagiarizing a minor British politician?  The doofus could at least have  plagiarized a more eloquent countryman...say, William Shakespeare. The general public is so dumb it wouldn't have known the difference. G. W. Bush's choice wasn't a dummy but was so scary even Hillary Clinton made a rare (very rare) humorous quip, referring to Dick Cheney as Darth Vader. Bush himself provided the comedy in that administration with his hilarious malapropisms. Then there was Dan Quail. Let's be nice and let Dan live in peace. Fox News tried to resurrect him as a political pundit but that experiment didn't last long. Let's go no farther back than John F. Kennedy, the last (hopefully the really last) president  to be assassinated. His death gave us Lyndon Johnson and his Not-so-great Society. Did you know that in 1984 ,eleven years after his death, a Texas county grand jury indicted Johnson on nine counts of co-conspiracy to commit murder? But I don't have enough space to recount Johnson's misdeeds. The answer to all this? I think we should elect the president and vice president separately, as Virginia does its governor and lieutenant governor. After all, the vice president has nothing to do except preside over the senate and occasionally cast a tie-breaker vote. Plus attend funerals. What a plush job!  And in case something happens to the big boss, he gets the chair in the oval office!