So Tim Kaine’s a little boring. So what?

Sure, Hillary Clinton could have chosen Elizabeth Warren as her running mate, multiplying the historic impact of her candidacy, galvanizing the liberal base, and showing her doubters that she is capable of not poll-testing and risk-minimizing every decision to death. Clinton-Warren would have been a great ticket, even if the Senate might have had to go a few months without a Democrat in Warren’s seat. Instead Clinton chose Kaine, and it’s true that he is not a particularly exciting choice: Apparently the most remarkable thing about him is that he speaks Spanish, because it comes up in every single story about Tim Kaine. But Kaine has qualities we shouldn’t overlook: He’s a team player, a solid liberal, a seemingly nice guy. He is not going to be the decisive factor in wooing white men who are Trump-curious, as more optimistic Clintonistas believe, but he won’t be a decisive factor pushing anyone away either. He’s respectable, decent, a safe pair of hands. Following what we saw this week at the Republican National Convention, that’s not so bad, is it?