Around the blogosphere and web, I see considerable effort to argue that Eric Holder should depart Obama’s vice-presidential selection team.

I must heartily disagree. In fact, I think those on the right should be doing everything possible to make sure that Eric Holder has as large a role in the selection process as possible.

Why? I refer you to that first sentence of that 2001 Washington Post profile: “Eric Holder wishes he had focused for three minutes when he heard the name Marc Rich connected with the word pardon.”

A guy who couldn’t see political fallout from pardoning Marc Rich probably couldn’t find beer in Ireland. If you’re hoping for some sort of stumble when Obama selects his running mate… some sort of horrific scandal to surface that blindsides the Obama campaign… then Eric Holder is exactly the guy you want heading up the search.

I want Eric Holder vetting the background of my running mate the way I want Larry Johnson assessing the likelihood of terrorists targeting Americans.

Having Holder in charge of weeding out potential scandals is like having the fact-checking done by Dan Rather and Mary Mapes. They might as well make Scott McClellan the spokesman for the search committee, and let Scott Beauchamp, Jayson Blair, and Stephen Glass write up his biographical materials. As long as Eliot Spitzer vouches for the guy’s character, Rep. William Jefferson says his finances include plenty of cold hard cash, Sandy Berger says he passed the security background check, Mark Penn says he has no conflicts of interest, and Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger say he’s got the spiritual fortitude to handle being a heartbeat away from the presidency, then full speed ahead, I say.