WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden has opened a can of worms by saying he will choose a woman as his running mate and then opening himself up to the appearance of indecision.

Having held the job for eight years, he is uniquely qualified to judge who and what he wants in the post, and in the end he will do so. He has thickened the plot by floating of the names of four African American women and by adding the observation he wants someone with whom he will be “simpatico.”

Why in the world would the 2020 Democratic nominee presidential nominee throw the decision up to a bunch of kibitzers to counsel him on the choice? All they may be able to offer are the political pros and cons of his action, when their opinion should not be paramount in his choice.

Only one legitimate question should be involved: Is the candidate capable of serving as president should destiny dictate? And, only secondarily, should she be elevated to first in line for the 2024 presidential nomination if President Biden should decide not to seek a second term?

In these unpredictable times, it makes little sense to look too far into the future. Joe Biden no doubt will reflect on the role he played for two terms in the Obama administration, and will want to pick his own Joe Biden, while pioneering the idea that there are plenty of qualified women to be president or running mate.

Among the most prominently mentioned now are four black women: Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Reps. Val Demings of Florida and Karen Bass of California, and former Obama national security adviser and UN ambassador Susan Rice. Of these, Harris and Rice seem currently to be drawing the most attention.

But Harris is remembered for attacking Biden in the first debate of the season for his position against school busing as a tool for desegregation. She dramatically noted that, as a young girl, she benefitted from busing. Biden said he opposed it only as a federally mandated policy.

Since then, Harris has embraced Biden’s candidacy and is known to have been close to the vice president’s late son Beau, when each served as a state attorney general. Harris is said to be a close friend now of Jill Biden, who once described Harris’s debate shot at Joe Biden as a “gut punch.”

As for Rice, she worked closely with Biden as Obama’s national security adviser and United Nations ambassador, but she has never held high elective office or other experience in actual governance.

In all, Biden’s early decision to choose a woman has been seen as a transparent bid for support from women at the polls on November 3. But it also has introduced a diversion for news media as President Donald Trump has failed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, prolonging our national economic paralysis.

With three months left before Election Day, a swift turnaround for Trump based on a recovery from the pandemic seems a very long gamble. Meanwhile, Biden confidently campaigns on the slogan “Build Back Better” with a Democratic Party unified behind him.

Biden’s choice of a running mate has been reduced to a sideshow, and an unnecessary one, given it’s always been in his hands, as it should be.

Jules Witcover’s latest book is “The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power,” published by Smithsonian Books. You can respond to this column at juleswitcover@comcast.net.