On an Obama/Clinton Ticket: A Response to Andrew Sullivan
On Sunday, Andrew Sullivan published a story arguing that when Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, he should give serious consideration to selecting Hillary Clinton as his running mate. The argument itself is not new, but that it is coming from Sullivan, one of Obama's most eloquent and ardent advocates, is certainly worth exploring.
The past weeks have been difficult for Obama, to be sure. In addition to a number of crises boiling over, from Reverend Wright to comments about small town bitterness, Obama has been the subject of a new media narrative, one that suggests he will be unable to win working class voters in the fall. That has been complicated by the relentless depiction of Obama by the Clinton camp as being unelectable in the fall, and by indications that the length of the primary has begun to permanently divide the Democratic Party. In such an environment, choosing Hillary as his running mate seems like it might be the easiest way for Obama to overcome these obstacles, turning the ticket into what Sullivan describes as "unstoppable almost overnight."
Of course, many, if not most of Obama's supporters recoil at the notion. Throughout the campaign, Hillary has proven herself to be the worst of the kind of politics Obama is seeking to end. She has clearly chosen personal ambition over party, and dishonesty over candor. She has, on numerous occasions, praised John McCain while deriding Obama, and still refuses to apologize for her Iraq war vote. The politician she turned out to be is so divergent from what the core of the Democratic party would expect, that despite starting with the greatest political brand in Democratic politics, a popular former president as her chief surrogate, and a seemingly endless war chest, she has been denied the nomination.
Yet the problem with Hillary as vice president is not so much that she flies in the face of Obama's purpose - he no doubt could eloquently bring her into the fold, as part of a reconciliation that is distinctly Obama. It is rather that Obama would have to give up so much in his presidency in exchange for a choice that seems, at this point, completely unnecessary. The Clinton machine that Obama has so deftly dismantled would find new life with Hillary in the White House. Bill, who views Obama as the chief architect of the undoing of the Clinton legacy, would no doubt wield more influence than he would deserve or Obama would prefer. The opportunity for Bill and Hillary to meddle will be far greater if they are given the formal authority of the vice presidency. That the spotlight would have to be shared with those kind of people - and that kind of politics - is something to which Obama should be understandably averse.
Decisions about a vice president need to be undertaken with an eye toward November and beyond. And though many, including Sullivan, would argue that they are looking to November when suggesting Clinton, it is far more likely that they are being clouded by the events of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There was a time, for example, when Mike Huckabee seemed a necessary choice for John McCain as his running mate, given McCain's problems with the Republican base, especially among evangelicals. Not two months later, McCain's base is clearly in line, and Mike Huckabee seems more suited for a variety show than the vice presidency.
Hillary too, will likely enjoy a similar fate. By June 3rd, Obama will have secured the nomination. The wounds that lay open from his epic war with Clinton can be healed as easily with an eloquent speech praising her as with an eloquent moment appointing her. Once he has honored her for her service, her strength and tenacity, he will have at least two months before he needs to select a running mate. At least sixty news cycles will go by with Hillary well out of the spotlight. And in that period of time, we are likely to see the Democratic Party unify.
For all the talk of Obama's inability to connect to working class voters, it appears that it is white women, more than any other group that have stayed loyal to Clinton, thus preventing Obama from "closing the deal." White women made up 47% of the electorate in Pennsylvania, and as with every other state since Iowa, they stood with Hillary by dramatic margins. Could it be that white women are voting against Obama? Perhaps. But it seems far more likely that they are voting with Hillary, the greatest chance they've ever had for a woman in the White House.
With Hillary out of the race, white women - especially unmarried women - are sure to line up behind Obama. The 54 million unmarried women in America are as big a portion of the Democratic base as evangelicals are to Republicans. That they would choose McCain over Obama is simply unthinkable.
After a long two months of reframing and recalculating, Obama will be able to make a decision about his vice president based on a number of considerations, from the sharing of political philosophy, to possible geographic electoral advantages, to the anchoring of any perceived weaknesses. His decision will be made in July or August, not on the basis of the political calculus of April and May, but with an eye toward November.
By then, Hillary Clinton's place on the short-list will be entirely for show.
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I'm hoping that Obama would not select a Veep candidate "with an eye to November," but with an eye to consistency with no more business as usual.
I can't believe the vitriol from both Clinton and Obama supporters spewed at the opposing candidate! I really can't. What are you, Republicans? What a bunch of immature children. Either of the two Democratic candidates left would be light years better than McCain, who is still better than Bush. Get a grip. If my person doesn't win I'll take my vote and go home. Grow up.
How soon people forget that the Clinton years were fairly good years, not perfect by any means but a heck of lot better than the past 7 1/2 or the Republican nightmare before that. It is getting awful petty when the Democrats split in half and let the Republicans try to sneak in the back door. Who ever wins the nomination, we as Democrats need to support that person and get over their petty little grips, unless of course they want another 4 years of the Republicans. A Democrat for 37 years and Damn proud of it, gut we need to unite people.
Unfortunately the seeds of a lot of the economic problems we are facing today were planted by the Clinton adminstration in the 90's. Thanks Bill!
If his VP choice is mainly demographics based, Hillary would do almost nothing for Obama among white blue-collared voters. In fact, she might even prove to be a potential liability with blue-collared voters against McCain. If he needed help in Pennsylvania or Ohio, he'd be better off going with Sen. Bob Casey or the like.
As an Obama supporter, why in the world would I vote for a candidate any longer who has the poor taste of putting a serial liar and schemer into the VP chair? Especially since I want a president who is STRONG and has both hands free all the time to SOLVE PROBLEMS, rather than having to worry about his VP stabbing him in the back any moment.
If Senator Obama were to pick Senator Clinton for VP, we would know the very second that the Democratic party is not able to provide any structures that can serve this country. It would be the time of a third party because the two party system is defunct, having split into a fascist branch and an idiot branch.
But that is not how I see Senator Obama. It is not by chance that HE is actually running for president while all the people who suggest Senator Clinton for VP blog or write for a living.
Those who can, run for president. Those who can't, write about it.
I agree completely with your first two paragraphs--not sure I understand the last two :-)
Neither does He
I don't know why anyone would believe that she would serve Mr. Obama in a way that was anything but divisive and destruction to the office and the party.
If we are to find solutions to the myriad number of problems that CheneyOilCo will leave as their legacy, we will need someone who is not totally self-servi
In that respect, the Clintons have NOTHING to offer, but more of the same. She has lost... and she (and her strategists) did it to themselves. Let them go back to carpetbagging and peddling influence for a living... and PLEASE... tell Hillary to take her smarmy, lying, disbarred, baiting excuse of a "husband" with her.
Hillary and Bill - putting the "nasty" in Dynasty since 1992
What makes you assume Hillary's female supporters will vote for Obama.
Especially after the vitriol of Obama supporters across the internet.
then will you vote mccain? I don't see women turning out in droves for a man who publicly called his wife a disgusting slur just because she ruffled his hair in public. You cannot hold either candidate responsible for everything their supporters say only what they themselves have said, I am a female Obama supporter but I will not vote Mcain in the fall no matter who becomes the dem nominee
Hillary's female supporters? Do you really believe you speak for women who support (or who once supported) Clinton? More and more... every day... every minute, are waking up to reality though reason based on the facts... if you dare to read a sample of the reasons:
http://www
... and if you don't believe your post isn't sexist, you might want to take a closer look at yourself.
Roe v. Wade
Because we assume your country is more important than your petty grudges. Maybe we're wrong. As an Obama supporter I'll vote Hill over McCain.
I respect Mr. Sullivan but since I am voting for Obama for a new kind of grassroots politics there is no way I want the Clintons a part of that package. As an avid defender of them for years I have lost all faith in who they are or what they represent. Please. No.
Well said Dylan. Andrew is usally spot-on, but he's out to lunch on this one.
After reading Andrew Sullivan's article, I'm convinced it was written while free-basing.
Mr. Sullivan's underlying theory is that Sen. Clinton has fashioned her campaign in the last few weeks so as to attract Sen. Obama to the idea of asking her to serve as his VP. This may not be the most ludicrous theory ever advanced by a supposedly bright member of the punditocracy, but comes in a close second to everything else.
Funny that Obama's eloquence is thought of as some silver bullet to end all ills. He sure has not 'transcended' much in his National Dialogue on Race now, has he?
What a fiasco.
That implosion will keep going on and there's no Swift Boats Vets to blame. That's a character flaw of Obama's that he will not recover from. He likes the idiots you avoided when you were an undergrad.
I think Hillary is the only way to the White House for the Dems. Perhaps as VP (Bill would take over everything--he's the heavy, not Barrack) but more likely at the top of the list. Obama can't win now. Wright and Ayers are garbage and his association with them has hamstrung him among moderates.
Wright and Ayers are nothing on what the Republicans have on Hillary Clinton. These are little pop guns compared to the cannons they have loaded with old Clinton garbage and new stuff, thanks to Bill's opportunistic ways.
Why is there an Operation Chaos? They know they can beat Hillary. She only has old white women as her base and that cannot win it for her.
Again, you sound like another one that is voting for Bill, (Bill would take over everything). He is not running, and his role would have to be limited to avoid the constitutional issues just him being there would create. Again, Bill is not running, you can not turn back the clock to the nineties, and the Clinton Baggage hasn't even been taken to the door yet.
Eeek, your post is wrong on so many levels I don't have the time to point it all out.
Besides, the Secret Service has enough to worry about.
"....recon
Could someone give me other examples of "Obama the Great Reconciliationist"? I don't see it in his past, I don't see it in his rhetoric, I don't see it in his personality.
I don't think anyone is going to bother ... you are going to see what you want to see.
No, seriously. Like anyone is going to see this on page 3, but hey, I'm a Clinton supporter, but a realist, and I know that in the fall, my choice is most likely going to be between Obama and staying home. 15 million people have voted for Clinton since January, and you as Obama supporters, need us in the general -- whether you like us or not.
So start to at least pretend to be convincing.
Let's see....She
Hell To the Nah! She cannot get this VP slot!!!
Haha, she'll be a hundred years old by then. Nice fantasy though.
I read the Sullivan article which was thoughtful, as his articles most often are. Months ago I would have supported an Obama/Clinton ticket. But that was then, and this is now! The last several weeks have turned me off to Clinton because of her tactics, devisiveness, pandering, and downright lies. I'm ashamed that we are of the same gender.
Given Obama's attempt to institute change, having Clinton(s) on the ticket would make his candidacy look like "more of the same". Sure, she would make a good attack-dog VP candidate on the campaign trail with her "say anything to win" philosophy. And then there's Bill! I can't think of anything worse than those two working behind the scenes to keep power at any price. The GOP will still have their playbook od OP research ready for all of the Clinton dirt that Obama has seen fit not to discuss.
November is a long way off. I cannot imagine that Clinton supporters would go fo McCain. Anything but another four years like the 8 Bush years!
However, if the primary is stolen by Clinton--I will have to think long and hard. After having competed against the Clinton "Brand"---and two Clintons, I have been amazed tha Obama has held his own and is the front runner by any metric that is fair and useful. I have been watching him since the 2004 speech and my support has not waivered.
Barack might be able to be convinced as he tends to want to unify and could be sold on that. I hope he doesn't and holds out.
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