Dan Abrams wants to know why we don't want Hillary on the ticket with Obama. Like most of the pundits pushing the Nightmare Ticket, Abrams doesn't "get" Obama.
Hillary represents everything Barack is dedicated to overcoming. It would be the height of hypocrisy for Obama to offer any Clinton a role in his administration. It would signal that his talk about establishing a new way of doing business was just talk, symbolically legitimize unreformed insiders, and suggest that he was conceding a cornerstone of his agenda before even winning the election. He'd risk losing his core supporters, which would strip his campaign of its heart. It would be suicidal to the mission.
Hillary is loathed because she's an arrogant user who has a lousy track record. New York can attest to her failure to deliver on her promises; anyone who's been following the campaign knows she can"t differentiate between fantasy and reality. Her foreign policy positions come in two flavors: undifferentiated adulation and total obliteration. And she"s got a really troublesome appendage in the form of her husband.
I don't think Edwards is the right VP, but I also don't like the idea of gender tokenism, especially with Sebelius. On the campaign trail, I just don't think her virtues would adequately offset her incredible lack of dynamism. Obama needs to go in the other direction, and tap someone who has presence and can command an audience, but serves as a counterpoint to his style. Webb seems to fit the bill.



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Posted May 15, 2008 | 12:14 PM (EST)