He should ask her and she should say yes.
Hillary Clinton should be Barack Obama's running mate. She would serve the ticket well, and she deserves the chance to be the first woman vice president, serving alongside the nation's first black president. Imagine. These are momentous times.
I understand the disappointment so many women feel over her inability to garner the Democratic Party's nomination. But look what she has done. She's won almost half the popular primary and caucus votes of a nation that until recently few believed would consider electing a woman president. Though there were mistakes, she managed a hard-fought campaign and survived.
I met Hillary Clinton in 1992, when Bill was campaigning for his first term as president. She came to Santa Barbara to raise money. I was the editorial page editor of the city's daily newspaper, and so was invited to a small gathering to hear her. She spoke extemporaneously for 45 minutes, and when she was done I was sold on her. She talked about the need to provide affordable health care, improved education and services for the poor -- all issues that are with us still. She was passionate, informed and articulate, and afterward she was warm and engaging as she personally greeted me and others in the room.
And yet, and yet... when she announced her candidacy for president last fall, it was difficult for me to get enthusiastic about her run. Yes, she's smart. Yes, she's experienced. But she also was damaged by missteps during her husband's presidency, missteps that were amplified on the campaign trail.
I wanted to support her, but here was this other senator, Barack Obama, who was electrifying crowds, getting young people excited about politics like we haven't seen since the '60s and '70s. When one compared their leadership styles, it became clear hers was one of competency, but not vision. She would be a good president, but she wouldn't be a great one. Obama has the potential to be a great president.
I am a woman who came of age in the early '70s, and there is nothing I'd like better than to see a woman in the White House. But the presidency is too important to fill with a woman because, well, she's a woman. If she can bring herself to do it, Hillary could be an excellent vice president. I have no idea if Obama intends to ask her, but he should. There are many good reasons she would be his ideal running mate.
She has the Washington savvy that some say he lacks. She would be hard-working and dedicated to the democratic ideals they both share. She brings constituencies to the ticket he needs to ensure his election in November.
When she conceded to him Saturday night, there was a spark of the Hillary Clinton I met. She said:
"I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter's future and a mother who wants to lead all children to brighter tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure that women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect. Let us resolve and work toward achieving some very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits and there are no acceptable prejudices in the twenty-first century.
"You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the president of the United States. And that is truly remarkable."Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next president and I hope and pray that all of you will join me in that effort."
She was gracious in her defeat, and encouraging in her endorsement. I hope all the women who have so passionately fought for her will come to embrace Obama. And I hope Obama takes her with him on the ride to the White House.
1) After all this time, and all that HRC has been through, do you really think she wants to play second fiddle? I mean, lets be real.
2) How would they govern? This primary season has revealed the sorts of problems that can come up when there is a spouse in office and an ex-President on the loose. I know that this only got 6 seconds of coverage, but one of the most blaring problems that I had was that WJC was in Columbia as an ambassador for the CAFTA deal, while HRC was on the stump opposing it. Does anyone else not see that this is a conflict of interest?
3) Speaking of conflict of interest, does anyone seriously think that she will be the VP candidate without releasing the names of the donors to the Clinton Foundation? Nope. Not going to happen.
This is an incredibly BAD idea.
The general election and the primary are two completely different animals. It's amazing how few people grasp this reality
she has proved that she cannot be trusted or believed.
join the --
"Keep the Clintons Out of the White House" campaign
If you supported Hillary because she's a woman, you might consider throwing your support behind Sebelius, McCaskill, Murray or Napolitano.
If you supported Hillary because you admire her character....well, there's nothing I can say to you.
Is it the "perfect date" who fails to concede when someone else wins? Threatens to go to the ball and demand attention if not a recount of the recounted? Who waits five days before making a concession speech she could have made 5 days earlier?
Her speech was gracious, but late. Like the child who thanks grandma on Valentine's Day for presents received at Christmas. And what to make of all the nasty, mean-spirited, personal comments she (and her ladies and gents-in-waiting) made that have found their way into Republican talking points?
No date for Hillary. Even former prom queens get their comeuppance one day.
Hillary Clinton conceded too quickly in my view, but it was quite gracious. She is clearly a team player, falling on her sword quicker than Kennedy, Hart, of Jackson ever did. She's the VP.
She is anything but a team player. The perfect example of this is her health care task force in the early 90s. She held closed meetings and refused to accept any compromise. It was her way or the highway.
"The last three elections in which a candidate remained after all the primary voting was done and has a large % of supporters were 1980, 1984, and 1988."
Interesting that the Democrats lost all of those elections. If they want to lose this year, too, a great way to do that would be to put Hillary on the ticket.
After all, it was not a big surprise to anyone with half a brain and an ounce of sanity that she had lost the nomination way back in .... Wisconsin. That was when it became numerically impossible for her to win under the real Democratic Party rules. She knew after the Rules and Bylaws committee meeting that she had lost (especially when 5 of her supporters moved to the Obama side on the Michigan vote.) Super delegates had not been flocking her way since Super Tuesday, Feb. 5th. Her campaign was a dead parrot, and she knew it.
It may make you feel better, but to paraphrase Ole Blue Eyes: "That's Why the Lady is All Damp."
If the Democrats are really serious about taking the white house, the focus now ought to be on the necessary strategies in dealing with all kind of Republican's dirty tricks, smear campaign, because that is the only think for them to do to win the White House.
It is clear that some of her supporters are simply seeking validation for Senator Clinton, her unsuccessful campaign, and their intense and fractious support of it. All thought of advancing the issues that they profess to care about and making a good, strong, progressive, effective government is secondary to salving the wounds (theirs and hers) of Clinton's primary loss with a spot on the ticket.
I can't say I'm certain, but I suspect that her addition to the ticket would not provide a net gain of votes. Her hardcore supporters who otherwise won't vote for Obama would, I believe, be outnumbered by the loss of independent and wavering Republican voters who harbor, for whatever reasons, an insurmountable antipathy toward her. And from a practical governing and management standpoint, Obama would be inviting disaster to invite the Clintons to occupy the Naval Observatory (home of the VP).
As a self-described "doer" and "fighter," Senator Clinton is vastly more suited to a post like Attorney General, and I relish the thought of what she would what she could accomplish in that role.