Should Obama Pick Clinton As Running Mate?

Analysis: The Pros And Cons Of Sharing A Ticket With The Senator From New York

(AP)  Memo to Barack Obama:

Now that you've named three people to help you pick a running mate, they surely will list the pros and cons of Hillary Rodham Clinton. And no doubt some kibitzers will do the same without your encouragement.

We happily fall into the second category, so we asked an array of political insiders, from all persuasions and parties, to offer their thoughts. Herewith, free of charge, is a summary of their responses.

Pro: She helps with white, working-class voters. They abandoned you in droves in key states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Although they lean Democratic, many are threatening to stay home or vote for John McCain in November. Clinton appeals strongly to them, and she might help you keep Michigan and Pennsylvania in the Democratic column (from 2004) while boosting your chances to grab Ohio, Missouri and Florida.

Con: She undermines your core message. Your campaign theme from Day One was "Change." You made it clear you weren't referring only to the Bush administration but to a longer legacy of partisan warfare and endless score-settling in Washington. That reads "Clinton administration." Choosing Hillary Clinton may be a smart conventional move, but it smacks of predictable, old-school politics and it summons the ghosts of the divisive 1990s.

Pro: She has enough experience and political heft to convince voters she could be president at a moment's notice, the "threshold question" for a vice president.

Con: You two don't seem to like each other very much. When you were closing in on the nomination, she kept exposing your weaknesses and portraying you as second-best. On your night of triumph, she stole your thunder by refusing to concede and by dropping hints of a vice presidential slot. Where is the chemistry, the trust, the compatibility?

Pro: She puts a battler on your team. The vice presidential nominee typically is the hatchet man (or woman) who leads the attack against the other ticket. Spiro Agnew worked it beautifully; John Edwards eschewed the role, with unhappy results. You're the basketball player, but Hillary Clinton throws elbows with the best.

Con: Battlers can overdo it. Fair or not, Clinton is a divisive figure who causes millions of Americans to seethe. No one stirs up the conservative base like she does, and that might offset the good she does in key Rust Belt regions and elsewhere.

Pro: Bill Clinton. She comes packaged with the most successful Democratic politician of his generation. Still revered by many Democratic voters, he is an instinctive, fierce campaigner who left office with high approval ratings, a federal budget surplus and a nation at peace.

Con: Bill Clinton. Throw the "No Drama Obama" mantra out the window. The former president is a larger-than-life character who can't avoid microphones, cameras or controversy, even when campaigning as a surrogate. Opponents not only would dredge up the Lewinsky affair, impeachment, Lincoln Bedroom fundraisers, presidential pardons, etc., they also would delve into more recent questions about his huge fees from foreign interests and the possible national security conflicts they could present.

Pro: She helps with women and Hispanics. Yes, this is partly a subset of Item No. 1. But Clinton ran very well among Hispanics, who are important to your hopes of winning Florida, Colorado and New Mexico. And many high-income, college-educated women also were drawn to her and are keenly disappointed at her second-place finish.

Con: How much history will Americans make? Political scientists know voting trends to the micro-precinct level, but no one has ever tested whether the nation will elect a woman or a black to the White House. Combatting the combined powers of racial and gender prejudices in one year may be too much to ask.

Pro: She brings a proven team of fundraisers, planners and volunteers to the ticket.

Con: Why not get two for the price of one? To safeguard her husband's legacy and her own ambition, Hillary Clinton surely must campaign vigorously and wholeheartedly for you, whether she's on the ticket or not. Let her do so while you pick a running mate who brings other strengths.

Pro: She might put Arkansas in play. Bush won the state easily in 2004, but maybe the state's former first lady, whose husband's presidential library is in Little Rock, can put it in your column.

Con: She has dubious taste in music. Throughout Pennsylvania she played the theme from "Rocky," a movie about a white protagonist who beats up a black man before losing to him. And she made a Celine Dion tune her official campaign song. Enough said.

[factsearcher]

could NEVER NEVER vote McCain, thank God, and feel sorry for those who think that will serve America, so sad. It would be SO MUCH EASIER if I COULD feel trust for Obama, but my guts are so repelled by his church thing and his arrogance, but give him points for being astute enough to do his best not to further offend, recently. I have a problem with how close the primary race was, and not comfortable with all the backstabbing - I''''m not talking about the candidates, but of media, each candidates supporters, etc. Each side seems to feel so much vehement hate toward the other, I wish both could be on the ticket and so be 3 choices, winner take all. Now that would be fair, ethically, and I wish the primary would evolve into a one person one vote system done all 50 states + territories, etc. on the same day. My thoughts for today. For now, I favor writing in Hillary, though it will probably not make a dif.
Posted by cryhavoc2

Your feelings are accurate to 98% of the voters who supported Hilary. You are not alone!
However, from now until november it is imperative that we research RELEVANT FACTS about each candidate.. in order to make the right choice.
THe media, each candidate campaigns and passionate voters have used the internet to spread rumors, hate and bashing the possible nominee.
Time to close those emails and start researching reliable sites.
It is VERY IMPORTANT coming november.

[down-ndirty]

It analyzes current polls to show that Clinton would beat McCain, but McCain would beat Obama in the GE.
Posted by libra127 at 12:14 PM : Jun 06, 2008
__________________________________

If you look long enough and with diligence you can find a poll that satisfies your ego or your fancy. Thanks for citing your source.

According to CNN, two different polls give Obama the advantage over McCain in the GE. The same polls show McCain and Clinton in a statistical tie.

Another poll cited on hannity.com (of all places!!)shows McCain leading Obama by a single point.

All that really matters is the poll in November...

[down-ndirty]

Our choice is clear: Hillary Clinton is that candidate. We believe she should be your choice as well.Posted by obama8years at 01:17 PM : Jun 06, 2008
_______________________

The number of reps you listed in a MINORITY compared to the total number democratic congressmen.

What do the rest of them say?

Obviously MOST Democratic Reps support Obama.

[obama8years]

We Democrats are justifiably proud of our candidates, and if Senator Obama is our Party%u2019s nominee, we will not win the general election. But our responsibility is not to choose simply to support the eventual nominee; it is to help select the nominee who is best for our party and best for our country. Our choice is clear: Hillary Clinton is that candidate. We believe she should be your choice as well.

Thank you for consideration.

Sincerely,

Rep. Michael Arcuri (NY-24)

Rep. Shelley Berkley (NV-01)

Rep. Marion Berry (AR-1)

Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28)

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20)

Rep. Gene Green (TX -29)

Rep. John Hall (NY-19)

Rep. Darlene Hooley (OR-5)

Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11)

Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (FL-17)

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH-11)

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (TX-16)

Rep. Mike Ross (AR-4)

Rep. Joe Sestak (PA-7)

Rep. Ike Skelton (MO-4)

Rep. John Tanner (TN-8)

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20)

[obama8years]

After hearing Obama and Wrights Involvement with the ISM, it is the Straw that Broke. Even Hillary on the Ticket I would not Vote for the great Radical Obama.

Easter Sunday - Six thugs attacked worshippers. Interviewed as a ''witness'' to their planned ''Action'' was International Solidarity Movement (ISM) operative Kevin Clark.

Chicago Tribune''s Stacey St. Clair told me last week that she had no interest in looking into Kevin Clark and ISM Involvement in the assault of worshippers by a group calling themselves Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War.

The Canadian Press is looking into ISM and its close involvement with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity Church:



But Obama%u2019s association with the ISM through his church and lobbying in Chicago goes even deeper than just his past links to Al Awda and Ali Abunimah. His pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and the Trinity Union Church of Christ in Chicago, are both equally involved with the ISM.

Since 2001, the ISM has been tasked by the PLO and other Arab irredentist groups with getting new generations of American college kids to consider democratic Israel as somehow a violator of human rights, all the while as the Palestinian Arabs who practice open anti-Semitism, honor killings, and the murders of their own people as well as Jews, as commendable practices.

[libra127]

Goodnight fellow patriots.

One day our children will recall that we argued about the wrong things.
ST

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."
Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot

Posted by Humanavance at 11:10 AM : Jun 06, 2008

Beautiful post ! Thanks.

[libra127]

There is an interesting article on the relative electability of Clinton, Obama, and McCain in today''s NY Times. It is called "Vote by Numbers" by Op-Ed Contributer Neil deGrasse Tyson:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06tyson.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

It analyzes current polls to show that Clinton would beat McCain, but McCain would beat Obama in the GE.

[boycot-china]

To DANA417 and the rest of the True Color Democrats. I am a loyal but really mad Democrat who has 7 voting family members. We campaigned energetically for Senator Clinton, but now we want to do the same for Senator Obama, but calling us %u201CYou angry Dems who vote McCain are Morons%u201D does not heal but promote Senator Obama%u2019s true colors of racism and division. My wife and I went down to our local Pierce County party headquarters two days ago and offered to help in anyway we could. WE WERE TURNED AWAY AND TOLD THAT THEY DIDN%u2019T NEED ANY FORMER CLINTON HELP AND THEY TOOK OUR TELEPHONE NUMBER. I WATCHED THE LADY THROW OUR NUMBER IN THE TRASH! I experienced it because I was there! Is that the kind of healing that you Obama elitists want?

[liberty4you]

-"And we have placed even our own people under universal surveillance, without warrant."

Very well put Humanadvance.

America must, and I mean must restore our liberties before we evolve into a fascist nation-state.

McGrandpa takes taxes to use for his campaign even though citizens who do not support him have their taxes used for this purpose.

We can begin be reconstructing our Federal Reserve to allocate capital that benefits citizens, not robot consumers.

We have acted under tyranny not seen since liberating this great country of over 300 hundred million strong.

Republicans are Americans too, even though they still act like imperialists. Democrats must risk their lives i.e., Anthrax scares etc... in order to begin this reconstruction.

We must overcome in order to preserve independence and justice. Heck, even Fitzgerald stood up and prosecuted Libby in the face of evil.

Now we must not only look domestically, but internationally for the culprits of this universal, corporate governance that will not, and I mean will not, exist in this country again.

In the guise of terrorism comes Pax Universalis, Pax Americana, and the profits of oil corporations that have the GOP in their pockets. Justice must come first or let the heavens fall.

[tiredofobama]

Men have obcessed enough about being president of the United States to have a few of them assassinated. They''ve obcessed over being president since they were children. They competed in ruthless backbiting campaigns scandalizing each other, cheating on their campaign funding and their wives, makeing cigar smoking back room deals, held terrible debates yelling at each other, then kissing each other''s behind when they hate each other, and all the while pissing on their constituents, just to get the almighty dollar! They''ve killed millions of people! And they think they''re SANE?

A SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL WOMAN WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHE''S LABELED A PSYCHO, BACKSTABBING B***CH by these bloated old bigots feeding their ego''s that they know what''s best for this country!

And look what a mell of hess we''re in right now because of some bloated ego, manifest destiny spewing back room dealing arrogant smart a/s/s inexperienced CRACKHEAD just like Obama!

And you roboturkeys and the DNC expect me to vote for this inexperienced overbloated goofball just like BUSH because they made back room deals to get him nominated, like I OWE them my vote?

Whatta laugh!