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Barack and Billary -- Together Apart
By Clarence Page, Tribune Media Services
Chances that Sen. Barack Obama would pick Sen. Hillary Clinton as his
vice presidential candidate took a nosedive on the night he secured
enough delegates to clinch the nomination. Her defiant non-concession
speech revealed just the sort of independent, unpredictable thinking
that no sane candidate would ever want to have in a running mate.
Taking on Clinton as a future vice president means taking on "the Clintons" -- herself and her former president husband -- which sounds about as comfortable as turning a pair of wild badgers loose in your minivan.
You could see that on the night of the final two primaries, the night Obama made history as the first black candidate to secure a major party's presidential nomination.
Clinton congratulated Obama and his supporters only "on the extraordinary race they have run," without making a concession or even a reference to his having won the delegate chase. Instead of letting the man savor his victory, she seemed eager to rain on it, yanking the spotlight away as if to make the night all about her.
One can only imagine the justifiable howls of complaint that would have been heard if Clinton had won the delegate race and Obama similarly ignored the historic milestone that would have been for women.
Yet I can only begin to imagine the disappointment Clinton must have felt when the bad news finally sank in. She was riding high in the polls for months, winning most of the debates, before Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses changed the playing field. She regained her footing near the end. She became a new heroine for "hard-working ... white Americans," her unfortunate term for working-class voters who emerged as her key demographic, along with older white women.
But it was too late. Obama stayed ahead just enough to win a victory. This left some Clinton campaign insiders expressing surprise to reporters that she seemed to have given so little thought to how she was going to end her crusade.
Meanwhile, Obama has a lot of healing to do, particularly with Hillary Clinton's disappointed supporters.
He also needs to reassure the apprehensive working-class white voters, who need to get better acquainted with the "skinny kid with the funny name," as he used to call himself when campaigning for the Senate in Illinois.
That does not mean he should ask Hillary Clinton to be his running mate. The last thing a president needs is a vice president who has spent more time in the White House than he or, someday, she has. Worse, Hillary Clinton brings along a husband who used to be president and already seems on occasion to have too much time on his hands. The Oval Office does not need a back seat driver.
There's no question that visions of an Obama-Clinton ticket still dance in many Democrats' heads as the best way to heal the wounds opened up by long and heated primary campaign. But other Obama fans and the independent voters that Obama wants to attract see the Clintons as products of the old-school politics to which Obama's "change" theme runs in striking opposition. "Meet the new boss," goes an old song by The Who, "same as the old boss." That's not a campaign song that the Obama chorus wants to sing.
No, Obama is better off finding a campaign role for the Clintons, early and often. There would be no clearer healing signal to disappointed or apprehensive Democrats than to have Bill and Hillary campaigning at Obama's side or jetting around on a plane that his campaign should cheerfully provide.
Obama doesn't have to win a majority of white working class voters in order to win the election. No Democratic candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 has done that, but Bill Clinton came closest, wining about half of their votes. Obama needs that sort of culture-crossing appeal on his side, especially during the early summer. If either of the Clintons says anything too embarrassing, which Bill has been known to do lately, Obama will have several months before election day in which to repair the damage.
Obama's first priority, in my view, should be his outreach to women. Many were understandably disappointed when Hillary Clinton came so close, then failed to win. As a man who lives with a dynamic wife and two growing girls, whose aspirations he surely wants to broaden, he needs to get out and talk to women. More important, he needs to listen to them.
========
E-mail Clarence Page at cpage(at)tribune.com, or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.
(c) 2008 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
This news arrived on: 06/08/2008
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Posted Comments:
06-09-2008 10:18
phyllba wrote:
Obama and Hillary
I'm so tired of labels that don't tell half the story. I'm white and old, but not a Hillary supporter or hater. I have two degrees, but I'm not a dyed in the wool Obama support. I voted for him, but if Hillary had not played the subterranean, stereotypical race card, I could have voted for her. In short, few of us who think are in one category of another.
If Obama picks Hillary, it's all right with me. If he chooses Web, it means he's chosen a "Reagan Domocrat." If he choses the VA. Governor, he choosing demographics. If he chooses a woman governor, she had better bring along her state by being a popular governor.
It's an embarrassment of riches, isn't. it.
If Obama picks Hillary, it's all right with me. If he chooses Web, it means he's chosen a "Reagan Domocrat." If he choses the VA. Governor, he choosing demographics. If he chooses a woman governor, she had better bring along her state by being a popular governor.
It's an embarrassment of riches, isn't. it.
06-09-2008 09:55
C.C. wrote:
Ditto
THANK YOU JIM. I COULDN'T HAVE STATED IT BETTER MYSELF.
06-09-2008 09:29
Paul in NY wrote:
Curious
For some reason I have this feeling that these articles are written WAY too far in advance of the current times. Of course I speak of the fact that for the last several days it has even been said that Hillary might NOT even want to be his VP. That does not mean that she wouldn't take it but from reading this article, there is no mention of that little fact.
As far as Hillary NOT conceeding on that fateful day, remember that she was still thinking about Florida, which she SHOULD have gotten all of the votes and deligates she had earned there, along with Michigan, who should have done a revote! Plus the Superdelegates (WHAT A FIASCO!!!!) were not all committed. Remember, it really is NOT guarenteed until those 800+ Supers have actually CAST their ballots at the convention. Or has everyone forgotten that! Plus, as long as she does NOT conceed, she could still raise some of the money to pay off the debt that she had from this primary.
So don't just think that is only ego that kept her from conceeding, PLUS don't make the assumtions that because things were one way that they always stay that way. Meaning, just because Hillary was a tough opponent that she would be a hinderance to Senator Obama becomming President. Always nice to see such OPEN minded people writing columns as well as some talk show hosts...
As far as Hillary NOT conceeding on that fateful day, remember that she was still thinking about Florida, which she SHOULD have gotten all of the votes and deligates she had earned there, along with Michigan, who should have done a revote! Plus the Superdelegates (WHAT A FIASCO!!!!) were not all committed. Remember, it really is NOT guarenteed until those 800+ Supers have actually CAST their ballots at the convention. Or has everyone forgotten that! Plus, as long as she does NOT conceed, she could still raise some of the money to pay off the debt that she had from this primary.
So don't just think that is only ego that kept her from conceeding, PLUS don't make the assumtions that because things were one way that they always stay that way. Meaning, just because Hillary was a tough opponent that she would be a hinderance to Senator Obama becomming President. Always nice to see such OPEN minded people writing columns as well as some talk show hosts...
06-09-2008 09:12
Jim wrote:
Poor Crone, a throwback to America of another generation. Get a life. Get with it.
A new generation of Americans would love to send you back to the ole country, especially the part full of extremist who want to destroy this country.
You kind are exactly what is destroying the Middle East, etc.....
A new generation of Americans would love to send you back to the ole country, especially the part full of extremist who want to destroy this country.
You kind are exactly what is destroying the Middle East, etc.....
06-09-2008 08:02
mrsrat wrote:
barack
i think everyone should give barack a chance, he is going to change this country for the better.We need a leader like him NOW!
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