From the ArcaMax Publishing, Politics Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/politics/s-359403-640014
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.