Why NOT Obama-Clinton '08?

The issue of VP choices for the Democratic nominee has been a point of conjecture on many liberal forums. We are now down to two candidates and Barack Obama is the odds-on favorite.

Once Edwards dropped out of the race, the consensus seemed to be that if Hillary won, she would virtually have to offer the VP slot to Obama, whether he chose to accept it or not. I contend now that their political fortunes have reversed, Obama is obligated to extend the same respectful gesture to a worthy adversary. There is no doubt they have made each other better general-election candidates.

Why do I suggest Obama is obligated to extend the VP offer to Mme. Clinton? Because, respectfully, she has earned it.

While not running the best campaign, no one can contest Senator Clinton's appeal to a large segment of Democratic voters who view her, rightfully or wrongly, as having the experience to perform as Commander-in-Chief. Obama has expressed that sentiment himself on multiple occasions.

No one can also contest her command of the issues. When her and Obama go wonk-for-wonk, she holds her own and, on more than one debate exchange, has won outright. There is simply not much daylight between their policy positions, another point both candidates readily acknowledge.

Mrs. Clinton is, in fact, already known around the world, mostly in a positive light among international leaders. Hillary also enjoys a good, bi-partisan reputation in the Senate and would no doubt be a valuable ally in advancing Obama's agenda which, by and large, is also her own.

Senator Clinton as VP heals the electorate from a DNC standpoint, because the choices of Michigan and FL would be reflected on the ticket. She is not just an also-ran, but a survivor; if she were to carry the race out to the end, Obama may win by a few hundred delegates, but her pledged-delegate totals would be nothing to sneeze at.

I submit the most important question a nominee must ask himself when looking at prospective VP choices is not who would most help them get elected -- but rather, who would be the best president in the event the nominee could not serve. To this end, all the above said, if Obama were not in the race, I could argue Ms. Clinton would have long ago been declared the nominee.

However, the conventional wisdom is that Senator Clinton wouldn't accept a VP offer. But that's hardly the point. My argument is that she deserves the offer and the party has to prepare itself for the eventuality of an Obama-Clinton ticket. Before we rush to embrace that conventional wisdom, let's pause to answer why WOULDN'T she accept?

By accepting, she would:

- Be the first female on a ticket favored to win
- Mop the floor in any VP candidate debate with the other side
- Bring her policy knowledge to bear directly in the Oval Office
- Give Obama the worthy foil he suggested he wanted from a VP
- Unify the party behind a "dream ticket"
- Bring Bill Clinton's experience to the table by proxy
- Engage the joint power of the party's premier candidates

Naturally, there is an issue with the negatives a Clinton brings to the ticket. However, given that the offer is warranted, and Clinton was fully-prepared to deal with those negatives should she have won the nomination, why would she not be prepared to deal with them if she were the VP nominee? In this respect, she does come essentially pre-vetted, allowing the ticket to hit the ground running. And the two have remained about as civil as two combatants can be ("I am honored to be here with Barack Obama") -- neither has scorched the earth and need to be applauded for running, essentially, very positive campaigns.

The truth is, that Obama's look to change the style of politics in this nation and eliminating personal attacks provides perfect cover for any personal shortcomings of Mrs. Clinton the Republicans tried to exploit. One can almost see Obama taking on the other side, quoting, "This is exactly the kind of slash-and-burn politics that our ticket is trying to move the nation away from." The "change" Obama is looking to promote provides immediate insulation against the typical slanderous crap likely to be lodged against her.

With respect to Mrs. Clinton's high negatives, they are muted to a degree with her on the undercard. Of course, there are people (some Republicans and Independents) that won't vote for a ticket that has her on it. However, as the nominee, this becomes Obama's job to convince those voters that a vote for this ticket is precisely a vote for the same type of change he has always stood for -- building that new coalition, which is something Hillary would have to accept -- instead of looking to advance the agenda by beating the other side to a bloody pulp.

Personally, I think this could work very well. Hillary would be excellent presiding over the Senate, and one could just see the gleam in her eye as she casts tie-breaking votes. Heading up wonky task-forces with Obama graciously giving her the credit for everything accomplished in those areas. Her and Obama's agendas are nearly identical...advancing his agenda is already advancing her own. And in the political instances where Obama needs that hatchet-person or attack-dog...could there be anyone better?

Of course there will be those that argue a choice such as Clinton is inconsistent with Obama's message of "Change". After all, choosing a running-mate who's entire platform is "let's return to the good old days" hardly seems to play well with Obama's forward-looking political mantra. I would challenge those critics to imagine MORE change, in 2008, than a favored presidential ticket with nary a white man in sight.

And lastly, yet another benefit would be her ability to run in 2016, well outside the shadow of Bill Clinton's legacy. At 68, she would not be too old and enjoy the favor of incumbency as well.

I dunno...I could argue to leave Bill in the doghouse, allow Hillary to run alongside Obama as her own politician with her own personal narrative (and not on Bill's coattails), let Obama serve the sizzle while she serves the steak, and grant the Democratic party license to simultaneously bring it's two most popular personalities to the 2008 campaign stage. Why choose between the Mercedes or Cadillac....when you can have both?

Republicans will unify against Senator Clinton if she is on the ticket. Heck, they would unify against Chelsea. Why? Because, in my estimation, the GOP is battling against the prospect of Bill making his way back into the White House which, after what they put him through, is proverbially pissing in their corn flakes. With Hillary as #2, Bill is not back in the Oval Office, which I believe mitigates some measure of the Republican indignation. In any event, this is the year that Democratic values trounce tired Republican ideas due of the electorate sizes. Obama brings a new generation of voters that hold no grudge against Hillary, but long for the hope in their politics he embodies.

I say record Democratic turnouts absolutely blast McCain and whoever his foxhole-buddy is (since they are effectively running as Bush's 3rd term), with an Obama-Clinton ticket winning by a landslide.

Let's heal the party and get on with it.

John.he.is

After Obama wins the primary, the real fight can begin, but for now, here is a preview of what will be a fun election year:

My South Carolina Experience on the Obama Campaign

Being in South Carolina for the 7 days leading up to the Primary on Jan 29 was an amazing experience! I met volunteers from all over including, Texas, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois, and others from Florida. All of us were there to do what we could to help get Senator Obama elected. I also met some great locals and had a wonderful host, Mike, that let 9 of us invade his beautiful home and I stayed with him for the remaining week after the big group left. We were perfect strangers before and now I've added a new friend to my life.

I helped with door to door canvassing and phone banking to undecided voters to tell them about rally's where Barack or Michelle Obama would be speaking.

On Tuesday of that week, the phone I was using starting ringing back and people were asking me where their voting precincts were. As it ended up my phone line was part of the Voter Assistance HotLine being handled by a lawyer named John from Austin. He is a spitting image of Stephen King and he had instructed us all week that only a lawyer could answer those hotline calls.

He asked me if I had my computer with me and if I would be willing to take some calls. He had been working in the office for over 2 weeks to line up the lawyers that would be working in the field and in the boiler room on election day to handling any election fraud or irregularities that might come up. The 877 number had been on one phone and then suddenly it expanded to two lines and the later in the week would be 4 lines and on election day there would be 10.

He gave me the links to the Obama site and the South Carolina state voter registration site and said just to look up their voter registration and let him talk to them if they had any legal questions.

It was a bit chaotic and we managed and got into a rhythm. 90% of the callers wanted to know where to vote. The state made some ridiculous amount of precinct changes and didn't notify voters. So the campaign published the 877 number on every mailing, handout and tv commercial. Somewhere along the way, someone also said it was the truth squad number too. So anyone could call to tell us about anything. It became the main campaign line for the state.

And we got a fair amount of random calls about how the Senator needed to be tougher on the Clintons, how he needed to not stand down, we had lots of requests to pass along messages like we were his personal secretary. We had a few hateful calls. One really came unexpected for me and really shook me up. But we also had lots of supportive calls with people calling to say they just mailed their Absentee ballot for him or that they were supporting Obama and it was the first election they had voted in in 20 years. it was really inspiring.



On election day itself I ended up being the operations manager of sorts for the 10 attorneys that drove in from Washington, DC, etc.

In addition to voting location questions, people where calling to schedule rides to the polls or asking if they could just bring their ID with them or if they needed their voter reg cards.

The phones never really stopped ringing. All 10 lines for 12 hours. We estimate that we were answering about 500 calls an hour.

By the end of the day were were all exhausted and on caffeine and adrenaline highs. Then suddenly someone got a text at 7:01, one minute after the polls had closed that the AP was already calling the race for Obama! It was amazing. We really didn't have a feel for how anything was going all day.

We headed down to the Convention Center where he was going to be giving his speech. My legs where so tight and tired. I had not sat down for more than 5 minutes all day. But as Mike and I walked in to the convention center we both had a bounce in our step! We waited what seemed like an eternity for his speech to start. The crowd was pumped up and we'd yell different chants at different times. "Race doesn't matter". "Fired Up. Ready to go." "Yes We Can" CNN was broadcasting live and we'd erupt when the live shots came over the large screen.

Here's a video of the speech - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8mG5qfDXL4




We were only about 10 people deep but I quickly became surrounded by a wall of tall people and some of them not smelling too pretty. :) Definitely not the place to be if you are the least bit claustrophobic. Mike had a better angle than I did so I gave him my digital camera. It was such a commanding and inspiring speech! If you haven't watched it yet, please do!!! I found it on youtube when I was driving back to Florida the next day. I hooked it up to the speaker in the car and listed to it several times. Each time I started to cry. I wasn't able to completely take it in being their live for it. I was too exhausted and overwhelmed by the entire experience.

Without a doubt it was an amazing experience! I wish I could do more but I know we all do what we can!

Maria Shriver made me cry today

As bobnbob will gladly tell you, I don't cry often; at least not in public. But, Maria Shriver made me cry today. She made me proud to be an American, proud to be a woman, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a grassroots organizer, and an Obama supporter. Maria made me cry with joy and hope for my daughters, for California; for America and even for Florida.

Yesterday, my youngest daughter was racially profiled at a Florida clothing store. We entered the store together, but my daughter's body language was a little sullen and distant because she was being punished for normal teenage rebellious behavior. The salesperson must not have known that we were together, but I noticed her following my African American daughter around the store. She tried to be subtle about it, but I could see what was happening. She was racially profiling her. My daughter wasn't profiled because she was a female, she was targeted because of her race. This beautiful intelligent girl, who had everything going against her at her birth, has blossomed into an intelligent, goal driven student. Even though she was born addicted to crack, she is a vivacious, intelligent teenager who has high aspirations even while overcoming disabilities that came with the circumstances of birth. She is a blessing in all her teenage glory and angst. Girlie Girl is a joy to us.

She has something valuable to contribute to this world and yet, she was racially profiled yesterday.

I want more for my children. I want more for my daughters.






And I want more for my sons.



I support Barack Obama for many reasons. I support him for his amazing credentials. I support him for his intelligence. I support him because of his good judgement. I support him because of his amazing ability to bring people together. I support him because he has been able to engage our youth, including my own children, for the first time. My kids are finally engaged in politics; in their political future. I support Obama because he is infusing energy, youth and enthusiasm into the Democratic Party. I support Barack Obama because he makes us believe that...together..."Yes, we can heal this nation."

Maria reinforced my belief that "Yes, we can" change our country. We have the power to change it voice by voice, citizen by citizen, vote by vote.



And I will never get tired of this:

Now is the time to volunteer. Now is the time to vote...for Barack Obama.

Yes We Can!

Fired up! Ready to go!

And the video that includes some commentary...