If you are willing to believe this Associated Press story, Hillary Clinton may be open to serving as Barack Obama’s running mate for the November election. If this holds true, it places Hillary Clinton just a heartbeat away from her dream of becoming the first woman President in our nation’s history. She came up short despite the lengths she’s gone to in order to keep her campaign going, including loaning her own campaign millions and maintaining a revolving door for campaign personnel when she deemed them to be hurting her campaign. Toss in the tears of New Hampshire and the ever-present saga of the man who would be Second Husband lurking behind the scenes and it makes you wonder just whether Barack Obama would have the nerve to ask Hillary to assume that post.
One advantage to him doing so is that Obama could probably get away with a lot of policy decisions because having a Clinton or two in the White House will do wonders for deflecting the attention of both America and the drive-by media. After all, the last Clinton run was an eight-year soap opera, a West Wing in real life and real time.
Part of that soap opera was the demise of one Vince Foster under mysterious circumstances, along with the hundreds of FBI files that somehow turned up in the Clintons’ possession. While there’s a philosophy which holds that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer, if I’m Barack Obama maybe a Clinton in the White House is too close for comfort.
What can’t be discounted, though, is the impact having Clinton on the ticket would give to Obama’s chances. While the black vote is in Obama’s pocket, Latinos tended to go strongly for Hillary and were lukewarm at best to Barack. Also worth noting is that Hillary won in many states which were counted on as Democrat bases like New York, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Putting Hillary on the ticket could neutralize whatever chances John McCain had in those states and allow Barack Obama to eke out a win despite himself.
If all this happens though, the first job Barack Obama should fill as President might well be a food taster. Since only one Vice-President has succeeded his boss in the last century via the ballot (Bush 41 after Ronald Reagan) the odds are better that Hillary Clinton becomes President via the demise of Barack Obama, whether by death or resignation. It may become an Operation Chaos within the White House itself if Barack Obama’s elected in November.
Sen. Clinton’s lack of concession on Tuesday is the only reason Obama needs to deny her request to be the VP candidate. Her load of baggage is the last thing that he needs to deal with for the next five months. It is starting to feel like she is waiting for the payoff before she drops her bid. She probably wants two things: VP spot and $20 million debt paid off. I think she will go 0 fer 2.