Monday, March 31, 2008

Clinton/Obama Ticket '08 - Get Real

What does Bob say? "I doubt it!"

That's how I feel about this topic, suggested by PA Gov. Rendell in this NY Times article: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/rendell-likes-idea-of-clinton-obama-ticket/

Considering the amount of negative campaigning done, I don't think that either candidate would want to take the back seat to either. Not that this is as much of an issue on the Obama side (if he were to win it would be a bit of a historical landmark and step forward for African Americans), but I highly doubt that the female supporters of Clinton who are supporting her with that reason in high regard would ever want to take the back seat... to a man, and a black man. Those bring forth some undertones of social implications they simply would not accept. Most sources I have tried to research briefly have turned out to say that there is no correlation between black supporters and Obama, either.

Now as far as what Clinton and Obama have to say, this article seems to outline it a bit:
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/clinton.obama.ticket.2.669799.html

This was March 5, but the fact likely remains. Clinton seems to say all along that she is the better candidate and now that she thinks she can be back on top, she offers a VP slot to Obama. This is laughable to Obama, however (from the above article): "The bottom line is, we've won twice as many states, we won a greater share of the popular vote and what's most important, we've won far more Independents and Republicans than Sen. Clinton has."

Just a month before this article, Wolf Blitzer ran the possibility of an Obama-Clinton ticket (and vice versa) cited in this article. This article made it seem quite conceivable, with a few gray areas which would need clearing, obviously. But, with Clinton's recent bitter attitude towards Obama, Obama's resent for her actions, and the now seeming divine quest Ms. Clinton has taken (as people have told her to call off her campaign) there is just too much bad blood and the stakes are too high for this to realistically happen. Additionally, there is just too much support from Hillary supporters in general for her to simply drop out. I found this on Hillary's campaign site blog, and however hopeful and not based on sound rationale and logic some of these assertions are, it just shows how much support there is for Hillary, dismay for Obama, and the willingness to hold out until the bitter end.

No, at this point, unless something magical happens between them (unlikely), Obama and Clinton won't be seen on the same ticket for Presidency and Vice Presidency.

1 comment:

zbooher said...

In following up on this, there's more reasons why Obama and Clinton really can't reasonably be on the same ticket. Obama is going after goals of governmental transparency, and I think that either way, he would not be able to accept someone like Hillary Clinton in his cabinet, or to be in her shadow as VP.

Take a look at this article and see why:
http://thepage.time.com/obama-memo-on-clinton-tax-returns/

In addition to this, Halperin talks on Fox News (yeah, Fox news, I know, but he's from Time Magazine...and blah blah blah Time gave Putin man of the year, just give it a shot) in an interview about his talks with Clinton.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/03/31/what-hillary-s-thinking.aspx

(Watch the YouTube clip on that link, the blog wouldn't let me embed the video)

Seriously? She's really going to go as low as to hint at him being black as inability to be elected president or even get the Democratic nomination? What a stab, quite frankly, and I think that should be a stab at her own integrity. For what it's worth, however, I will say that there are no clips of her saying anything Halperin talks about, so to take it all at face value might be a bit risky, especially in a Fox News interview. But, looking at Hillary and her campaign tactics, I wouldn't put it past her.