Obama / Clinton : Dream Ticket or Political Nightmare?

by David Samuels
Barack Obama made history on June 3, 2008, becoming the first black man to secure the presidential nomination of a major political party in this country. Senator Hillary Clinton officially “suspended” her presidential campaign on Saturday. During a speech to a crowd of supporters in Washington, D.C., she passionately endorsed Obama’s candidacy, while planting the seed for another presidential run in the future. Obama and Clinton met privately at the Washington home of Senator Dianne Fienstein on Thursday. The meeting was described as “productive” by sources close to both. Clinton said that she is “open” to being Obama’s running mate, if the Democratic presidential nominee invites her to fill the vice president position on his ticket. The question is, should he?

As Jay-Z once said, “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t”. Hillary Clinton doubled the votes that Obama received from senior whites, whites with no college education and white women. Clinton is enormously popular with blue collar whites, who provided her with significant victories in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. She won the Puerto Rico primary by a landslide. It is no secret that there is a chasm that exists between Obama and the Latino community. Finally, there is the division between Obama and Clinton supporters that must be considered. A faction of Clinton voters, disgruntled over the resolution of the Michigan / Florida primary issue, have started a group called “ Hillary Clinton Supporters For John McCain”. One of their most prominent members said that even if Obama names Clinton as his running mate, he will not vote for him. Many Obama supporters had vowed not to vote for Clinton if she won the Democratic presidential nomination, due to racial manipulations by her agents, including hubby Bill, and outright racist comments by Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro.

The main argument against Obama adding Clinton to his ticket is that she would undermine him as vice president, positioning herself for another run at the Oval Office in 2012. Former President Jimmy Carter said that Obama and Clinton would bring out the “worst” in each other. Mathematics is the compelling reason for an Obama / Clinton alliance; having Clinton on the ticket would pull in votes that Obama failed to capture among certain white demographics, in addition to Latinos. The man considered by many within the Democratic Party as the next best VP option for Obama, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, has already stated that he will not accept an invitation to join the Obama ticket. The choice appears to be a difficult one for Obama. Refusing to add Clinton to his ticket could cost him the White House, while having her as VP could mean enduring four years of listening to backseat driving from a bitter political rival, who still entertains ambitions of becoming the first woman president in the history of the United States. What is the right choice for Obama?