I see what you did there…
…and I like it!
No.
Hillary would be a continual problem for an Obama Administration, and Bill is a loose cannon that no one would want chained to their neck.
I think by all means, if she were to walk out with the nomination, she should offer him the VP slot. Because her getting it would be at the hands of the SD’s overturning the popular vote and it might help to overcome the ill-will with the general public of such a thing.
But there’s no way in hell he should offer her a damned thing if he gets the nod.
Exactly. She’ll still be a Senator from a major state. If Obama wins, and runs again in 2012, she can spend that year making sure she gets returned by New Yorkers and make a bid, likely her last possible one, in 2016. And if not, she can spend a few terms in the Senate and raise her standing in various committees, maybe clawing her way up to chair Armed Services. Besides, the balance in the Senate is tenuous enough. Jumping out for a cabinet post and leaving her seat to a relative unknown appointee could hurt her party.
Dammit, I’ve had it!
You’re mixing your metaphors.
Give him a break. He’s burning the midnight oil at both ends.
Polls show the opposite.
I don’t see what Hillary would contribute to an Obama administration. Bill obviously has a lot of credentials and experience, but at this point the possilibility of him playing a significant role is long gone.
Oh, I dunno. Can you imagine the personal havoc wrought if a loose cannon were in fact chained to one’s neck?
Exactly.
Just because it’s chained to you does not in fact, mean that it isn’t loosed from it’s carriage.
Take an old 16 pounder off it’s base. Throw it loosely on the ground. Now connect a 6’ chain to your neck on one end and and to the cannon at the other end. Now fire the cannon. :dubious:
So, let me get this right.
Obama shouldn’t take Hillary as VP because that might drive some of the pubs voting across party lines because of his campaign message of unity and change?
Doesn’t this assumes the votes he would gain because of Hillary are not as important as the votes he might lose? Does anyone know if this is backed up by any evidence? Are the votes he’ll gain from Hillary mainly coming from solidly dem states and the votes he’ll lose from contested states?
Does anyone know what kind of numbers are we talking here again? If Hillary makes him gain one vote for every 10 he loses, then it’s probably bad for him to ask her to become VP. The question becomes: Would it be possible for Hillary to achieve a positive ratio in that regard? She appears to be a very competent politician. Obama’s campaign is good but Hillary’s is giving it a run for its money.
Your toughts?
I think your facts are off. Teddy Roosevelt, for instance, was 50 when he left office. If Obama gets elected, when he leaves office, he’ll either be 51 (if he serves one term) or 55 (if he serves two).
Pretty much that even if Obama makes the offer, Clinton should decline and cast her eye toward 2012 or 2016, while keeping a high profile as the junior Senator from New York.
The thing for Obama to do is name Hillary as Ambassador to a volatile nation in the Middle East, with Bill her sidekick as Minister Without Portfolio.
With all that “toughness” and “experience” between the two of them (Hillary has the proven ability to keep a ceremonial ladies’ get-together at an Irish pub from degenerating into random violence), they should be able to broker a Middle East peace within Obama’s first term.
If they can’t do it, at least they can build up impressive video of ducking sniper fire to use in the 2016 Presidential race.
I think your facts are off. Teddy Roosevelt, for instance, was 50 when he left office. If Obama gets elected, when he leaves office, he’ll either be 51 (if he serves one term) or 55 (if he serves two).
I like it! 
Picking Hillary as VP would be like picking Lady Macbeth. Instead, he’d want to give her something she’d be really grateful for and useful to him as. That’s why, assuming he gets the nomination, I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama promises her a Supreme Court appointment in exchange for her enthusiastic support.
That sounds more like a Republican seeking power than a Democrat seeking the betterment of the people.
I think he should.
Wouldn’t adding Hillary capture more of her supporters in the general? That is, there is certainly a percentage of her supporters that, should she lose the nomination, will sit out. How many will come back if he chooses Edwards/Richardson/A.E.Newman? Who could he possibly pick that would garner him as many general votes as having Hillary along side?
In addition to general voting support, there is the extant Clinton machinery (e.g., volunteers, networks, contacts) that would serve as a huge boon in the general.
Then there’s the benefit of close contacts with the Clintons themselves. (Remember, this is GD, so watch it, bub!) Bill will be out there regardless of who gets the nomination/wins the election. Just because his wife is or isn’t the VP doesn’t mean his press coverage will differ that much. IMHO Obama should tap into the good will, experience, and statesmanship on the world stage as warranted. Bill, visiting a country as an ex-president, or Bill visiting as part of an official delegation (albeit attached to Mrs. C) is substantially different.
Hillary, as candidate and VP, won’t be able to outshine Obama as much as she did Shumer when she first came to office. I don’t think the media frenzy over a Clinton VP will be the same when compared to an Obama presidency. Also, remember that of all the so-called experience the two of them claim, she has mad skills at playing the supporting role—just think about her time during Bill’s administration.
In sum, I think the benefits far outweigh the risks of giving her the second slot. There are a lot of assumptions inherent to this (e.g., that she’d accept, that their policies overlap to a significant extent), but overall I daresay it’s the smart political course.
Don’t Supreme Court justices generally have judicial experience? As in being a judge somewhere in your life?
Obama can get the old white bat vote back in a hurry by naming a woman other than Hillary as his running mate. Hillary herself will be the next governor of NY.
… I dunno. She could be, but after Love Potion Number 9, and his successor…
Honestly, before the ‘I had an affair, er, two, er, my wife did, er, we both did (Just say you’re swingers already!)’ issue, people were saying Paterson might be the next full gov. Now… I dunno. I do know that, were she to run against Bloomberg, she’d lose. I also know she doesn’t really have the local connections she needs. The national ones, sure, but she doesn’t know the local players and the backbiting we do here. It’s just as brutal…
I wonder if she could handle the job of Mayor of NYC. I’d consider that more prestigious than Governor of NY, myself.