# Hillary for VP! Plausible? Practical? Positive change? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 15, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606 "2012-01-15T15:31:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/21 "2012-01-15T19:49:36Z")
How is she a loser? She’s a two-term senator, nearly got the Democratic nomination in '08 (and if she’d gotten it, she probably would have won), and she’s been a good secretary of state. I agree there’s not much to be gained by making a switch like this, but it’s not because she’d be a bad candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/22 "2012-01-15T20:06:22Z")
It’s not going to happen and it would be a terrible move. It would smack of desperation and Hillary is not some kind of huge popular draw anyway. There was a segment of the Democratic primary vote which preferred her to Obama but she isn’t some kind of working-class heroine who would draw millions of voters who would otherwise not vote for Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/23 "2012-01-15T20:45:46Z")
Who was the last president to switch running mates between terms? FDR? This sort of thing just isn’t done anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/24 "2012-01-15T21:16:55Z")
You can maybe argue that she would have been a better choice than Biden in the first place (I disagree, but I can see the argument), but that does not imply that Obama should switch now. Something like changing VPs would be seen as a sign of indecisiveness or desperation, either of which would sink a President like the Lusitania. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/25 "2012-01-16T00:22:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Who was the last president to switch running mates between terms? FDR? > > This sort of thing just isn’t done anymore. Nelson Rockefeller was Ford’s VP, but declined to run in 1976. Bob Dole ended up being his running mate. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/26 "2012-01-16T01:35:30Z")
This comes, believe it or not, from Bill Clinton, who [according to The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/is-the-obama-clinton-ticket-all-in-bill-clintons-head/2012/01/10/gIQAtGPonP_blog.html) has been talking it up for about forever. So I’d say it’s more than idle rumormongering and more a bit of political positioning. I don’t believe it’ll come true but it appears to represent the wishes of one power bloc on the D side. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/27 "2012-01-16T01:38:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > How is she a loser? She’s a two-term senator, nearly got the Democratic nomination in '08 (and if she’d gotten it, she probably would have won), and she’s been a good secretary of state. I agree there’s not much to be gained by making a switch like this, but it’s not because she’d be a bad candidate. To clarify, I don’t think she’s a loser but the Republicans would certainly spin her that way, and by extension Obama. “Sheesh, man, not that I wouldn’t vote for a black guy, but I just can’t stand Hillary’s laugh and she couldn’t even keep Bill’s cigar in his pocket. Only reason she was a senator was 'cause those librul New Yorkers are a buncha pansies anyway…” ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/28 "2012-01-16T02:17:43Z")
Better to ditch Geitner than Biden. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606/29 "2012-01-16T02:19:10Z")
While I agree that the GOP base is going to as fired up as it’s going to get just by having Obama at the top of the ticket, I also don’t think it’d be a good idea. But I guess I’m a bit more cynical. I think the country still isn’t ready for a Black Guy/Woman ticket. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-for-vp-plausible-practical-positive-change/609606.md?page=1)