I think Obama should spend the rest of the primary campaign running against the Republicans' McCain/Clinton ticket.
Hear me out...
We all know now that Sen. Clinton has conspicuously and repeatedly stated in recent days that both she and John McCain has a lifetime of experience behind them while Barack Obama has but a single speech. This prompted Rachel Maddow of Air America to observe, "That's what you say when you want to be John McCain's Vice Presidential choice."
That got me going on the following thought experiment: How would a McCain/Clinton "unity ticket" do?
Some (translation: David Broder) would say it is the marriage of two centrists that frustrated Americans have been pining for. Mike Bloomberg? Feh! McCain/Clinton would run away from the rest of the field.
Not so fast.
I think it would ensure that Barack Obama pitches a perfect game shutout in the Electoral College World Series: 538-0.
Think about it:
Obama's already running against both of them and has been for a while. How's he doing? Well, he's raised more money than both of them put together and has a clear path to his own party's nomination.
He should simply put them in a burlap sack together, tie President "Cinderblock" Bush to it, drop them into the middle of the Potomac swamp, and watch them sink from sight.
Think about it.
Make Hillary Virtual VP on the Republican ticket. Force the issue. Watch her fundraising dry up. After all, there is no reason to believe that Republicans would donate to her in any comparable amount -- Hillary unites Republicans AGAINST the Democratic nominee.
So that's a net loss for Hillary, McCain and the Republicans....and a huge net gain for Obama. He'll have to hire a batallion of new people just to open the avalanche of money-bearing envelopes that will swamp his HQ.
And not only that: the Republican base will never, never EVER vote for Hillary; in fact they're not sure they'd vote for McCain WHOEVER his VP is. Hillary would make their heads explode.
The more I think about it, the more I like it.
I think that between now and the Pennsylvania Primary, Barack Obama should campaign as though the Republican ticket was, in fact, McCain/Clinton.