Admiral "Fox" Fallon would be an interesting pick for Senator Obama's VP. Choosing Admiral Fallon voids the Clinton Camp's "3 AM phone call" business and catapults Senator Obama into a position of overmatching national security parity with McCain (who, we might remind everybody, will be spending the next couple of weeks burnishing his naval legacy and beating the "Bomb Iran" drums in the Middle East).
Having weathered Right-Winger excitement surrounding General Petraeus' testimony, and watched them call for the General to run for president, inviting this newly-retired Admiral into the race for the Whitehouse would be a darned fascinating thing.
And with Admiral Fallon bowing out March 31, it gives Obama about a month to chip into Clinton's Pennsylvania lead. It'd make the April 22 Pennsylvania primary a veritable, um, "cakewalk."
Admiral Fallon would make a great pick. As any quick read of Esquire Magazine's Fox-featurette can attest, Fallon's got all the poltical savvy, gravitas and wisdom required to serve the country well in a position of political leadership.
Let's consider the advantages: First, with folks like Washington Post's milblogger William Arkin spouting stuff like this a strong national security pick makes sense:
Sen. Barack Obama's task of turning hope into policies is hard enough on the toughest and most emotional issues, but when it comes to the nitty-gritty details of obscure questions that also happen to be ideological or Washington favorites, there's no shame or surprise in saying that the candidate isn't quite ready for prime time. This is especially the case on national security, where his advisers scramble to collect firepower and reserves.
With Fallon, this kind of hit-piece would vanish.
Second, Fallon fills a vacant "attack surrogate" niche. It would be a real boost for Senator Obama to get an old campaigner like Fallon out there and into the poltical mix. Clinton would be left to sputter in indignation, and the McCain Camp would be facing a ticket that embodies opposition to their "never-ending war" stance.
Third, there'd be little problem melding Fallon into the Obama campaign. As Vice-CNO during Navy Secretary Danzig's tenure, then it's pretty likely that Danzig--Obama's Defense Secretary-heir apparent would get along just fine with Fallon.
Finally, it'd really, really irritate FOX News to have "Fox" Fallon running with the good guys!
And, hey, if anybody on the Right clucks about moving a military man into a political position too quickly, just wave their calls to "draft" General Petraeus in their faces. And point out that McCain is a former military man-turned politician, too. And, you know, it's wartime!
If you want to hear more about this--and get an idea of how Senator Obama can take on McCain in the National Security arena--wander over to Springboard's Springboard. It's the only liberal Navy blog around! See you there!