I am an Obama man through and through but I have to ask the question: Is it better for Barack to have Hillary outside the tent pissing in, or inside the tent pissing out?
Before you pop a blood vessel, follow me over to Camera Three and let's talk about it...
First there was this:
Whoopi Goldberg asked her co-hosts on "The View" how they would describe Mrs. Clinton’s historic battle for the Democratic nomination.
"A man took it away from a woman," Joy Behar replied. "Then they yelled at her for complaining about it."
Oh my. If you think that the zeitgeist has a lot to do with who wins the presidency (and I do), then none of this is good. Obama has Oprah, true. But The View is also a cultural icon.
Then there's this, by way of Chris Matthews quoting Chris Rock (or so he suggested):
We never heard of "superdelegates" until a brother got the nomination.
Not good. Not good if you want to get past this and get on with squashing McCain ASAP.
If that isn't enough, there's this from Chuck Todd:
We do wonder if Obama does end up in a no man's land where he's taken enough delegates off the table to prevent Clinton from getting the magic number, but there are enough undeclared supers sitting out to prevent Obama from claiming victory, which would give these supers the opportunity to become brokers. Perhaps Obama-Clinton ticket brokers?
Fair? Fair is for children.
Probable? Perhaps not.
But possible? Anything is possible. And if you've ever done politics, or any kind of negotiating, you know you must have a Plan B just in case.
So here's my question: if you're Obama, is it better to have Hillary outside the tent pissing in? Or inside the tent, pissing out?
On one hand, Hillary stands for everything Barack is against: the old way of doing politics, the failed establishment that got us into Iraq, lobbyists, talking out of both sides of your mouth just to win the election, the whole thing -- and more. Plus she's shown she only cares about herself, that she's basically running a protection racket: Clinton, Inc.
On the other hand, she will not go quietly. Her restless shade will stalk the land for the rest of the campaign -- and for the next four years.
So here's a thought: what better way to neutralize her than making her Vice President? Think about it: two-thirds of all vice presidents never ascended to the presidency. It is just as dead-end a position as Secretary of Transportation. It's "not worth a pitcher of warm piss," in the immortal words of "Cactus Jack" Garner, who was FDR's VP for eight years.
And so it could be -- if President Obama makes it so.
And another thing -- while it's good to keep your friends close, you should know by now that what you really need to do is keep your enemies closer.
On the other hand, you can say she brings nothing to the ticket. New York is in the bag, Illinois is in the bag, and the Appalachian states will not vote for the Democratic ticket just because Hillary is #2. (Or, I suspect, #1 but that's a discussion for another day.)
On the first hand, there's Arkansas.
And there's also this: too many Hillary supporters are on the record saying they will sit this one out if she doesn't get the nomination.
Can you be sure that, in fact, they'll "get over it?"
The very formulation of the question makes me wince. But it's worse than that: I don't even want to ask the question because I do NOT know the answer. And if you're honest, you'll admit that you don't know the answer either, do you?
So that brings me to the final question (and our poll): if Obama picks Hillary, will you sit this one out -- or work your ass off to get the ticket elected in November?