I am so surprised, like many of you,w ith the Clinton's gaucheness in their efforts to secure a VP slot on an Obama ticket. Their approach totally cornered Obama, put an undue amount of pressure on him and will force him to say no. I would have expected something else from somebody as smart as Hillary.
This all about Hillary, not the issues, because the lady in the pantsuit and her supporters do not even want another woman to take the VP slot. So this rambling about sexism and respect is all bull@$!! and all about supporting Hillary big ego trip.
America, the democratic party, and the women movement should not encourage this sort of blackmailing/bullying/ spoiled-child-like behavior...not if we want to have a strong candidate against McCain.
This move to pressure Obama to "invite" Hillary on the ticket has Ferraro's sticky fingerprints all over. The times' Dowd put it well, when she drew a parallel to a similar situation Mondale faced, in her latest OpEd:
By broadcasting that she’s open to being Obama’s running mate, she puts public pressure on him similar to the sort of pressure Walter Mondale was under from rampaging feminists when he put Geraldine Ferraro on the ticket. Mondale ended up seeming henpecked, as Obama would seem if he caved to the women who say they will write in Hillary’s name or vote for anti-choice McCain before they’d vote for Obama.
Roger Simon at the Politico has it right in his latest article when he wrote:
But her fighting words only increased the need for Obama to show that he can be strong, tough and in charge. Clinton’s unwillingness to recognize Obama as the victor only increased the need for Obama to act like a president and not like a doormat. And denying her a vice presidential slot may be a way of doing that.
Conclusion: Clinton and her aparachicks have overplayed their hands and put Obama in a position where he can only say no...just to avoid Mondale's fate and demonstrate that he is the leader who is calling the shots.