Is Daschle right about the path to unity?
Sun May 18, 2008 at 11:33:57 AM PDT
I have a lot of respect for what Tom Daschle has done behind-the-scenes for Barack Obama. This Washington Post story suggests that he is urging Obama to pick a Clinton supporter like Strickland, Clark, or Bayh be his running mate for the sake of party unity.
In addition to the fledgling attempts to merge the fundraising operations of Obama and Clinton, there is growing talk that the best -- and perhaps only -- way to truly mend the rift is for Obama to pick a top Clinton surrogate as his vice presidential nominee.
"There's gale-force pressure for Obama to choose a Clinton loyalist as a running mate to heal the party but avoid putting her and her formidable baggage on the ticket," said one Obama ally in Washington. "You hear the names [Ohio Gov. Ted] Strickland, [Indiana Sen. Evan] Bayh, and [retired general] Wes Clark almost constantly, and it's no secret that Jim Johnson and Tom Daschle are purveyors of that wisdom."
If the Washingtonpost is correct and this is Tom Daschle's argument, I think he may be wrong on this one.
I actually think the idea of picking a Clinton supporter is great - in theory.
I am sure that that Bayh, Strickland, or Clark work their hearts out for Obama on the ticket.
But my concern is that this might unify the party at the washington insider/fundraiser level, but would it really be all that impressive to Hillary's rank-and-file to pick a white male supporter of hers to be VP? Wouldn't Kathleen Sebelius, though an Obama supporter, do more to unify the party at the grassroots level where it counts?
I think many of these folks are terribly disappointed right now, not only because Hillary is not going to win the nomination but because of a sense that if she couldn't do it, no female will be able to do so for the forseeable future.
I happen to disagree with that thinking. I think Hillary's candidacy showed us that a woman can be elected. She got a lot of men to support her and it doesn't hurt that the electorate is majority female. She had the bad luck of running against a once-in-a-generation political talent in a political climate uniquely suited to him. I think if she had run in 2004, she might be running for re-election right now against Jeb Bush (wouldn't that be an interesting race?).
But I can understand why Hillary supporters may not see things this way at this time. I think they have to feel like Patriots fans did after the Super Bowl. It's hard to get them excited about Obama like it would be to get a Pats fan happy about the Giants.
But what if Obama picked a well-qualified female like Kathleen Sebelius to be his running mate? I think the Washington-based Clinton crowd wouldn't prefer this selection, but I have a feeling many of her supporters would.
What do you think?
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