Furthermore, should Obama-Clinton win, she would stand a heartbeat away from the presidency, as her words of May 23, suggested. Safety is an issue for both these candidates. For reasons of karma and tact, I’ll say no more about that.
Point Three: Obama-Clinton would beat McCain-Lieberman or anyone else. Recently, Virginia Rep. Tom Davis called Bush "radioactive" and compared the Republican Party to an airplane headed for a mountain in the dark. Coming from a Republican, those are scary analogies. In recent special elections, Republicans lost three congressional seats they thought secure. Polls show Democrats dramatically ahead in nearly every category nationally.
Meanwhile, McCain’s errors are piling up. Like Bush, he’s bet his place in history on the war in Iraq. Bad bet. While the Surge helped McCain win the Republican base in primaries, the war works against him from here on.
We’re in Year Six of a botched occupation. Almost nobody’s happy about it. As a commentator suggested May 18 on Meet the Press, it’s as if McCain took the Bush family name by supporting Bush’s war-mongering speech before the Israeli Knesset earlier this month: Like it or not, his name might as well be John McCain Bush now.
This is just one of many McCain miscues. He’s made a series of remarkable gaffs, displaying confusion regarding Shiites and Sunnis, the number of years we’d have soldiers in Iraq, the meaning of appeasement, and fine points of the economy. He’s had to fire staffers who served as lobbyists for unsavory associates, including dictators, and cancel endorsements of two ministers who are easily as nutty, if not nuttier, than Jeremiah Wright.
While it’s true that electing the oldest president ever would make history, this isn’t the sort of history making that attracts voters. Electing a man of color holds a certain pizzazz. Electing a woman holds a certain edgy glamour. Electing an old guy? Not so much.
For all these reasons, I believe the vice-presidency could’ve been Hillary’s for the asking, until May 23. Maybe it’s not completely dead even now.
Could Obama summon the goodwill and good sense to overlook this gaffe in the interests of his party and his own chance at making history? Asking Hillary to be his running mate would demonstrate an almost transcendent big-mindedness, largeness of spirit and good will.
But then, that’s what he’s been running on isn’t it?
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