Monday, June 02, 2008

Dream Tickets and Nightmare Scenarios

With a segment of the Democratic Party clamoring for what they refer to as a "dream ticket," a question comes to mind: if Hillary Clinton is, in fact, the choice to be Barack Obama's running mate, will there have been any precedent in terms of a vice-presidential nominee who has done as much to undermine the person at the top of the ticket?

Of course, it is well-chronicled that vice-presidential nominees do not have to be either philosophically compatible or personally friendly with the candidate for President -- John Kennedy's choice of Lyndon Baines Johnson is the most frequently cited example, but Ronald Reagan chose George H.W. Bush after the latter had referred to his domestic program as "voodoo economics." Al Gore seems not to have liked Joe Liebermann; John Kerry was certainly not fond of John Edwards.

Those examples pale in comparison to what Sen. Clinton has done to try to destroy the presumptive nominee. In spite of the fact that by the end of February it had become virtually impossible for her to win the nomination, she, her husband, and their sycophantic followers have engaged in a systematic campaign to convince ordinary voters and party elders that Sen. Obama is neither electable nor sufficiently experienced to be President. Is she now to carry water for him at the bottom of the party's ticket? And, if they are actually elected, one can only imagine what his next four years would look like for him.

Certainly, the refusal of Sen. Clinton to accept reality has placed the party's nominee in an untenable position. It is a position that she could help alleviate by declaring her unmitigated support for another candidate. Good luck on that. Perhaps Sen. Obama is sufficiently boxed in that he will have to select his adversary for his running mate. If so, one suspects that it will hardly be a dream.

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