For all the speculation about Obama's potential Vice Presidential choice, no one seems to be thinking about how that day will look and feel if Hillary Clinton is not the choice. Let me give an example of the type of myopic thinking I am seeing. Here is
Chuck Todd on what happens if the Dems lose the Presidency this Fall:
If Obama loses, then it's because he lost it somehow. Maybe it'll be because he's too easily painted as an elitest. Maybe it'll be because he doesn't seem up to the job. Or maybe it'll simply be a function of racism. But whatever the reason, losing is not an option and an Obama loss would bring out the long knives inside the party walls.
But unlike the Republicans, a Democratic loss won't be blamed on ideology. Instead, the warring factions will consist of two groups.
First is the old Clinton guard who will argue that the party got too idealistic and didn't go back to its core FDR roots. In addition, the Clinton guard will argue that Obama alienated too many women as well as Jewish voters and that'll explain why he didn't win Florida and, perhaps, lost Pennsylvania.
. . . Obama partisans will whip around and point the finger right back at the Clintons and claim she stayed in the race too long, race-baited and created an environment that was too toxic for an Obama victory.
Look, Barack Obama is almost certainly going to be the nominee. Is the plan now to have good reasons to point a blaming finger at the Clinton Camp or is it to win the Presidency? There seems to be a Media and Left blog view that the Party will be unified no matter what. I think that's nuts. We have never had a campaign like this one.
But I ask them to again imagine that morning when Barack Obama announces his VP pick, and what the reaction will be if it is not Hillary Clinton. You think the Party is divided now, wait till that day.
To me it remains unthinkable that any Democrat who wants to win in November thinks that not picking Hillary Clinton makes sense for Barack Obama
By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only
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