Back in January, before the Iowa caucus, the New Hampshire primary and all this talk of recession, I described in one of my “Community Matters” columns a “political dream team” that included, among others: Barack Obama for president (the JFK of a new generation), Michael Bloomberg as VP (to solve our economic problems), Hillary Clinton for Secretary of Health and Human Services (to get health care done right once and for all) and John McCain as Secretary of Defense (for obvious reasons).
I’m still happy with my picks, but clearly it makes sense for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to run on the same ticket. They appeal to different types of voters and together fill in each other’s gaps. United they could cover all the bases and make a formidable ticket indeed.
If they did run together, this would be consistent with Obama’s stated desire to be inclusive, to work together with others, even if everyone doesn’t always agree. This assumes he’d be on top of the ticket, which looks very likely (although one thing we’ve learned this year is that you can never count Hillary Clinton out until she says she’s out).
If he truly doesn’t want her as VP, he might offer her something meaningful to win her and her supporters over. She has earned it.
John McCain is an honorable and reasonable Republican and should not be underestimated by the Democrats. His “inner Maverick” is coming back, which has great appeal to independents.
Looking ahead, it’s important to remember that older people – a huge demographic bloc – vote in droves and that for various reasons, some might feel more comfortable with a John McCain than with Barack Obama.
So for Obama to win, it could fall to the younger set to get out the vote and put him over the top. If McCain squeaks by and wins, and if it turns out the younger set didn’t vote in powerful enough numbers, the kids will have only themselves to kick later.
