Why a Joint Ticket is not so Dreamy . . .

The Rationale Doesn't Hold Up:

Andrew Sullivan has seemingly fallen into the camp that thinks that Obama's selection of Clinton as V.P. might be the best (read: only) option available. Back in early May, after PA, but before NC and IN, Sullivan wrote an interesting piece in the Times of London, where he argued that, "[t]he rationale for a fusion ticket is the same as for any grand political compromise. Very few people in Washington believe that Barack Obama can now be denied the Democratic nomination. Even after the past month, as Hillary Clinton has hung in there, as the scandal about Jeremiah Wright (Obama's firebrand cleric) scandal has battered the post-racial Obama brand, and as white Reagan Democrats have proven resistant to a new young black freshman senator, Obama has actually increased his number of delegates."

That does not really seem like much of a rationale. As he points out, even without breaking solidly into the white Reagan Democrats, Obama's delegate lead continues to grow.

To be fair to Sullivan, that argument was made shortly after PA, when there was still some kind of glimmer or life to the Clinton campaign. However, today on his blog, a must read for anyone serious about thought AND politics (that strange mixture), he writes that, "[t]he upside of an Obama-Clinton ticket would be considerable. I know I've been all over the place on this. My fear of an Obama-Clinton ticket is because of what I think of the Clintons. My interest in an Obama-Clinton ticket is because of what I think of the Clintons. They're dangerous to Obama - the overthrown dynasts who are pulling a Richard II right now. But they're just as dangerous in the tent and out of it. Obama needs to figure out which is the greater danger. I don't envy him."

My take on the first Sullivan point is that it makes sense that the Clinton campaign would be working back-channels trying to get the V.P. slot, but it would not make sense for Obama to add her to the ticket. What does Obama get for putting her on the ticket? No nomination fight? The backing of the Clinton "machine"? She certainly doesn't give him a state he wouldn't otherwise win, with perhaps the exception of Arkansas. The bottom line is this: The things she brings him, she should be doing anyway as a loyal Democrat. The rationale Sullivan speaks of, does not hold up.

The Media Perception Could Kill:

The second point Sullivan raises is that the Clintons are dangerous to Obama, either inside or outside of the administration. This is surely true and it is also true that Obama could probably keep the Clintons under wraps a little bit more if they were in his administration. However, this approach would fail to address what may potentially be a bigger problem for Obama, public/media perception. This is really my biggest problem with all of this so-called "logic" for putting her on the ticket.

I think that if you put her on the ticket, no matter how well they get along and work together, and no matter how much they might both make the other better, the news story will always be, (and therefore the persistent feeling in the zeitgeist will always be), that there is a riff between the Obama camp and Clinton camp. Everything the Clintons do will be seen as trying to upstage Obama, even if they have no intention of doing so. And then there is the specter of having Bill hanging around all of the time. First, if you're Obama and you are the new politics, how can you even think of having Bill always hanging, lurking, just around the corner reminding everyone of the '90's (which he has, in part, campaigned against)? Second, Bill is a rockstar in the media and Obama is a growing rockstar. While the second point may be far more frivolous than the first, it remains that if you have the opportunity to deny your "rival" a constant spot in the limelight, then you ought to do so, once and for all, and never look back.

Who Should be Vice President?:

I have a clear favorite for V.P. My Senator, Jim Webb of VA. He has been in the national spotlight since his election in 2006 and his scathing "Democratic Response" to the President's 2007 "State of the Union." He has served in an Executive Branch position (during the Reagan administration), he is popular in his home state of VA and could possibly deliver, the once solidly red state, to the Democrats. VA is considered a "purple" state by some already, in that it is perhaps a swing state already. I also think Webb helps in any contrast the McCain campaign might make with Obama and his lack of milirary experience. Webb is tough on defense and not just as a talker. He introduced the current redux of the GI Bill before Congress and his own son is serving in the military presently. It would be a powerful message if everytime McCain (who also has a son in the war and possibly another on the way), talks about the military and how Obama doesn't have the experience to lead as Commander and Chief, to have Webb stand up and call out McCain and ask him to state loudly and publicly why he doesn't think that the new GI Bill is good idea. He can ask him why he has such a low opinion of the honorable people who serve this country that he thinks that if they are offered "too good" of a package, they will leave their military commitment earlier. Webb simply adds a new level of gravitas to the ticket.

In addition to just gravitas, Webb could also help Obama in the area of the country where Obama has just taken a beating--white Appalachia. These are Webb's people and he speaks their language. He is not afraid to get out there, get his boots dirty and communicate with these folks who have largely looked past Obama because, as Webb says, they haven't met him (Obama) yet. It might even be possible for Webb to get WV back in the Democratic column, where it was in '92 and '96 for Bill Clinton. It will no doubt help with unsure voters in the South to have a man on the ticket who they feel understands their concerns and understands them.

This is not to say that Obama could not also reach out to these people on his own, or call out John McCain on the GI Bill on his own, or with another V.P. It is merely to say that an Obama candidacy can be so much stronger with Senator Webb aboard because it seems to come much more naturally for him.

To steal my friend Don's mantra: "You heard it here first!"