Monday, March 10, 2008

WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will probably never be friends. That's why they're perfect for each other.

Clinton and her supporters have been pressing the idea of a unity ticket with Obama -- with her as No. 1, of course -- and the brazen notion has political junkies abuzz.

The New York Times reports that Obama is publicly frosty about the idea of being Clinton's No. 2:
“I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place can offer the vice presidency to someone who’s in first place,” Mr. Obama told a town meeting at the Mississippi University for Women here, alluding to his lead in delegates. As the crowd cheered, he said: “If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president? Do you understand that?”
Quantity over quality is Obama's argument now, but his bounty isn't that much bigger than Clinton's, and he's lost the big prizes that matter in a general election -- Ohio and Florida, to name two.

(Obama's advisers say Florida shouldn't count because that state broke party rules by holding an early primary on Jan. 29. Neither candidate campaigned there, and Clinton won by more than 16 points.)

The real sticking point for Obama supporters is how much they loath Clinton. When a policy adviser is tossed overboard for telling a reporter that Clinton is a "monster," you know it's just the public mask slipping a nick, exposing the foamed-flecked hate that exists within the Obama camp. No one should be surprised. The rules of the game demand a Duk Koo Kim mentality. Your opponent is out to kill you. Live or die.

One expects such pragmatism from Clinton. People may not like it -- her biggest liability is her unlikability -- but they know it's the only way to do business when you're running with crime-minded punks or high-minded politicians. Only suckers bring soliloquies to a knife fight.

Too much talk this cycle about liking the people running for president. We heard this in 2000 and the nation wound up with a man described as the fella we wanted to drink beer with at the bar. Woe to us that he was a non-practicing alcoholic.

We like John McCain, but mostly because he's nuts. This unfortunately disqualifies him from the White House, but he'd be a hoot in a game of rummy.

We like Obama, but he's wispy. A woman who'd been a state senator less than four years ago would never be taken seriously as a candidate for president.

We don't like Hillary, but we wouldn't mess with her. She's got the biggest blade. Handy in a fight against an ex-POW who was tortured out of his gourd.

So what if Obama doesn't like her? Al Gore wasn't nuts about Bill Clinton. Lyndon Johnson hated John Kennedy. Both of those arraigned marriages worked out pretty well, save for the Florida vote in 2000 and the head-exploding thing in Dallas.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Red, you're hilarious.

See ya tomorrow night!

Anonymous said...

Ron, you are very smart NOT to take on Hillary. She'd hand you your lunch before breakfast.

Hillary is the definition of evil. She'll stop at nothing and the Democratic Convention will be where she takes her last stand; it will be anything but pretty.

Super Delegates, Michigan and Florida are the unanswered questions which will form Hillary's template.

If Hillary does get the nomination, Obama will not run as second fiddle. However, the ramifications of him NOT getting the nomination will send a shock wave through the youth movement Barack has mobilized. Instead of turning out in droves come November, they'll stay away.

And the end result will be a fractured Democrat party that could see a transformation in its make-up, the likes of which have never been seen before.

Anonymous said...

The current president is not a failure because he is inexperienced or likeable (after all, B. Clinton was both, too), but because he let himself be controlled by ideologues, because he won't get off the 9/11 horse, because he refuses to accept advice or dissent, because he may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, because he is just a bit mean, and because he belongs to the wrong party.

Also, the women are more oppressed than African Americans argument just doesn't hold water.

Busplunge said...

Anon 10:00: "...the ramifications of him NOT getting the nomination will send a shock wave through the youth movement Barack has mobilized. Instead of turning out in droves come November, they'll stay away."

so it is a cult of personality.
I think a Clinton / Obama ticket is unbeatable. Give her 4 years, then Obama can have the next 8. And we will be on the way to peace and prosperity again!