Let the Veepstakes Begin!
Published June 4th, 2008Why have I not posted much on politics of late? Because it’s been excruciatingly boring. McCain is busy being old and not running against anyone. Obama has been busy marking time until Hillary finally gives up. And Hillary has been somehow, for some reason, trying to convince anyone she hasn’t been out of the race since March. I called this for Obama weeks ago, the math just wasn’t there for Hillary. At least most people are now on board with Obama as the winner - though Hillary still isn’t, bafflingly. She has said she’s open to the VP slot though, which is pretty much a concession. In my opinion, Obama would have to be outright insane to take her as his running mate. And so, now that we have the top 2 settled - let the veepstakes begin!
On the R side, what does McCain need? Well we need to look at where he’s positioned. He’s near the middle of the spectrum. He has been at odds with the far right wing of his party for some time. But do we really believe that they will stay at home and NOT vote for him? Do we really believe that the far right would rather have Obama as president? No way. So even though Huckabee has been positioning himself as the top Veep candidate for some time - he’s redundant. McCain can carry everyone to the right of him - because the alternative for them is worse.
Obama has shown a knack for stealing the swing/independent voters that used to be McCain’s biggest cheering section. So McCain needs someone that will bring those people back to him. It will piss off the right wing of his party even more, but if he can lock up those folks that jumped ship in the primaries to vote for Obama, he wins the Presidency. I’m not real familiar with the lesser-known Republicans, but he will choose a governor or representative (unlikely he’ll choose another senator) who will appeal to a broad swath of the middle. Someone clearly right-of-center, but with a fresh face. And probably much, much younger than himself (though it’d be impossible to get anyone older). Obama has his message of change, hope and youth. McCain will choose a running mate that will try and steal some of that back to the R side.
So what does Obama need? Not Hillary - he needs less contention. He needs someone that compliments him. And he needs someone that won’t overshadow him. I’ve long thought that Bill Richardson had the inside track on this - he’s liberal but not too liberal, he’s got Latino crediblility (another problem for Obama) but he’s not scary to prejudiced white people (which has also shown to be a problem for Obama). But Obama faces a couple of real challenges from McCain. First is national defense. McCain - and the Republicans - have long used this scare tactic to sway people to their side. And this will be no different. So it would be good if Obama could find someone to shore up his international relations and national defense problems. The guy for this? Wesley Clark, pretty much hands-down. He is virtually unassailable in this, and has higher-level military experience than McCain himself. However, the war and national defense issues are actually starting to fall on the back-burner (or at least into the #2 slot) behind the economy. As the US economy continues to sputter along (and maybe even dive soon?) it becomes increasingly an easy target for politicians to score points. Who’s the Dem economic issue master? Dare we say it…but John Edwards. Again you ask? Yeah. He was actually the more popular of the Kerry-Edwards combo, in the end. Now, I’d be skeptical of this choice, but there’s already some evidence to back this up as a great choice for Obama with the ability to hand him some states that McCain would otherwise carry.
So there you go. The first Veep discussion. Let’s see how it all turns out!
it could be edwards if you ask me or some white female governor like the lady from arizona. it certainly WON’T be hillary as some people in the press are suggesting.
egh! i am glad she is finally out, what a SLOW death!
jennifer juniper