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• Friday, August 22, 2008 12:36 PM

  @ Xanthro

  At this point, if he chooses Clinton as the VP, the story will be that he had to in order to save his campaign, that the Clinton's will really control the Whitehouse, that Obama was so desperate with his falling poll numbers that he didn't bother to vet Clinton, he chose her out of desperation.

  Who cares if it actually saved his campaign?

  There are those who are paying close attention who will be concerned about this weakness meme. However, this wouldn't matter if it helped him in the long term. Many general election voters will scarcely be aware of all this.

  1. Short term, it would give his candidacy a tremendous boost and I would bet that some 50% of Clinton supporters who are still holding out would move to his column immediately. I know that I probably would.

  2. Longer term, I would assume that if he selects her, it would be because his team and pollsters have looked closely at the demographic that she draws.

  That's one of the reason why the stories this week are about Clinton not meeting with the selection team, and not being vetted. Never mind that Obama's team has done so much research on her that they really don't need to met. It's setting up the story on the remote chance she is actually chosen.

  Obama's team has let themselves fall into a trap. They won't control the tone of media coverage from their convention.

  Trap implies someone with intentions. I don't believe this.

  You say yourself that he had no choice. Actually, I don't agree with you. Never have I seen anyone as brutalized by the media as Hillary Clinton has been. Did you read Maureen Dowd's latest? The media would have played it up but they would've given him a pass if he hadn't had the Clinton's at the convention.

  He made that choice.

  All candidates have opponents. All candidates bear responsibility for their own decisions.

  Lastly, I believe some of this notion that he looks weak by choosing her is because she is a female opponent. Joe Biden was an opponent. Edwards was an opponent. Richardson was an opponent.

  One could perhaps make an argument that this notion that he looks weak stems from fears about powerful women.

  Why is it more awful to have Hillary coming to the rescue than it is to have Joe Biden coming to the rescue?

  —AKA Smith Read AKA Smith's other letters
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