Hillary Clinton was at her best on Saturday in her endorsement of Obama. She had a job to do, and she did it well. In time, many of her supporters will back Obama as they begin to realize that McCain doesn’t share their beliefs.
That said, the Obama team should not, and probably will not, be fooled into putting her on the ticket. She will always have her own agenda, and the minute he offers her the second spot he will no longer have any leverage to control her or her husband.
The only scenario for putting her on the ticket would be some kind of political disaster over the summer that threatens his ability to win this on his own. Barring that, he has many good options for VP, so Clinton supporters should not hold their breath.
Agreed, Hillary Clinton would ruin Obama’s entire message on change, Bill would be impossible to control and Hillary has 18,000,000 that love her but at least 51% of the population would never vote for her. I have a friend who has voted GOP his whole life and he told me today he is seriously considering Obama. Biden or Webb as VP would help him make up his mind favourably, Hillary would help him too, to decide not to vote Obama.
The middle is big this election year and it is up for grabs, Obama has to pull those votes in. The left wing Hillary loyalists will either vote Obama or live to regret 4 more years of the miserable Bush policies.
The last thing Obama needs is Clinton on his ticket. Now he has secured the democrat nomination it’s time to woo middle of the road and wavering republican voters.
JP is right, regardless of what Clinton supporters have said in the heat of battle, when it comes to vote they will vote democrat. Not to do so would be to cut off their nose to spite their face.