Obama needs a right-hand man. Or maybe a right-hand woman. Or maybe he’ll take somebody from the left side, or someone from right in the middle. Maybe it’ll be a combination of both. Who really knows at this point?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Barack Obama himself didn’t really know who he was going to pick for his running mate. The position of vice president is, without a doubt, the most important position after the president. If anything were to happen to the president, the vice president would take over. We, as the people of America, are electing the vice president just as much as we are electing the president.
The commander-in-chief is someone who will drive the future of the country for years to come, one way or another. The individual whom America places in the passenger seat is thus a matter of the utmost importance. Who would we be handing the country to if something were to happen? The U.S. isn’t exactly in its most stable state at the moment, and is in need of some caring attention. Change is indeed necessary and, while it looks like Barack Obama is the man for the job, who will be behind him is the tougher question; Obama has won over much of America, but how do you complement that?
The possibilities are endless and there is no shortage of people eagerly waiting to jump on the bandwagon: there is everyone from Republican political figures to close political advisers ready to take on the job.
One of the biggest questions of the Democratic primaries is the idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket. Such a ticket seems ideal because it would unify the party with its two faces and be able to pull together collective support. Basically all Democratic voters’ issues and concerns would be addressed and such a ticket would also have a strong chance of stealing many voters from the Republicans. What more can you ask for? That combination would appeal to much of America, especially the Democratic voters. An Obama-Clinton ticket could have the potential to bring all of the diversity of the Democratic Party together.
However, with all that said, I think an Obama-Clinton ticket would not be the way to go. The main reason is that Hillary Clinton obviously wants to be No. 1 and she won’t be happy being No. 2. She has been behind in delegates for months now and, even at this point, as long as Obama doesn’t trip over himself, he can coast to the nomination. Clinton’s slow belabored exit of the race shows that she has no signs of surrendering her campaign. That also means that if she does end up losing, there will be some hard feelings.
Clinton isn’t taking the loss lightly and Obama wouldn’t want the person behind him to be someone he’s been battling for months now. He needs someone behind him who will have his back and support him, not someone gunning for his spot.
Many of the various other candidates are mainly political ploys meant to position Obama to win the presidential nomination. Such candidates pull voters from certain areas where Obama is lacking them, such as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who pulls in the Latino vote.
An example of when such a strategy paid off in the past was when John F. Kennedy selected Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice president, an action which brought Kennedy the state of Texas in particular.
However, all in all, I think Obama’s running mate should be someone whom he can trust and confide in, rather than someone meant to just get him more votes.