Obama and Clinton: Who
should be their running mates?
Selecting
someone to be a candidate for vice president affords a would-be president the
opportunity to strengthen areas that he or she may be lacking. From the
public’s point of view, a running mate also must appear to be ready to step
into the job of president if something were to happen.
U.
S. Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill., has very little experience in domestic and foreign policy matters, but
since he is campaigning on changing the way Washington conducts business, he
should concern himself more with a running mate who has strong credentials in
foreign policy, as opposed to a Washington insider.
So,
who might fit that bill the best for Obama? A few
names come to mind, such as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has an
extensive foreign policy background. Another possible candidate to consider
would be the former secretary of state, Gen. Colin Powell, who has said
Americans should “enjoy this moment where a person like Barack
Obama can knock down all of these old barriers that
people thought existed with respect to the opportunities that are available to
African-Americans.”
Sen.
Obama has been labeled the most liberal senator in
the Senate; yes, even more liberal than U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., so
bringing Powell on board as his running mate would help to move him closer to
the center, and given the fact that Powell is a Republican, it could also bring
in some crossover votes.
Sen.
Clinton, who is campaigning on her supposed experience, might want to look for
a candidate who could help bring in voters from minority groups such as
Mexican-Americans, African-Americans or Asian-Americans.
Gov.
Richardson, who is Mexican-American, could help with Latino voters and provide
a stronger look on foreign policy matters, and the fact that he is a governor
from a western state could also help Clinton in that region.
Former
U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., would be helpful in bringing in middle-class
voters, union members, and men (who seem to have a strong dislike for Clinton).
Edwards could help with the southern states.
Clinton’s
campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, while appearing a few days ago on “Inside
City Hall,” a public affairs program on the Time-Warner New York cable news
channel NY1, paid tribute to Barack Obama’s ability to “excite people,” adding that Clinton
“needs to make sure the next, whoever the next vice president is, could take
over if anything happened to her.” McAuliffe went on to say that it was still
too early in the race to make any decision on a running mate.
At
a CNN debate in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, both candidates were asked
the question about the possibility of a joint ticket, regardless of who held
the top spot (the question provoked a loud cheering from the audience), but
both suggested it was too early to discuss potential running mates.
Clinton
and Obama have been very cordial to each other in the
public arena when on camera, but you can just feel it in your gut — these two
have a strained relationship between them. But I also feel that these two can
put aside their differences and team up and win the general election in
November.
So,
who should Clinton or Obama pick?
There
are many other choices that these two will be looking at, whom I have not
mentioned because of space limitations, but I personally agree with the
audience at that CNN debate a couple of weeks ago, Clinton/Obama
or Obama/Clinton, both of the candidates have
energized the voting public, which we have seen at the various primaries and
caucuses held so far.
The
Whitehouse will be back under the control of the Democratic Party with Clinton
and Obama on the same ticket.
The country and the world have had enough of all the
ill-fated policies from the Republican Party.