…Taylor Marsh, Big Tent Democrat and the Talk Left crew, and Jerome over at MyDD and their Hillary Is The Only Way To Win(tm) crusade, anyway? Has logic and the sensibility of reason returned to a few of my favorite political sites in the last month or so?
Lemme take a look over in Marshan Country…
In the middle of it all lies this humongous gulf. Obama can speak in long sentences that rap around dreams, visions and enough rhetorical cotton candy to make his primary season word fogs look coherent. But the man cannot connect.
What is he going to do for my neighbor who has been laid off? Or the other neighbor who is about to lose his house and his life savings?
Hillary would have an answer. She would reach inside these voters and talk to their deepest despair and desperation, telling them that she can’t work miracles, but she can offer solutions that provide a road map to find the way out.
Can Tim Kaine do that with voters? Can Evan Bayh?
Barack Obama seems to be under the grand illusion that he can do this alone, with simply a side kick to support his stardom. Or that he can do it with any old guy who can get his back. He’s wrong. What Obama needs is someone who talks a language he doesn’t speak or understand. Speaking of problems he knows but can’t capture.
Suffice it to say there’s an empathy gap.
Oh God dammit.
OK, what about The Big Man?
Trapper John has an interesting post on how Barack Obama MIGHT be approaching his VP choice. Trapper’s bottom line? Obama will choose the “do no harm” option. I suspect that is the thinking in the Obama camp and likely the McCain camp (though clearly McCain will be more likely to take a risk for some upside). Here’s the problem I see with Trapper’s analysis – it is impossible for any choice to not do some harm.
I know they do not like to hear this at daily kos, but the day Obama announces his VP and it is not Hillary Clinton, that will cause Obama harm. It may be unfair, it may be wrong, but it is a fact. (My own view is that picking Hillary Clinton clearly remains the best choice for Obama, both on the positive and negative side. Clinton’s supporters will be energized, her fundraisers will work their heart out, the Clinton brand will help with voters on the issue of the economy, she has become a first rate campaigner, etc. But he will not pick her for reasons only Obama can and will have to explain.)
Oh crapcakes.
Surely I can get one out of three over with Jerome at MyDD, right?
Sebelius, Kaine, or Bayh
Those are the three names that are being settled upon as CW chatter.
bayh is clearly the most ‘political’ choice, a Washington Senator, but from a state that Obama could win.
Sebelius and Kaine are the ones whom backed Obama, and are more of a companion/outsider choice.
Ehh, screw it. I’ll take that as a win!
