The Veep "Stakes"

post from TalkLeft on 11 June 2008 08:10:00 AM. © TalkLeft

Overall, I don't have any strong feelings about who Obama ought to pick right now — though I don't think either Hillary Clinton or John Edwards would be good choices (and I'm not sure either of them wants the job), and I'm not keen on Webb either. Based on a fairly low information "blink" kind of test, I guess my top picks right now are Joe Biden and Kathleen Sebelius. But I could be pretty easily converted to half a dozen other candidates too.

I am curious, because Kevin does not explain it, why does he think Hillary Clinton would not be a good choice and why does he think Joe Biden or Kathleen Sebelius would be good choices? He sort of explains why he thinks Jim Webb would not be a good choice:

My biggest issue with Webb is that I think he'd be too obvious a choice: the press corps would (probably correctly) immediately interpret it as a sign that Obama was picking Webb to shore up his military cred, and this would be a tacit admission that he agrees with McCain's fundamental criticism that he doesn't have CinC credentials. In much the same way that picking an ostentatiously young running mate would merely highlight McCain's age, picking an ostentatiously hawkish running mate would merely highlight Obama's lack of military experience.

I could write the same paragraph for Biden (replace "military cred" with "foreign policy experience") and Sibelius (replace "military cred" with "women"). But I really do not buy that critique anyway. What matters is who helps Obama win in November. All the rest of this is just plain blather.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only