Needless to say, there's been a host of speculation as to who Barack Obama will name as his running mate. Currently, the conventional wisdom is that he will name his running mate sometime this week as the Democratic Convention is next week, and Obama will want to get the maximum bounce from his selection.
However, I think Obama may do something unexpected: Let the delgates decide who his running mate will be. Obama currently faces the difficulty that he has no executive experience and little foreign policy experience, and no pick he can make, with the possible exception of Evan Bayh, who was governor of Indiana before becoming its senator, can cover both of those weaknesses. Complicating matters further, he has promised Hillary Clinton a roll call vote which will only serve to highlight her strength in the party and play up the deep, if frivolous, divisions currently plaguing the Democrat party.
Allowing the delegates to vote on a vice presidential candidate blunts this challenge by Clinton. If she does nothing and allows the vote to play out, her power base will undoubtedly be torn between nominating her for the vice presidency and holding out to demontrate their power in the symbolic roll call vote, and Clinton's power is diminished. If Clinton urges her supporters to vote for her, she is effectively submitting herself to Obama's leadership of the party, and the roll call vote becomes meaningless. If she urges her supporters to hold out for the roll call vote, she will be seen as deliberately dividing the party for her own benefit and runs the risk of marginalizing herself.
Furthermore, giving the delgates a vote on his running mate shows his attentiveness to the will of the party and will likely unify the party behind him. It will also help Obama market himself as a different type of politician even as that claim is becoming more and more laughable.
That's not to say there aren't risks involved. The delegates may nominate someone who accentuates Obama's far left credentials. Clinton may win the vice presidential nomination, which introduces whole new levels of uncertainty and the potential for Clinton to cause all kinds of trouble. Or it could bring her to heel. Or tensions between the Obamas and Clintons could throw the whole campaign into dysfunction. But that may be the best Obama can hope for. By granting Clinton the roll call vote, he has allowed a massive display of disunity to go forward at a time when the party's unity is supposed to be maximized, and the only way to fix the problem may be to give Clinton a shot at the consolation prize.
However, I think Obama may do something unexpected: Let the delgates decide who his running mate will be. Obama currently faces the difficulty that he has no executive experience and little foreign policy experience, and no pick he can make, with the possible exception of Evan Bayh, who was governor of Indiana before becoming its senator, can cover both of those weaknesses. Complicating matters further, he has promised Hillary Clinton a roll call vote which will only serve to highlight her strength in the party and play up the deep, if frivolous, divisions currently plaguing the Democrat party.
Allowing the delegates to vote on a vice presidential candidate blunts this challenge by Clinton. If she does nothing and allows the vote to play out, her power base will undoubtedly be torn between nominating her for the vice presidency and holding out to demontrate their power in the symbolic roll call vote, and Clinton's power is diminished. If Clinton urges her supporters to vote for her, she is effectively submitting herself to Obama's leadership of the party, and the roll call vote becomes meaningless. If she urges her supporters to hold out for the roll call vote, she will be seen as deliberately dividing the party for her own benefit and runs the risk of marginalizing herself.
Furthermore, giving the delgates a vote on his running mate shows his attentiveness to the will of the party and will likely unify the party behind him. It will also help Obama market himself as a different type of politician even as that claim is becoming more and more laughable.
That's not to say there aren't risks involved. The delegates may nominate someone who accentuates Obama's far left credentials. Clinton may win the vice presidential nomination, which introduces whole new levels of uncertainty and the potential for Clinton to cause all kinds of trouble. Or it could bring her to heel. Or tensions between the Obamas and Clintons could throw the whole campaign into dysfunction. But that may be the best Obama can hope for. By granting Clinton the roll call vote, he has allowed a massive display of disunity to go forward at a time when the party's unity is supposed to be maximized, and the only way to fix the problem may be to give Clinton a shot at the consolation prize.
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