Hillary Clinton Doesn't Owe Me a Thing
Although I'm not sure that it is, the handwriting seems clear upon the wall: Sen. Barack Obama will be the Democrats' nominee for president.
In a silly and embarrassing debate not long ago, news anchor Charles Gibson, with sort-of newsman George Stephanopoulos looking earnestly on, asked the two Democratic candidates to "pledge" that they would form a joint ticket. Neither did. Neither wanted to blink. Who would? At this moment, Hillary Clinton is still within a stone's throw of becoming the first woman to be President of the United States. She may preside over the worst years of our lives, but she chooses to soldier on. She says she has dedicated her life to public service and will not give up until the last shot if fired across the bows -- and not even then. She says she will continue to serve.
In a short while, if he is smart, and he is, Barack Obama may ask her to be his running mate.
And it will feel like a defeat, and it will be.
That said, being the first woman to be the Vice President of the United States is no small thing. John Adams may have called it the most useless job in humanity but it need not be. Indeed, Hillary Clinton may be able to fill the obvious gaps in Barack Obama's resume, while enduring the galling the certain holy aura that surrounds the man whose unenviable task is to take away the social sins of the world.
Hillary Clinton doesn't have to accept that mechanic's job. She can continue to have the best job in the world, being a U.S. senator. She can make her influence felt.
But she will have chosen to step off history's train, a train that women -- and some of their daughters -- have watched and waited for a long time coming. She doesn't owe it to me. She doesn't owe it to my daughters in grade school and future candidates and the honor roll of posterity.
She doesn't owe it to herself, because it certainly will be a difficult and possibly thanklss job.
She doesn't owe it to this nation.
Hillary Clinton owes no one the obligation to serve as Barack Obama's second in command -- unless the future of this country, the country in which her own daughter will raise her children, really is more important to her than her personl fortune and her prsonal comfort.
She doesn't owe it to me or women or anyone else -- unless she is telling the truth.
Writing is like breaking rocks in the hot sun, for the angels.”
About Jacquelyn
Jacquelyn Mitchard was born in Chicago, the daughter of plumber and a mother who brought her putty from her part-time job at the hardware store. Of Canadian, Czech, and American Indian descent (a member of the Lac du Flambeau Cree Chippewa tribe) she is...
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No candidate should consider it beneath himself or herself to accept the number two position. And while John Adams (and, more recently and way more vividly,John Nance Garner) may have derided the office, I think Al Gore and Dick Cheney have proven that the vice presidency is, if anything, growing in power. This may be one of the few things the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations have had in common, come to think of it. That could all change according to the temperament of the next president, but I think the past two administrations have set the expectation that the VP will have an influential, Cabinet-level role.
Huntington Sharp, Red Room
How True
I remember this cartoon from ages ago. Richard Nixon, Sprio Agnew and Henry Kissinger were stepping off a plane in rural China. One peasant points toward the plane and says to another, "Who's that guy with Spiro and Henry?"
The flaw is ego, to my
The flaw is ego, to my mind. Neither would put their egos out of the way when asked the question about running together. Power and ego.
Sometimes, it's hard to be human and do the right thing. But what ticket they would make. What an administration.
J
Jessica Barksdale Inclan www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com
good blog
I think a ticket of Barack for pres and Hillary for VP would be a thing of beauty and power. So would, for that matter, a ticket of Hillary for pres and Barack for VP -- but I don't think that's going to happen. I think Barack is going to nail it.
But I don't for a moment think it's just ego that keeps either one of them from caving too soon. They both have big organizations that have raised a lot of money, and it is not a small thing to change the momentum of such devices.
But such a time will come, and I hope Hillary does decide to join Barack on the ticket. As vice president I think she could be a powerful and good political force.
I would love either way
But I feel that it is ego. Please ! I hope to be proved wrong!
Jessica
Jessica Barksdale Inclan www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com