Summer CE Week #6: “The Obama-Not Hillary Ticket”
August 24, 2008
By Dick Morris
It doesn’t take a political genius to realize that Barack Obama needed to nominate a woman for vice president. Obama’s key problem is that there is no gender gap. In the most recent Zogby poll, he runs only 2 points better among women than among men. A Democrat should be running 10 to 15 points better among women.
If Obama is to have a hope of winning, he needs to improve his performance among female voters. The Fox News poll indicates that only about half of those who backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries are voting for Obama and that fully one in five is now planning to back McCain. Attractive to women voters because of his maverick positions on issues and his willingness to defy the Republican orthodoxy, McCain is garnering votes from women who should be part of Obama’s core constituency.
So why didn’t Obama name a woman? He couldn’t nominate Hillary because she came with such baggage that he’d be spending his entire campaign swatting away charges directed at the Clintons. It would be priceless to see Obama trying to justify Bill’s refusal to publish the names of the donors to his library or to explain what Bill is doing in Dubai and Kazakhstan.
But what about Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius? While not a national figure, she is attractive and articulate, and would have made a fine candidate. But Obama was terrified that the Clintons would wreck vengeance if he named a woman other than Hillary. But it was all a bluff.
Hillary’s delegates would have celebrated the selection of a woman and would not have held it against Obama that it was someone other than Hillary. Hillary, for her part, would have had to grit her teeth and support Sebelius or risk alienating her core constituency. But Obama didn’t dare do what he needed to do. He wimped out.
The fact that Barack Obama named Joe Biden as his vice presidential candidate will have relatively little impact on the strategic framework of the race. Biden was the best of the names on Obama’s short list. His experience in foreign affairs, his tough advocacy of the Democratic agenda and his skill at handling himself will all help Obama’s campaign, but not decisively. The other options were worse. Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, had as little experience as Obama. Evan Bayh, senator from Indiana, is way too soft spoken and mild for a rough and tumble campaign.
But the most important thing is that Obama did not choose a woman. He needed one. With Hillary’s evident availability for the nomination, his failure to name her or some other woman stands out starkly to women voters. It doesn’t matter to them that he chose Biden over Bayh or Kaine. What matters is that he did not choose Hillary or another woman.
Now, John McCain can take advantage of Obama’s blunder by coming back with a woman nominee for president. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would be an excellent choice. She’s been around for decades and is not going to start making mistakes now. Her nomination would be a signal to American women that McCain takes their aspirations seriously, even if Obama does not. Hutchison is not charismatic. But her circumstances would be if she were nominated. The prospect of a woman vice president would electrify women throughout the nation.
I have previously written about the advantages of Joe Lieberman for vice president. His nomination would send a signal of bipartisanship that would be notable and would hasten Democratic defections. But conservatives would be horrified by the choice of Lieberman. And Obama’s failure to nominate a woman is such a glaring misstep that McCain should pounce and take advantage of it.
The ticket will nominally be Obama-Biden. But, to millions of American women it will be Obama and not Hillary.
It seems to me that picking a woman would not help Obama at all. Lets be blunt, many men are sexist. For every woman he attracted to his camp he would scare away a man. Choosing a woman would not put him anywhere he is not already. In my opinion Biden is a perfect choice because he brings something to the Obama ticket that was not there before, experience. This may attract some people who were on the edge with the experience issue. As for McCain choosing a woman, I honestly laughed. What is the goal of the Republican Party? It is to conserve, keep things the way they were in the good old days. Choosing a woman is not keeping with that status quo at all. If McCain chooses a woman so many traditional old Republican men would desert the party in an instant, that it would cause catastrophic damage to the party. More men would leave than women he would attract. McCain has all but announced that Mitt Romney will be his running mate; this author is sticking to the facts no more than Rush Limbaugh. When push comes to shove the truth is plain and simple: people are more uncomfortable with a woman in a high position than a black man. Obama 08’
Obama has many beliefs in how he is planning to run things and one of many is related to the topic of how he were to choose in nominating the vice president. He seemed to strongly believe in the fact that with power comes great responsibility and Obama seemed resistant to appointing Hillary as his vice president. Every person has there own reasons for why or why not Hillary should’ve been nominated as Obama’s running mate. Obama obviously felt that Hillary wasn’t the right person for the job. He stressed a point showing he was concerned in the fact that she had a lot of baggage to be carrying around. Obama would be trying to defend Hillary’s actions more often than they as a team would try to change the country. I know if I was of the voting age than I would not be voting for Obama but in this issue of not nominating Hillary as his running mate was a very wise decision. There is a point in which a politician should not be at the Hollywood scene trying to cover up scandals or affairs or anything morally improper.Hillary could’ve been a hindrance to Obama in this way. I do believe that with such loud opinions in our society today in reference to Obama becoming the next president it may have been beneficial to reveal a female nominee on his side. This may have been the one advantage moment in time where McCain could take the upper lead if he pursues an issue that could’ve been lost.
This article has some very good and some very weird statements. Right away, the very first sentence seems to be very blunt to me. I don’t necessarily think that Obama ‘needed to nominate a woman for vice president.’ Although Obama does need to improve votes from female voters, I believe that there are other ways than to just pick a woman vice president. During our whole nation’s history of presidents, candidates have done just fine with women voters without having vice president be a woman. I think Obama (or any presidential candidate for that matter) should pick the vice president that is going to help them the most and that agrees with the direction they want to take. And if that means putting a woman on the job, that’s great. But if it means a man, that’s fine also. In this case, Obama thought Biden would be suited best for the job. And like the article says, “the other options were worse.” But I don’t think that “the most important thing is that Obama didn’t choose a woman.” To me, this is such a minor thing. It doesn’t mean that he is sexist or that he thinks woman are inferior. And I certainly hope a little thing like this doesn’t keep women from voting for Obama.
I think that Obama made a mistake in not choosing a woman for Vice President. He isn’t very popular among woman voters, because he doesn’t confront issues women think are important. Most of Hillary Clinton supporters have already said they would be voting for McCain rather than Obama. It could ultimately come down to how woman choose to vote, which could help determine who wins the election. But I think that Obama didn’t have many options for his VP pick, because he had one strong female choice for Vice President. Hillary was the strongest female choice, but her opinions were way too different than Obama’s. She would be to strong a choice to be Obama’s VP, because she thinks that she should be president.
Biden may have been Obama’s best choice because he had the most experience for the Vice President position. Hillary has too much baggage to be Obama’s VP, especially since she is married to Bill Clinton. If Hillary was Obama’s Vice President, both her and Bill would try to run the country.
But since Obama didn’t choose a woman for Vice President, McCain could use this to his advantage. If McCain chose a woman for his VP, he would have the support from women voters. This could help McCain gain a lead in the election, which could lead to a major victory for McCain.
So this basically proves that Hillary Clinton is evil. “But Obama was terrified that the Clintons would wreck vengeance if he named a woman other than Hillary.” Who care’s if it was all a bluff. She still implanted that thought into his mind. She’s evil. She might have turned this election towards McCain for good cause she decided to instill that fear of her probable vengeance because she is a sore loser. I’m not sure how Obama’s choice of vice president will turn out. People may be turned on or off by this decision but they can suck it up because if Obama does win then they are going to have to live with it. McCain is just kind of sitting back and enjoying the fireworks while Obama is getting hammered of choosing the wrong or right vice pres, but McCain needs to choose some one because he is taking his time. Personally I don’t really see the difference in who a candidate chooses for their vice pres because different people stand for different things and people should vote on what politicians stand for. What if Obama had chosen a woman and most women disagreed with her? That would have gotten him no where.
In response to Ashley Rowe,
Ok I’ll start off that I do agree that he may have gained some support if he had chosen a woman vice president, but are you serious that he doesn’t confront issues that women have? He’s dedicated to acquiring equal pay grade, he spoke about it tonight. He doesn’t want to see our generation go down the drain, mainly because he has two daughters. He obviously would want to help their futures. He also talks about abortion, which is always a huge issue in any campaign. He wants them to have the right, but he still wants to lower the numbers.
This article about Obama not choosing a woman as his running mate is kind of silly to me.
Why should it matter if a woman is selected as Vice President? Sure, i would like to see a woman holding a high position in politics besides Condoleeza Rice, but if they aren’t cut out for the job then why would I want her to be in that position?
It seems that in this article, people are only thinking about having a woman in office. It is quite clear to me that those who are apart of this group aren’t thinking thoroughly about what they want.
If there were only two choices for VP, and they were both men, would these people still complain that a woman isn’t being chosen? How can they? There isn’t a woman running and it would be silly to constantly complain and whine about something that’s not going to happen. Only because there is a choice to choose a woman is the reason everyone is getting all bent out of shape. So, if they had to choose between a man with say, 20 years of experience in politics and other qualities of a VP, or a woman with say 5 years in politics and some qualities of a VP, would they still choose the woman who has less experience? If they were to say yes, then, I don’t quite understand what is running through people’s heads. The most obvious choice should be the one with the most experience, it’s not being sexist or anything, it would just be the best choice don’t you think?
Now, i would understand if they had to choose between a man or a woman who both have the same types of experience and qualities, but it doesn’t seem to be that way. I might just be a little more trusting of Obama in this case, but I think he made his choice based on who would be a better running mate. I don’t think that Obama, knowing what it’s like to be a minority, would purposely not choose a woman or even another colored minority, so to say, because he doesn’t like their gender or their race, not THAT would be ridiculous. But, choosing a man over a woman in this case, I don’t think is because of gender, I think he is just simply choosing the right person for the job. And if just so happens that a man is the one that’s more qualified than a woman, then so be it. I would rather have my country ran by people who seem to know what they’re doing, whether it be a man OR a woman, than just choosing someone, no matter what there credentials, because that’s what everyone wants.
I mean, what if Obama had chosen a woman because it would get him more votes despite the fact that that woman doesn’t really know what she’s doing, over time, that probably won’t be very benefiting. Sure, there’s a woman in office, but if she doesn’t know what to do, then why have her there in the first place?
Now, those who might possibly think that i am sexist or even racist would be quite ridiculous in thinking that. I am a woman and i am a minority, and as a woman and a minority I am all for equal opportunity, and if I had to choose, of course it wouldn’t be based on gender or color, it would be all about who would be the most qualified, and Obama, being a himself minority, is more than likely thinking the same thing.
I no really nothing about the vp choices other than what I’ve read in the blogs. But I’m very double sided on this article on one side I agree with The author on the fact that Obama probably would’ve gotten a lot of Hillary’s supporters if he would’ve picked a female vp. I mean a lot of women would’ve ran with the democrats because a woman was going to be vice pres. It might not be the best reason to vote for someone but unfortunately some people’s entire reason for voting for a certain person is their demographics. However, I also think that if Biden is truly the best person to fit the vp role then I’m glad that Obama picked him because voting shouldn’t be decided on whether or not the person is black or white or male or female it should be on what they bring to the table. McCain on the other hadn is a double-edged sword. If he went with a woman vp he might pick up the disgruntled women who want a woman vp. But in doing so he might lose the tradition seeking conservative men who plan on voting for him now. In the end the vp decision is crucial but definitely not as crucial as our Presidential pick.
This article seemed very pointless to me. First off, I think Obama made an excellent choice for his vp. Biden brings a lot to Obama including experience which is something Obama needs to get voters that are unsure of his own inexperience. Secondly, it was not completely necessary for Obama to pick a woman for his vp. Sure, it would have given him some votes from Hilary supporters but I don’t think it will make a huge difference. I think that some women will now vote for McCain since he did choose a woman for his vp, but if any of the women are paying attention they will realize he probably just did it to try to get their votes. I also find it amusing that the author thought that “Obama was terrified that the Clintons would wreck vengeance if he named a woman other than Hillary” because I don’t think it is true. I know Hillary can play dirty politics but I don’t think Obama is scared of that. He knows what to expect from the Clintons and I believe he can combat it with some of his own politics. In the long run I think choosing Biden as his vp will pay dividends for Obama.
There’s a difference in this race, than pervious races before. We had a serious female democratic candidate. Granted, she didn’t get the democratic nomination, but Hillary Clinton has done a great job at stirring things up, and she wont go away either. There were some people out there that were really pushing for a female in power, and I can see why these same people wanted to see Hillary or another woman take vice presidency at least. Biden was not bad choice for Obama, because if he wins, I’m sure Biden’s experience in foreign affairs will be useful. However, as the article pointed out, choosing Biden was not, by far, the best decision because it did not help him make any huge impact on people’s decisions. I really believe it was a mistake on Obama’s part since he needs to have his ratings among women 10-15 points higher.
McCain has definitely stole the spotlight from the Democrats who have been holding the minority and female card; representing themselves as the party out of the norm. With McCain’s pick of Palin, he is grabbing the attention of those who were looking for a woman and that extra change from the traditional.
Wow someone wasn’t thinking this time around. Obama was afraid that he would lose women voters if he nominated a woman other them Hillary Clinton so he just didn’t nominate a woman at all and screwed himself over big time. He ended up losing women voters to McCain any ways. 1 in 5 ouch. I was with Obama on that though. I too thought that he would lose a lot of women if he nominate a woman other than Clinton but I guess I too was wrong. Everyone makes mistakes every ones in a while, right? It’s just how you recover from your mistakes that matters. Obama really set McCain up though. If I was McCain I know I would take full advantage of the situation. Take it if it is pushed in your face. Don’t just push it aside. I would nominate a woman for sure. Why would McCain pass up such a great opportunity? He will have the election if he nominates a woman for his vice president. If Obama is going to hand him something than he better take it or the race is going to be really close. Seal the deal or lose it McCain! It all comes down to this.
The author is right. Look at the numbers, one in five would-be Hillary voters are now for McCain. That is a lot of votes swinging from Democratic to Republican. Obama can’t afford to lose those votes. He simply can’t. Every vote in this election counts, and losing those will not help. In addition, I don’t believe very many McCain voters are voting Obama now that McCain picked Palin as his running mate. Simply because she is a woman, as Sam Fitterer argues, won’t deter anyone from voting for them. Hillary almost made it, one of the first women ever to run. What stopped her? Nothing. As a matter of fact, her being a woman helped her.
McCain’s choice was a great, but risky, one. He made the right choice. Obama and Biden will see the consequences. With Biden, there now is a little bit more experience. But the gender gap is a key issue in this election year. The non-traditionalists are starting to get their way in this country. Some women flat out won’t vote for anyone other than a women President or VP. Until November, no one will be sure. But I do know one thing for sure… women will someday see office.
I believe that Obama made a good choice in choosing Biden. Biden brings the experience to the ticket that Obama doesn’t have. You also have to take into account that this article was written pre-convention, when people were still wondering what Hilary was going to do at said convention. I believe that with her speech, and throwing her support behind Obama, she brought over many of her supporters that had originally said that they weren’t going to support Obama. Sure, not all of them are going to come over and vote for Obama, but no one said that they were. Saying though that because McCain has now picked Palin as his running mate that all those Hilary supporters will now vote for McCain, because they will in essence be voting for a woman is wrong. Some will vote for McCain. There’s no doubt about that. I‘m sure though that many still won’t vote for him, because they disagree with his view points and what he wants to do with the country. I personally don’t think that if Obama chose a woman, that it would make some huge difference. No matter who he chooses, there will always be people who disagree with that decision. It’s impossible to make every person happy.