How Obama Won - Excerpt from Chapter 14

14.
The Clinton Factor

The clamor for an Obama-Clinton dream ticket started virtually the moment they started their head to head slog through the primaries and the caucuses from January through June, 2008. Top Democrats really wanted Clinton to do a full court campaign press for Obama. The idea was that Clinton as an Obama campaigner would be able to sway the millions of Democrats wavering, disgruntled, and even hostile Democrats to Obama.

However, the clamor for her as Obama's VP was absurd. The notion that she could cajole doubting Democrats to change their mind about Obama was shaky at best. First there was the notion of Clinton as VP. Obama effectively killed that when he appointed a Clinton-unfriendly committee to search out a VP pick. And it was just as well he did. A major McCain attack point against Obama was that he was a much too liberal Democrat, and an elitist, who was way out of touch with moderate-to-conservative mainstream America. Putting another liberal Democrat and a woman at that on the ticket, especially one with the towering negatives that Clinton had among ultraconservatives and Christian fundamentalists would have been the ultimate political gift from heaven to McCain.