Friday, August 22, 2008

Vice Versus

People all over the blogosphere are crapping their drawers over Obama's forthcoming-any-time-now pick to fill out the ticket. Why is he letting the suspense build? What does it mean? How long will he wait? Will it doom or save his chances?

First of all, there is no candidate that is perfect. None. Most have downsides (Biden, Webb, Richardson)—some significant (Hillary—the definition of high risk, high reward—could be huge in either direction). And those without foreseeable downside (Sebelius, Bayh, Dodd)? Low impact, no upside.

I'm not sure how much if any impact this pick will have on the election, but looking forward to actually serving, I can tell you the only one of them I feel strongly that I DON'T want as Vice President—Hillary Clinton.

As for the politico.com column flying around that "it won't be Hillary because she was never vetted for V.P" is garbage. You can be sure that Obama did all the oppo research needed months ago, when he was actually in a deathmatch with her.

13 comments:

mama maria said...

Just found your blog by chance. I love it and will be visiting regularly!

Mr Furious said...

Welcome!

(Was it the Chris Whitley-in-common?)

Toast said...

I think you're off-base to put Sebelius in the "Low impact, no upside" category. Not only is she a woman, but she's done a solid job of pushing a fairly progressive agenda in a very red state.

mama maria said...

Yes. I'm a big fan of his. Regretfully, I passed up two opportunities to see him perform live. Sigh.

Mr Furious said...

My list may be undervaluing her, it's true. Let's reclassify as low impact, some upside, probably has no downside.

That would be a net "plus."

Old Dominion Blue said...

Bingo on the Politico's report. He didn't vet her? Fer chrissakes, as if the woman needed to be vetted after her underwear drawer has been crawled thROugh for the past 16 years. What idiots!

I think all the buildup points to a non-traditional choice (and by that, I mean, it's not the obvious Biden-Kaine-Bayh horserace the media has been peeing themselves over). Hillary certainly would be a non-traditional choice; Clark would be another. I would favor the latter over the former, but would live with both.

I continue to have problems with Obama, though. For the first election in a long time, I'm not sending money and I'm refusing to volunteer, even though Virginia is close as can be. I'm still smarting from the FISA vote. Plus, then he followed that up with all the faith-based initiatives bullshit and the constant pandering to the American Taliban. Enough! I want someone to represent MY values for a change, and he ain't doing that right now.

He has time to win me back, but he's got some splainin' to do.

Mr Furious said...

I hear you, RSB.

I was donating regularly (admittedly in small, small chunks) and I stopped right after FISA. Partly out of constraints but partly because I did not want to reward bad behavior. I believe there was a donation benchmark later that week, and I emailed the campaign and made clear why I was not helping them reach it.

Maybe later, but not then.

And I don't begrudge the making-nice with the religious sector. I think there are potential votes there. He can speak sincerely about faith, and McCain is on thin ice with that crowd. Bring it on.

I won't call it pandering because he hasn't shifted his positions or policies in his remarks, so I'm not bothered by it.

I enjoy his taking the fight into GOP territory rather than conceding those votes.

Mr Furious said...

mama,

When I lived in NYC yearrs ago, it was easy to catch him live, he seemed to play all the time. The best show I ever saw was at the little side room next to CBGB's. I was right there, and it was just him, his guitars, a mic'd board for him to tap his foot on and a guy named Dougie Baum playing percussion (mostly bongos).

It was a beautiful performance.

Brilliant songwriter, excellent steel guitar player, but he was a pretty shy and insecure showman. It was all about the music.

He was too young, and had too much music left.

Toast said...

The first album Tracy made me sit down and listen to when we began dating was Living With the Law. I immediately loved it. Yeah, sure, part of that was probably that it was proffered by the woman I was courting, but man what a great vibe. Later on, I found out that Whitley didn't like the sound of that album and went on to record the rest of his stuff with entirely different production values and more eclectic stylings. Far be it from me to begrudge a musician his right to do as he pleases, but I was disappointed.

Mr Furious said...

I gave you guys the rest of his catalog didn't I?

"Terra Incognita" is pretty good, but LWTL is clearly the best album.

mama maria said...

What a loss for sure. I found out about his death about a month after the fact.
That's great that you were able to see him. Sometimes I watch videos of his performances on YouTube. That doesn't quite cut it though.

Mike said...

Biden. Ugh.

Idiotic choice in my opinion. WAAAAAYYY too much downside.

I'm more convinced than ever that McCain will win.

Toast said...

I gave you guys the rest of his catalog didn't I?

You got me Terra (which I like, btw) and you were going to send the rest. I assumed you forgot.