Some Reasons Why a Shotgun Wedding Won’t Be Necessary

I would not enjoy being an advocate of the (con)fusion ticket being peddled in some quarters where it’s argued that Obama “must” choose Senator Clinton as his running mate.

I’ve already outlined two reasons that scenario can’t survive even on life support:

First, the advocates of an Obama-Clinton ticket haven’t been able to get the “I won’t vote for Obama in November” grouposcule within the Clinton camp to sign up for it. As we demonstrated here the other day, in their own words, so many of the folks in that camp continue to say that they would consider an offer of the vice presidency for Clinton insulting and condescending to her supporters. I agree with those people. It would be condescending to try and mix oil and water (the combination of which has corroded many a gas tank), including if the primaries had gone differently and Clinton were the nominee-apparent leading to speculation that she might tap Obama as vice presidential nominee.

The second reason is more subtle: The louder that certain factions try to exert pressure on Obama into picking any individual as his running mate, the more his acquiescence to such a demand would make him look weak, buckling under pressure, and captive to outside interests. In a word: unpresidential, and lacking in the leadership qualities and independence that Americans look for in a commander-in-chief.

There’s a third reason why this dog ain’t gonna hunt. Marc Ambinder hinted at it the other day when mentioning his guesses as to how Obama’s VP search will be conducted. It’s called the vetting process:

Obama will wind up vetting more candidates than one might suspect; that the vetting will be extremely thorough and private; that several women will be vetted NOT as tokens but as actual potential choices; that Hillary Clinton WILL be asked to submit the vetting documents IF she signals that she wants to be considered…

...more at the link