AFP photo
Billary Cunton and Barack Obama appear together at a rally in Unity, New Jersey, in June. Conventional wisdom is that Obama never would pick Billary as his running mate, but come on -- do you actually think that she ever intended to go away empty-handed?
Obama will pick Billary
Ralph Nader predicts -- correctly, I think -- that Barack Obama will pick Billary Cunton as his running mate.
Reports Politico today:
Count Ralph Nader as unimpressed by the crop of supposed finalists to be Barack Obama’s running mate.
“I don’t think he’s that dumb,” said Nader, commenting on widespread speculation that Obama’s choices are down to Sens. Joe Biden [of Delaware], Evan Bayh [of Indiana] or Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.
The smart pick, according to Nader, is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nader phoned into Politico [today] to offer his prediction that a surprise nod to Clinton is actually what Obama has in store -- never mind the talk of mistrust between the Clintons and Obama.
“He just has to swallow hard and do what JFK did” in picking rival Lyndon Johnson in 1960, said the liberal activist and maverick presidential candidate.
According to Nader’s logic, Obama may dislike Hillary, but will conclude he has no choice but to get over it if he hopes to leave next week’s convention in Denver with a unified party and a decent shot against John McCain in the fall: “The polls show 25 percent of her supporters have not gotten on board.”
...Nader said he does not see how Biden, Bayh or Kaine would help Obama politically, and believes the speculation about them is a "smokescreen." If it’s a traditional white male politician Obama is after, Nader offered, the better pick would be former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, who brings national security heft and could put his home state in play.
It might be tempting for the Obama partisans to brush off Nader’s freelance forecasting, but dismissing him as a crank is a risk....
As for his own reading of the vice presidential tarot cards, Nader admitted, “I may have egg on my face in a few days.”
I might have egg on my face, too, but I'll risk it: Billary Cunton seems to be Obama's most politically advantageous choice. While I doubt that he likes her much (if at all), the fact of the matter is that her spoilsport supporters long have been threatening to pick up their marbles and go home.
If it's a woman Obama wants on his ticket, the much-talked-about Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius wouldn't do him nearly as much good as would Billary, so I think that he'd pick Billary over Sebelius.
If Obama does end up picking a white guy to balance or cancel out John Fossil Fool McCain -- let's face it: a large swath of the nation still believes that only white men capably can lead the nation, despite the incredible damage that the unelected, bogus-war-starting, fascist BushCheneyCorp has done over the past eight years -- I think he'll pick Biden.
But I think that Nader is correct that Obama most likely will pick Billary. Obama needs as much Democratic support as he can get. As Nader noted, McCainosaurus has been too close for comfort in the polls; in only a handful of Obama-McInsane match-up polls has Obama reached 50 percent or slightly above, with the overwhelming majority of the polls showing Obama and McInsane both at 40-something-percent each for some time now.
As much as I can't stand her, I have to admit that Billary Cunton stands to boost Obama more than anyone else they're talking about as Obama's running mate. Those who wouldn't vote for Cunton probably wouldn't vote for Obama, either, so I don't see that Cunton really could hurt Obama by being his No. 2. Cunton's die-hard lemming-like supporters refusing to vote for Obama, however, could hurt him.
So I think he'll hold his nose and pick Billary as his veep.
Which, I suppose, is better than President McCainosaurus.
9:14:29 PM 
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