Why Obama Does Not Need Clinton (But Should Make Her VP)

Pennsylvanians voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) over Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by a ten-point margin. Both candidates (and their spouses) traversed the mid-state multiple times during the heated primary race and both candidates received more than a million votes. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) received little more than half that after already earning his party's top spot on the ballot. With primary numbers like that, does Obama really need Clinton as his running mate in order to win the big swing states like Pennsylvania?

Clinton made it clear in her non-concession speech Tuesday, June 3, that she expects to be offered the vice presidential nomination. She has yet to say publicly whether she wants the position, or whether she would accept an offer by Obama, but she certainly is eyeing it. Wednesday afternoon Clinton announced that she would suspend her campaign and officially endorse Obama on Saturday. This comes after her speech Tuesday, following the South Dakota and Montana primaries, when she said that there would be "no decision tonight," and emphasized that the 18 million Americans who voted for her must not be ignored. This is a statement that says more about Clinton's ambitions than about how her supporters will vote in November.

Obama leads McCain by two percentage points in Rasmussen Reports' latest statewide poll. He can safely expect that most of his primary election opponent's supporters will vote Democratic in November, especially in closed primary states like Pennsylvania. In open primary states, the calculations are fuzzier, with liberal Republicans and Independents potentially included already in the totals. But Obama managed to win many of those states, like Virginia, a traditionally red state trending blue for the first time in decades. And for all that Clinton brings to the table, she also brings high negatives. The fierce animosity that many Republicans harbor toward Clinton will not automatically disappear if Obama is at the top of the ticket.

Yet it somehow seems appropriate for Obama, gracious in victory and dreaming of the Oval Office, to extend a hand toward the original front-runner in the Democratic contest. Lest anyone forget, Clinton entered the race as the front-runner, the heir apparent, and the wife of a mostly beloved former president. She leaves the race bloodied from mudslinging, ill-chosen barbs, and spending beyond her campaign's means, but she also leaves the race having made it clear that a woman can go toe-to-toe with the men and emerge with her head held high. Defiant in defeat, she recognized the enormous triumph of the first African-American to win a major party presidential nod, but would not recognize the victory as inevitable.

Nor should she. And nor should he.

There are those who would like to see Obama select a decorated veteran, such as Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) or Gen. Wesley Clark, as his running mate. There are those who would like to see Obama repay Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico for his enthusiastic endorsement or recognize former Sen. John Edwards for his tireless campaign to draw attention to the "Two Americas." And then there are those who would like to see Obama reach across the ballot to Clinton, the woman who ran nasty television ads against him in Pennsylvania and who refused to surrender, even as the presidential race left her stranded in South Dakota. Because as much as Clinton angered supporters of Obama who had hoped for a cleaner contest, the woman from Chicago has the audacity to think that Obama needs her on the ticket.

Obama does not need Clinton as his running mate to win the White House this fall. He could easily call upon one of the many white men who aspire to the vice presidency to clasp hands with him on the podium in Denver and to proclaim the gospel of change. But that would be too easy. The most difficult thing for Obama to do right now will be to welcome Clinton and her flock into the fold, to define their dreams as his own. It will take enormous courage for Obama to look past Clinton's horrific reference to the assassination of Sen. Bobby Kennedy on the eve of his victory in the California primary. It will take enormous courage for Obama to forgive Clinton for aiding the enemy (McCain) with her fear mongering red phone ad.

But in the end, the audacity to imagine an African-American president flanked by a female vice president—in spite of it all—is what makes this campaign different. That is why I have proudly supported Obama from the start, and hope that he will offer Clinton the opportunity to finally make a decision.