Obama-Clinton 2012!

I'm excited! I just read an opinion piece by Robert Reich speculating, based on no inside information whatsoever, that the Democratic presidential ticket for 2012 might have Hillary Clinton as Obama's running-mate. Joe Biden, by this account would become Secretary of State, a position which he has apparently coveted for a long time. Stuff like this is why I love politics!

First, I think this would be a excellent choice to excite the Democratic base, which you have to admit has been pretty luke-warm toward Obama lately, and to bring a lot of Independent voter support to the ticket. Hillary inspires passion among her supporters and her detractors. The fervor of her supporters could re-energize the campaign and bring new excitement to the race. As to her detractors, let's face it most of them already hate Obama anyway so it wouldn't cost anything in terms of lost votes. So there's a substantial upside and not much to lose - I think it would be a winning combination.

Also, just imagine the apoplexy and outrage that having Hillary Clinton on the Democratic ticket would cause for Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the whole crowd over at Fox News! The Hillary-haters would be beside themselves at the prospect of having her back in presidential politics - the venom and vitriol that they would spew 24/7 is sure to be impressive in volume and intensity but it won't change a thing except maybe to expose them as the irrational ideological quacks that they are to any reasoning person who hasn't already figured it out. It could be fun.

Last, consider 2016 and beyond. If Hillary serves as Vice-President during Obama's second term and they don't totally screw things up, she'd be a shoe-in to be the Democratic nominee for the next election cycle and (I'm being optimistic here) she could be President from 2016 to to 2024! That would mean 16 years of Democratic presidential administrations and that's long enough to put in place programs that will ensure the social justice, equality of opportunity, and economic fairness that is the promise of America. Hey I can dream, can't I?

So say it with me: "Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry".