Published in The New York Post on August 24, 2008.
It doesn’t take a political genius to realize that Barack Obama needed to nominate a woman for vice president.
Obama’s key problem is that there is no gender gap. In the most recent Zogby poll, he runs only two points better among women than among men. A Democrat should be running 10 to 15 points better among women.
If Obama is to have a hope of winning, he needs to improve his performance among female voters. A Fox News poll indicated that only about half of those who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries are voting for Obama and that fully one in five plans to support John McCain.
Attractive to women voters because of his maverick positions on issues and his willingness to defy the Republican orthodoxy, McCain is garnering votes from women who should be part of Obama’s core constituency.
So why didn’t Obama name a woman? He couldn’t nominate Hillary because she came with so much baggage that he’d be spending his entire campaign swatting away charges directed at the Clintons. It would have been priceless to see Obama trying to justify Bill’s refusal to publish the names of the donors to his library or to explain what Bill is doing in Dubai and Kazakhstan.
But what about Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius? While not a national figure, she is attractive, articulate and would have made a fine candidate.
However, Obama was terrified that the Clintons would wreak vengeance if he named a woman other than Hillary. Yet it was all a bluff. Hillary’s delegates would have celebrated the selection of a woman.
Obama wimped out.
The fact that he named Joe Biden as his vice presidential candidate will have relatively little impact on the strategic framework of the race.
Biden was the best of the names on Obama’s short list. His experience in foreign affairs, his tough advocacy of the Democratic agenda, and his skill at handling himself will all help Obama’s campaign, but not decisively. The other options were worse. Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, had as little experience as Obama. Evan Bayh, senator from Indiana, is too soft-spoken and mild for a rough and tumble campaign.
But the most important thing is that Obama did not choose a woman. He needed one.
Now, John McCain can take advantage of Obama’s blunder by coming back with a female nominee for vice president. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would be an excellent choice. She’s been around for decades and is not going to start making mistakes now.
Her nomination would be a signal to American women that McCain takes their aspirations seriously, even if Obama does not.
I have previously written about the advantages of Joe Lieberman for vice president. His nomination would send a signal of bipartisanship which would be notable and would hasten Democratic defections. But conservatives would be horrified.
Obama’s failure to nominate a woman is such a glaring misstep that McCain should pounce and take advantage of it.
The ticket will nominally be Obama-Biden. But, to millions of American women it will be Obama and not Hillary.
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[…] States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas Dick Moris makes the case this morning for Kay Bailey Hutchison as John McCain’s Vice President. Biden was the best of […]
I think Dick’s strategy for McCain is right on (let’s face it, Dick is almost always right on), the problem is how to execute that strategy. The Republican field doesn’t contain strong woman candidates who would be attractive to disaffected Hillaristas. The Hillaristas are liberal feminists who care about women’s liberation, abortion rights, equal pay, environment, gun control, etc. They are on the poorer end of the economic spectrum.
KBH is a “country-club-Republican” from Texas whose image is that of a woman who plays by the rules, dresses conservatively, wears pearls, etc. She is pro-life, pro-gun, tied to big-oil, etc. This is the rub for McCain, will the mere fact of naming a woman win Hillaristas? Or will they ultimately be turned off by the promotion of an “uncle Tom of woman’s issues.”
Liddy Dole has similar issues, though is probably a better choice because of her vast experience with Cabinet positions for Reagan, H.W. Bush, etc.
Condi Rice would be a disaster because of her ties to the W. administration’s foreign policy failures.
Olympia Snowe?
[…] long been on the side of those who think Romney is the choice for VP for McCain. But Dick Morris thinks that Obama’s flipping off of female Hillary voters should be enough for Maverick […]
All valid points, Peliot as the weaknesses and contrasts of these women would likely never bring the “Hillaristas” into the tent and ultimately not strengthen the Republican ticket. A woman would certainly energize the ticket as Dick points out, but who would be the most unifying and least divisive is still the lingering question that McCain must answer before the convention. Ah, to be a fly on the wall in the McCain strategy room.:-)
Is Sarah Palin out of the mix? She is the governor of Ground Zero for U.S. energy independence — Alaska and the oil-rich ANWR fields. She is a woman of substance with a 20-year marriage, a great family and a son who joined the U.S. military in 2007, ready to serve his country.
Last week Kay Bailey Hutchison stated that she was not interested in being the VP. She would work to help McCain get elected but then her focus would be on running for governor of Texas when Rick Perry’s term ends.
I suspect that Senator McCain will go with loyalty, not demographics. McCain values loyalty, and Governor Pawlenty supported him when his campaign was at its weakest.
I think Joe Lieberman would be best. I am a bit tired of the ultra conservatives saying they could not possibly support a ticket with..horrors…a moderate for vice president (along with a maverick on top)…..I voted for ultra conservatives holding my nose, and then cringed at how they conducted themselves in the White House and Congress..( I went from being represented by Randy Duke Cunningham to having Larry Craig as my senator….I am fed up with hypocrites) I think all Republicans could return the favor and vote for our party ticket and prevent a liberal from gaining the White House with a Democratic Congress to boot.
While I’ve thought for a long time that Joe Lieberman was the best running mate for John, I see that John can sink Obama by picking a woman as his running mate. Hopefully, John’s advisors can see the same advantage.
McCain wii not select a woman as VP……..and what message is that going to send to the American women of America and the Hillary whiny babies? There is a price to pay for the choices they make. Obama choose to add to his preceived weakness of foreign policy…..a wise choice..McCain……not in his profile to choose a woman…in the end I believe that Obama will come out ahead after the DNC…McCain is going to loose a lot of ground if he doesn’t select a woman…..but then again…McCain has never took the offensive against Obama’s weakness…he is just old guard with old guard politics…November will tell.
I think McCain will go with Romney simply because it is a safe pick and it could essentially deliver Michigan and possibly Mass. Although there will be great fodder for the Dem’s to bring up about their hard fought primary I believe there are two ways to dilute the Dem’s chances of succeeding at attracting them. One Romney is huge for economics so the focus should be economy,economy,economy. Obama nor Biden have any experience heading a corp. or any other business for that matter so while Biden is debating foreign relations, which by the way should be done by Obama since it is his duty, Romney will be talking about one of two issues the country is uptight about. Second, I think that if McCain were to announce at the same time his top four cabinet picks the Dem’s would have to spread their attacks between several rather than one person and this also shows the country how prepared right now McCain is. I’m thinking Petraeus for Sec. of Defense, Lieberman for Sec. of state, Romney Vice President, and then Bloomberg for Treasury or Sec. of Commerce. This would be a “Shock and awe” type of approach and would certainly throw the Obama campaign off center. I do think it would be very important to name some women to the cabinet as well to snatch up some women voters as well. What do you think? I have seen this idea written in several places all over the net.
Its time to tune out from the irrelevant over-analysis by the pundits.
There sure seems to be a lot of speculation as to how the election is going to go considering the fact that Obama hasn’t won the nomination yet. The Florida and Michigan delegates are going to be seated with full votes. Hillary still has a good chance of getting the nomination. If she does, I wonder who Hillary’s running mate will be?
xdream……and appropriate screen name for a dream that will never come to past. The superdelegates jobs are on the line also, and to vote against the will of their constitutents……that’s political suicide..they have already calculated that it is impossible, even with Flordia and Michigan, for Hillary to be nominated. Of course, everyone is entitled to their dream…xdream.
Yes, Olympia Snowe is the best choice. Very experienced, moderate enough not to offend anybody, smart, and has a good biography. Once voters get to know her, they will love her.
I wish that pundits would get off of this Kay Bailey Hutchison thing, or else the McCain camp might actually take it seriously. Yikes. The only benefit that we can see is that KBH would diffuse the “age issue” because next to KBH, McCain looks like a teenager.
I’m ready for a woman. Are you?
Given the chatter I’m hearing on the Internet, it’s likely that before long, we’ll have a pretty good idea of who Senator McCain will pick for Vice-President. Given the fact that there are many women out there that feel slighted…