A House Divided - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

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Wed May-14-08 02:04 PM
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A House Divided

During our evening meal, my family often discusses the political issues of the day. Yesterday, the topic was if Brack Obama should offer the VP spot to Hillary Clinton. It made for a lively discussion, and I think that a couple of points that were raised might be of interest to some DUers.

My wife and I have four children: two sons (from my first marriage) who are now in their 20s, and who both are again living here before the fall semester, and two daughters, ages 14 and 10. My younger son’s girlfriend is also here 90% of the time.

My wife and my son’s girlfriend both favor Senator Clinton, but are fully prepared to vote for Senator Obama in the fall. My sons, oldest daughter, and I all favor Senator Obama. My youngest daughter also favors Obama, primarily because she wants to be the first woman president, and feels that Hillary Clinton needs to respect this and step aside.

I raised some of the points that had resulted in Seator Ted Kennedy’s endorsing Obama in January: Clinton has high negatives, and her being on the ticket would be enough to rally the republican/conservative forces to come out against her in the fall. I also noted that her campaign had been poorly run, using the article "The Mistakes She Made" in the new TIME to point out five serious errors. (pages 24-25)

One of those errors is illustrated by her saying that if the democrats went by the same rules as the republicans, she would have already won the nomination. But we are not using the same rules as the republicans, I noted.

My younger son asked if I thought the democratic rules were superior? Yes, I do. Then he said that if the democrats do not go by the "winner-take-all" mentality in the primaries, perhaps the same thinking should apply in deciding who should be on the ticket with Obama.

I countered that by pointing out the Obama campaign will be taking a different approach in the fall than the Clinton campaign would have. We will target different states. My son suggested that with Clinton as VP, it would be possible to take many more states. He pointed out that she has wide support in many states across the country, as the primaries have shown.

He then asked me to talk about Jesse Jackson’s run in 1988, and why I still feel that Dukakis treated him poorly. I spoke about how Jesse had energized the party in ’84 and especially in ’88. He had earned the right to be considered for the VP spot with his strong showing. I told of the events in Boston in early July, and how badly that had stung those of us who had worked so hard for Jackson.

My son pointed out that Hillary Clinton has also run a strong campaign, and deserves to be respected by the party. Likewise, her supporters have invested a lot of hard work in her campaign.

I responded by starting to list some of the things that her campaign has done that I have found offensive. He reminded me of how I’ve taught him that often in life, when it comes to the most important things, you have to be willing to make sacrifices. In fact, he said, I have told him that it is often important to sacrifice your anger, in order to reach a higher goal.

One of the best things about the Obama campaign is that it has provided a lot of parents the opportunity to listen to their children, who have become young adults and who are preparing to vote in their first presidential election. I am thankful for that.