Seven Reasons Why Hillary Was the Better Choice

Joe Lauria

Seven Reasons Why Hillary Was the Better Choice

Posted August 23, 2008 | 08:22 PM (EST)

On June 4, the night Obama clinched the delegate count, many commentators were stunned that Hillary refused to go away. I wrote a blog saying Obama should freeze her out. Instead, he embraced her in a bid for her base. But she still commands an army of die-hard supporters. So the facts have changed. Now, instead of embracing her and the base she still commands, he’s frozen her out.

Here are seven reasons why Hillary Clinton would have been the better choice to win in November than Joe Biden:

1. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Obama would have done well to adhere to Sun-Tzu’s 2,400-year old saying. Now there’s nothing to stop the Clintons, if they choose, from undermining an Obama presidency so Hillary can run in 2012.

2. Get them campaigning for you. Whatever you think of him, Bill Clinton is one of the best campaigners of the modern era. He and she will make some appearances for Obama. But it will be nothing like the support they could generate for Obama if Hillary were on the ticket. Remember Gore thought he could win without Bill campaigning hard for him.

3. Pick up the Scranton Vote. One of the arguments for Biden is that he can secure that base of white, blue-collar, Democratic voters in places like Scranton and Columbus. But didn’t those voters form one of the two pillars of Hillary’s formidable support? She owned Pennsylvania and Ohio, without which it is said Obama can’t win. Even though Biden is white and talks tough, how many supporters did he have among that voting group? Hillary could have delivered them on a platter. Now they may just stay home.

4. Hillary’s Women Supporters. Women formed the second pillar of Hillary’s base. Many of them say they would rather vote for McCain than Obama. How does Biden change that? Writing in the New Republic, Hillary spokesman Howard Wolfson said Biden “won’t automatically bring along disaffected Hillary voters, especially those who are older women. But no one was going to do that besides Hillary anyway.” According to John Zogby, “only 56% of Clinton-backers would vote for Obama, while 21% intend to vote for McCain.” Biden making up that 21% is doubtful. Obama thought he could buy Hillary’s supporters with the roll call vote next week in Denver. But they may now take that opportunity to stage pro-Hillary demonstrations that will make Obama look like a weak leader of a still divided party. For all his talk of uniting the country, he should have united the party first.

5. Hillary has more name recognition. For what it’s worth and in our celebrity-driven culture it’s worth a lot, Hillary Clinton is one of the most famous women in America and beyond. Maybe that was a problem for Obama, already one of the most famous men in the world. Remember what they said about Charles’ envy of Diana’s fame. Biden has been around a very long time, but except for two brief national campaigns, he hasn’t commanded anywhere near the stage Hillary has. As my co-author Mike Gravel pointed out to me, Biden had about the same polling numbers as he did and Gravel was climbing out of obscurity, while Biden has been in the public eye for 30 years.

6. Biden is a loose cannon. The more one talks, the higher the odds of saying something stupid. And Biden has said many stupid things over the years. Like having to have an Indian accent to go into a Seven-Eleven and that his running mate was clean, at least. It’s just a matter of time before he embarrasses Obama. Hillary is steely. She’s way too disciplined to cause this problem. Biden is also overrated. Among an electorate that knows too little about international events, even when they directly impact their lives, Joe Biden looks like an expert on foreign affairs. He can rattle off the names of foreign leaders. But does that really make him a master of international intrigue? What diplomatic experience does he really bring? Biden voted for the Iraq war, like Hillary, so he doesn’t add any better judgment than she would have brought.

7. Show Obama is Sure of Himself. By not picking Hillary, Obama demonstrates that he is too insecure to have her and her husband back in their old home while he tries to figure out how to run the White House and the country. Could he stand up to them and tell them who is president? With Hillary by his side we’d know that he’d value her and Bill’s advice but be his own man. Bill and Hillary are formidable intellects. Obama won’t feel threatened by Joe Biden.

Yes Hillary was a pain. Yes Bill and she played too loose with racial innuendo during the primary campaign. But if the object is to win the White House back from the Republicans, Obama has just made it doubly difficult without the Clintons by his side, working night and day for him. He has shown he couldn’t put personal animosity and insecurities aside for the good of the party and perhaps ultimately of the country.