Sunday, June 08, 2008

Will Barack Obama Allow Himself To Be Bullied In His Choice For VP?

(Photo credit-by azrainman-Flickr)

Barack Obama has been getting pressure from Clinton supporters, groups, politicians and the media to choose Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate. Obama pushes back telling everyone to "settle down".
Barack Obama says he will not be "pressured" and "everybody needs to settle down" in regards to his choice of VP and that he has gathered a team to help him vet candidates for that spot.

There are some out there that believe they can steam roller right over Barack obama and by sheer force of will force him to choose Hillary Clinton.

Some are Hillary Clinton backers, yet other Clinton supporters want no part of that type of ticket.

Others pushing include a group called VoteBoth who tout 25,000 signatures on their petition. That is spearheaded by Lanny Davis who is a is a lawyer and former Special Counsel to the President for Bill Clinton and a Hillary Clinton supporter.

They also list a number of politicians and others that are pushing for Barack Obama to choose Hillary Clinton.

Recently reports have come out saying that Hillary Clinton would be "open" to the proposal if Barack obama should decide to ask her, but she has said she is not actively campaigning for the spot.

Earlier reports said that Bill Clinton was pushing for Obama to choose Hillary as his running mate.

Democratic politicians are also pushing at Obama, like Dianne Feinstein, DLC Chair Harold Ford Jr., Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, Gov. Ed Rendell, Rep. David Scott, Sen. Ken Salazar, Sen. Charles Schumer, etc... that is simply a few, there are many more politicians trying to push Obama into picking Hillary Clinton.

Multiple media outlets have been running story after story regarding Clinton for Obama's running mate and while some bloggers and pundits, ardent Clinton supporters are doing the same, others are not eager to see an Obama/Clinton ticket in November.

CNN interrupted its programming with a bulletin about Clinton’s sudden readiness to join forces with Obama. Clinton supporters – including those on the call, like Charlie Rangel and Jose Serrano – touted her statement and talked publicly of the incomparable value she’d supposedly bring to an Obama-led ticket. And pundits hashed over the subject of the “dream ticket” for hours, with more than a few wondering aloud whether Obama really has any choice but to offer the spot to Clinton.


Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, has been reported to have written the Congressional Black Caucus, asking them to "push Obama to choose Clinton."

Bloggers
and pundits, who have supported Hillary Clinton, are also trying to exert pressure on Barack Obama to choose Clinton as his VP choice, in posts and articles they write day after day, explaining why Obama would be foolish not to pick Clinton.

A recent Gallup poll showed that over 50 percent of Democratic respondents think that Barack Obama should pick Hillary Clinton, and 34 percent think he should pick someone else.

On the other side of the issue there are those that want no part of an Obama/Clinton ticket, such as former president Jimmy Carter who stated that Obama picking Hillary Clinton as VP "would be the worst mistake that could be made".

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Boston, Mass. believes that Clinton as vice president would be a mistake and his reasoning is Bill Clinton.

Just as Gallup shows that over 50 percent of Democratic supporters want Obama to pick Clinton, a Pew Research Center report shows that Obama supporters, by 54 percent do not want him to choose Clinton as his running mate.

Other Obama supporters think an Obama/ Clinton ticket would be a "nightmare" ticket and not a "dream ticket".

The politicians named in that article are Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.).

Some Clinton supporters push at Obama to choose Clinton, the media has been touting the "dream ticket" since before Obama became the official presumptive nominee and some die hard Clinton supporters are also pushing.

On the other side of Obama, his supporters that got him where he is today are weary and pushing him not to pick Clinton, for a variety of reasons, and congressional politicians, depending on who they originally supported are all pushing and pulling at Obama.

Obama says to "settle down" but will the pressure be too much to fight against?

Will he allow himself to be bullied in what is supposed to be "his choice"?

As his new vetting team of Jim Johnson, Caroline Kennedy, and Eric Holder, start making the rounds on Capitol Hill on Monday and Tuesday to interview senators and members of Congress about their recommendations, expect the media, the bloggers, the pundits and the politicians to continue to browbeat Barack Obama into doing what they want, whether the individuals want Clinton chosen on the ticket or not, each side will be sniping at Barack Obama to do what "they" want, instead of allowing him the time to do what "he" wants.


[Update] The perfect example of people trying to push and even "threaten" Obama to get their own way, has been provided by Talk Left:

I'd like to interrupt this Unity Day message with a small reminder to the Barack Obama campaign and the Democratic Party - unless he picks Hillary Clinton as his running mate - the day he announces his Vice Presidential candidate will be a day of disunity.

I hope someone is thinking about that. Because since today is "Why Hillary Lost" Day in the Media, they need to remember that Hillary Clinton got half of the votes. Yes, she lost . . . barely. Obama is in a tight race with John McCain and needs a unified Democratic Party and if he is set on NOT picking Hillary Clinton as his VP, I hope he has a plan for re-unifying the Party the day after he insists on NOT unifying, indeed, in dividing the Party by not choosing Hillary Clinton as his VP.


That kind of mentality and threat is not productive to the Democrats.

Pick who I want or you are going to lose!! That is a temper tantrum waiting to happen.

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