–Mark Mercer

I find it puzzling that Obama supporters are so afraid of Hillary Clinton doing something to damage the ticket. If she’s the VP nominee she will do everything in her power to help deliver victory. She has already been doing a lot over the past two months. Hillary Clinton in the final months of the primary campaign was tremendously impressive-charismatic, detailed, knowledgeable and inspiring. What kind of presidential nominee would be afraid to have her as a running mate?

However, if she is the Veep selection, Sebelius’ next speech (at the convention) becomes a somewhat larger deal than it would ordinarily be. If her 2nd speech on a national stage were to end up as unwatchable as her first was, the press would add 1+1 and get 3–meaning they’d make Sebelius and her speeches a bigger deal than they actually should be.

Also, I think if the Democrats go woman-not-Hillary, Sarah Palin comes into serious consideration as a potental McCain VP.

Sure, Palin hasn’t been in a state-wide office all that long–but neither has the guy at the top of the Democrats ticket.

Sebelius and Palin would be inspired and intriguing choices. And the VP debate would become must-see TV.

She might pass for an exciting, dynamic personality in Wichita…not so much in the rest of the country.

GO HILLARY 2012

No wonder Hillary’s intimidated, she’s afraid we’ll come to recognize what a competent woman, who makes it on her own steam, looks like.

In addition, if Barack has the nerve to pick Sebelius, he will inspire the respect of many people.

Finally, like Sebelius Supporter, “the thought of . . .Obama and Sebelius makes me want to jump, dance, and sing.”

I’m so excited!

Do you want me to post this for you now as a blog? It would be under my name since I’m already registered here, but I would of course give you full credit, plus I’d add any other information you’d want me to post about you (such as if you have a website, etc.). If you give me this permission in this comment section, I will check our “dashboard” to make sure the permission comment matches the information from your already posted comment (thus preventing some prankster from giving me bogus authorization). Or if you can get it posted yourself–it doesn’t take long–by all means do so. Hope to be reading more from you, either here or in your own blog posts.
–Mark Mercer

It would have been Hillary as VP but she blew it going to negative on Obama to the point now McCain is using her comments as his own negative ads.

Kathleen Sebelius is the perfect yin-yang for Obama.

Obama-Sebelius ‘08
http://www.betastart.com/SW/obama-sebelius.jpg

I hope this happens…and I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way.

Let’s all return to what really counts: Obama’s own known priorities for picking people who are going to be close to him, which includes the person he expects to be his governing partner:

First, it’s going to be someone he already knows, not someone he barely knows, and he knows and likes Sebelius. Second, it’s going to be someone who knows how to get down to the substance of problems that affect people’s daily lives, in terms that ordinary people understand. (This rules out all bloviators, like Biden or Richardson.) Once again, that’s Sebelius. Third, it’s going to be someone who helps him with a major problem that’s inhibiting movement toward him among those who aren’t part of his existing base. (This rules out Bayh.)

No one, not even Biden, can help him with his perceived newness to national security or foreign policy. If he looks strong and decisive on such questions in the debates with McCain, this entire issue is neutralized. If he doesn’t, his running mate is not going to be able to bail him out.

There are only two other problems that are making people hesitate about Obama. The first is the reality that he’s a bit aloof — he is not a back-slapping pol who downs shot glasses of any liquid put in front of him. But none of the male VP possibilities are exactly hilarious guys-next-door either. Obama is going to have to open up more and relax on his own, as he will.

That leaves one problem: The surprising percentage of older white Democratic and independent women who are not embracing Obama, the candidate whose stands on social and economic issues coincide far more closely with their own views than those of McCain. This is real, and it’s why there has been such concern about Hilllary at the convention, because what she says on that podium could worsen or help alleviate this problem.

There’s another way to alleviate it altogether, regardless of how Bill and Hillary behave at the convention: pick Sebelius. She’s articulate, mature, older than either Obama or Hillary Clinton, and she is utterly likable and disarming the moment the camera rests on her smile. And she’s been a roaring success as a governor, in no small part because women — including many Republican women — love her. Forget the supposed Hillary backlash if he picks another woman. Obama beat her; no wonder they’re sore. But if Obama picks a woman to be his vice president, he’s doing the opposite of that — he’s hiring a woman. And don’t underestimate Sebelius’s capacity to win them over.

Within a week after the Republican convention (so long as McCain doesn’t pick a woman), an Obama-Sebelius ticket would start eating ferociously into McCain’s numbers among moderate Republican women. That would put Pennsylvania and Michigan out of reach for McCain, and give the ticket new zip in Florida and Missouri.

Let’s face it: the Obama phenomenon has been sagging in the summer. Sebelius would be perfect for September — getting him to the debates with a rising margin over McCain, and the media ready to anoint him again if he succeeds in that most critical test that usually determines the winner in modern presidential elections.

But wait, Sebelius is already speaking at the convention? Be serious, it’s a perfect cover for springing a surprise. She hasn’t been run up the flagpole like Kaine? Precisely. If she had, she wouldn’t be a surprise at this point.

Tim Kaine, Evan Bayh and Joe Biden are the groomsmen at this wedding — they’ve been held up to deserved acclaim, and Virginia, Indiana and foreign policy expertise have been embraced and saluted. Those boomlets have served a purpose.

But it’s going to be Kathleen. And there’s a final reason why: She embodies and reinforces the reality that this election is about Change — as no one else could, who’s been on any list.