Yes, unity is important. But Obama must also find a way to tackle his lack of experience, his awful personal ties and Bushesque approach to politics.

I want to be vote for McCain without the feeling of guilt.

Whenever I raise the topic of the Unity Ticket, people start frothing at the mouth about how she doesn't deserve it or about how important it is for Obama's Transformation to work that the Clinton's be banished from political life.

It's because Obama's voters and Hillary's voters do NOT have a common goal.

Hillary's voters want an experienced, qualified leader to beat McCain and carry our traditional Democratic goals forward.

Obama's voters want to take over the Democratic Party. Beating McCain and running the White House in a competent manner are secondary to some and unimportant to others.

What you are really arguing for is submission, not unity.

The MSM LOVES John McCain. This is all a set up. Once BO is the nominee they will all of a sudden have a TON of "Breaking News" on BO and it won't be good news.

That said, I will vote against McCain in November. For the Dem, simply because the Dem has the best chance of beating McCain.

Why? The Rs must be repudiated. Thoroughly. They have run this country into the ground and, from Bush v. Gore on, have twisted and made mock of the principles which gave me pride in this country.

As I've pointed out above, the question is not whether Hillary would or should accept the VP slot. That is her personal decision to make. She can easily offer up reasons that she would prefer not to, with no harm done to Obama. Edwards has already indicated he would not want to be VP, with nothing negative attaching to Obama.

It is a question of whether Obama can bring himself to do what he must do in order to unify the party: make a clear, no-strings-attached offer of the VP slot to his former opponent, who is admired by at least as many Democrats as is he.

Translation: HRC supporters need to shut up and worship the chosen one.

No thanks.

Wexler can take his fist pounding, screaming demand for unity and shove it up his.....

They wanted Bill to resign and not go through the impeachment spectacle.  Some had moral reasons, some had political reasons, most had a combo of both. The thought was that if had resigned, it would have been  impossible to lose the WH.  We lost the WH and the dislike for the Clintons was cemented into something stronger.  

They find, groomed and put up their running horse: Barak Obama.  The primary, roolz and counter-roolz  followed, culminating on Saturday with the motions passed by RBC.  The final step toward the final goals is now ensure that Hillary does not get onto the ticket, as per Pelosi's prediction.  
The long knives of resentments, in my very subjective analysis, have done their job.
But, WDIK.

On the other hand, having to put her on the ticket would infuriate both O and Michelle.  That would bring me great joy.  

Many of us see the nomination of Barack Obama as being the nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party; by all indications, he and his cohorts intend to make-over the party in Obama's image, and we are not sure how a party that is weaker on so many of the issues that are important to us is beneficial to us or to the country.  It's bad enough that we have a Congressional contingent that is wholly lacking in spine and fight, but institutionalizing those attributes into a "new" Democratic Party seems less a progressive revolution than a prescription for inertia and ineffectiveness.  We know that the best way to prevent that is for Clinton to be the nominee, but if she is not, the alternative is for Obama to lose.  If he loses the election, he loses the right to take over the party - it's that simple.

There was a time when I believed that I would be able to support and vote for whichever Democrat was the nominee of the party, but I no longer feel I can make that commitment.  It just makes no sense to me that I should be expected to help elect the person who has worked as hard as he has ("no one has done more for...") to destroy and divide the party so that he can complete the operation.

No, I am not interested in continuing on with a Grand Experiment that shows all signs of being a disaster of epic proportions.  Losing to John McCain will, in my mind, be a great big red flag that the Obama Way is the Wrong Way, and we can set the Party back on track fighting for the things that Democrats are supposed to stand for.

If you can pick someone who would be able to help deliver a key state that would be great, but there is little evidence that there is any such Democrat out there. State poilitics is very different from national politics- in many states one party dominates state politics, another dominates the national elections. Here in NC Democrats usually dominate state government, but no Democrat has carried the state in a presidential race since Carter in 1976. The point is just because voters like somebody as their governor does not mean they would want them as President of the United States. Or just because someone is elected Senator from somewhere does not mean that the people of that state would view them as presidential material. Running mates have only helped a ticket significantly when they are able to unify the party, or they have proven themselves to be presidential material in their own right. (Like LBJ in 60, and Bush 1 in 80.) If recent polling is any indication then the only VP choice likely to have a major impact in a key swing state would be McCain picking Rommney in Michigan. Rommney has proven himself an acceptable pick to many Republicans and he has a long family legacy in that state. All these other let's pick so and so from a swing state are pure speculation that ignore the fact that people do not want the same things out of state leaders as they do the President.

As for the idea of picking a woman other than Clinton, this would be disatrous. The sad fact is that there is no other woman out there who would not have serious questions rasied about her qualifications and readiness to be President. She might be able to prove otherwise during the campaign, but the time for that will be very short. Also, that woman would inevitably be compared to Hillary and at the point that she could not measure up to Hillary in the key areas of toughness and expertise, especially in matters concerning national security, she would simply wind up being percieved as another Geraldine Ferraro which will not help the ticket. Selibus was terrible when she gave the democratic response to the state of the union. She is trying to do Obama's gig, but frankly she can't hold a candle to him when doing so. Obama cannot pick a VP who there are any questions if they are ready to be President. As I said earlier, the VP won't really help you alot, but it can hurt you which Obama doesn't need.

The other thing to consider is that Clinton is a better campaigner and debater than anyone else the Democrats have to offer. Edwards was terrible in the debate against Cheney, and none of the other candidates have shown the skill on the campaign trail Hillary has.

The democratic leaders have repeatedly shown no interest in "Doing the Right Thing". The congress has lower public approval rating the BUSH!

It is no accident!

If we roll over and vote the way they wanted us to vote, we help them grabbing Washington power. They will no doubt contine to ignore our interests. The country will continue to suffer.

I guess what I'm saying is that this "17 million voters" number that is used to express how many voters will turn on Obama and show him how poorly Hillary supporters have been treated and that they just won't stand for it another minute, will turn out to be a vast over estimate.

please excuse typos..im in a hurry

   "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain"

Fairness compels me to add that they project Clinton at 338 vs McCain at 200.

In any event, Dems win.

I'll take a bet than in less than two months, Clinton will have not only endorsed Obama, but will appear to be friendly and supportive towards him, and will claim she always respected him, etc.