I thought the opera was over, so I told the fat lady to start singing. But she couldn't. Hillary Clinton had bound and gagged her and was sitting on her chest.
What happens now? Beats me. Mrs. Clinton did not concede in her Tuesday night speech. She noted instead that she had carried the swing states--Pennsylvania, Ohio, and so on--that the Democrats will need in the fall. Her campaign chairman introduced as the "next president of the United States." Hunh? In her speech she asked, "What does Hillary want?" and answered, "I want the nearly 18 million people who voted for me to be respected and heard." She can keep her campaign going, of course, in the hope that for some reason superdelegates who've come out for Obama will suddenly change their minds and switch to her. But it's hard to imagine why many of them would do that.
And she let it be known that she wouldn't refuse the second spot on the ticket either. We don't know, as this is written, how Senator Obama feels about that but I think it's a terrible idea.
In the first place, they probably don't like each other much by now. Why should they, when they've been slamming each other for months? But there's a more important reason. If they combine and win, what will they do with Bill? It was hard to imagine him as First Guy if his wife had won? But Second Guy? It's really hard to imagine him not at the head table at the formal dinner, not to imagine him charging into the Oval Office saying, "Wait a minute, Barack, I'll take care of that!" And who answers when someone walks in and asks, "Mr. President?"
Then, too, a lot of people are tired of Clintons and Bushes. It would probably be a mistake for Obama, who runs as someone who will change Washington, to share the ticket with someone who represents the past.
I don't who Obama will pick, of course. But if he wants a woman there are others in the Senate. Barbara Mikulski is smart and tough, for instance. A Republican? Chuck Hagel of Nebraska comes to mind.
Again, I don't know. But it's been a fine campaign so far and the good news is, it isn't over yet.
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