by Brian Tobin

Created on: June 04, 2008   Last Updated: June 08, 2008

Now that Barack Obama has made history by becoming the first Black mainstream candidate for president, his choice of a running mate will take on added significance. Historically, the vice-presidency up until the Cheney era was "not worth a pitcher of warm spit" as Franklin Roosevelt's first vice-president, John Nance Garner, so crudely put it. The job has, however, taken on new significance in the 21st Century beyond just the cosmetic balancing of the ticket.

Given, the grueling primary between Obama and Hillary Clinton, the job has particular electoral significance in 2008. Obama must mend fences with Hillary supporters who are predominately suburban women and dis-affected blue-collar workers. Hillary herself then might recommend herself for the job, as she has obliquely already done. One trouble with this choice is that she comes with Bill Clinton and this might create too much baggage around the White House of those who crave power and whose hubris might not allow them to play second-fiddle. Other women who might fill the fence-mending bill include Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius who plays well in Kansas but has sparked no national flame; or, Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona who could possibly cut into McCain's base. Both have executive experience as governors, but both are relatively obscure.

More high profile would be several white men who offer intriquing credentials. out-going Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is a Republican and a Vietnam veteran who is vociferously anti-Iraq War. He is also a Republican and so would lend bi-partisanship to the ticket. Nebraska, however, doesn't carry much national weight and he would be a single-issue choice as well as a figure who could upset party regulars. Former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota was a former Majority leader, but he lost his office and he couldn't even carry South Dakota for Obama in the primaries. Al Gore and John Edwards have lots of name recognition, but again they are losers and may anyway not want another second-billing. Senator Robert Casey of Pennsylvania is a Catholic from an important swing state but his religion and his dubious potential clout make him somewhat suspect.

Obama most needs gravitas in the area of foreign policy. The likely choices to lend him this missing element are Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, and former Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. Biden is a vetern campaigner and has a wealth of experience as a foreign-policy expert. Webb was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Navy and a union-card Democrat who went Republican then back to Democrat as a fiercely anti-Iraq War critic. He is also an intellectual of the first water who has written lots of books and whose latest book, "A Time to Fight" lays out an impressive national agenda. The likeliest choice is, however, Bill Richardson. Along with executive experience, he has been a roving ambassador for the Clinton administration and a widely-respected negotiator on a world-wide stage. The clincher may be that Bill Richardson is Hispanic and so could exert great influence with the largest minority in the country. His fluency in Spanish and his Southwest lineage give him cultural and geographic attractiveness.

Barack Obama has lots of good choices. Politics will play a large role in seeing if he can make the right choices is bringing his party together and winning against a Republican candidate who has to defend a wrecked economy and a disasterous war. The choice of running mate will be a good early test.

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