"When you don't see all the angles, that's when you're in trouble."  -- Carlito Brigante, Carlito's Way

There's been a great deal of discussion over the past few months about the top two Democratic candidates being on the same ticket in the general election.

To be fair, there is a great deal of expressed support for this "unity" ticket.  There's even a website dedicated to promoting the concept.  

So, now that Sen. Barack Obama has clearly obtained enough delegates to have earned the "presumptive nominee" mantle, there appears to be only one open question.

Should Sen. Hillary Clinton be offered the vice-presidential slot?

The prospect of acceptance was an open question until yesterday.  Based on recent Clinton campaign comments, as well as comments from the candidate herself, it appears she would accept such an offer. 

As for whether the offer should be made, my short answer is "no".  My long answer is "hell, no".  

A fair response to my answer would be, "Why not?  Why shouldn't she get the offer, at least out of respect for her standing in the nomination battle?"

Well, politics is a game of advantage.  It's reasonable for politicians to consider what the advantages and disadvantages are in any decision.  So, what would the pros and cons be of such an offer?  We'll start with the pros.

1) It might be the fastest way to win over angry, hard-core Clinton supporters.  It can't be denied that Clinton's base is as passionate about her candidacy as Obama's base is passionate about his.  Throwing aside the fallacy of any attempt at a "popular vote" calculation, roughly 18 million Americans did cast their votes for Clinton in the primary season.  It certainly would help Obama to get those votes in November.

2) The Clinton machine is still a powerful thing.  The machine wasn't able to deliver superdelegates, but it did get a great deal of high-profile endorsements.  In turn, those endorsements helped crank up get-out-the-vote operations in many states (especially in places like Pennsylvania, where Gov. Ed Rendell might have the best state machine in the nation). 

3) It would get her to end her campaign.  There's no question that some of the luster was stripped from last night because Clinton didn't concede.  There's no question Obama's had to divert resources to dealing with Clinton, which has hampered his ability to really take the fight to John McCain.

4) It would be a show of leadership.  One of Obama's characteristics is an ability to work with anyone.  I'm sure that working with Hillary Clinton is not especially high on his list right now, but offering her the #2 slot would send a powerful message that he is a unifier.

So, those are the most powerful reasons why Obama would consider Clinton as VP.  Now, let's look at the cons of that consideration.

1) It might be the fastest way to alienate moderate Obama supporters, independents and Obamacans.  A large part of the Obama allure is that he's not beholden to the Clinton machine, and is a relative Washington newcomer.  That was certainly part of Obama's point in having his name removed from a DLC list a few years ago.  There's no doubt that Hillary Clinton is the most polarizing politician in America, and Obama could lose a lot of support among moderates and independents. 

2) It might be the fastest way to energize the GOP base.  You can't overstate how much the Republicans hate anyone or anything named Clinton.  Bill, Hillary, Chelsea, George, small town in New York - no matter.  The Elephants remember they got whipped twice by Bill for the Presidency, and twice more by Hillary in Senate races.  Just the sight of her on the ticket would provide a shot in the arm for the Republicans.

3) It would be a show of weakness.  There's a very reasonable argument to be made here:  If Obama can't stand up to Clinton, how does he stand up to McCain - or Ahmadinejad, for that matter?  In this sense, her speech last night made it even more difficult for Obama to put her on the ticket.

4) Obama would lose a lot of credibility on his "change" platform.  If you're really about change, how can you run with a candidate when you've spent over a year pinning the "Washington insider" to the lapel of her pantsuit?

5) Obama's not as qualified as McCain - or so says Hillary.  If she really wants the VP slot, she may well come to regret her "commander in chief test" and "lifetime of experience" jabs at Obama - especially since she praised John McCain in both of those comments.

6) Bill Clinton.  Vanity Fair allegations aside, there's no doubt that POTUS 42 has lost his ability to control his temper.  The last thing Obama needs is to get hit by "friendly fire" while trying to run a campaign - or a country.  Plus, the simple fact is that most of Bill's post-White House life has hardly been vetted.  Such vetting would have to be done - with Bill's full cooperation - before an offer could even be seriously contemplated.

7) Hillary Clinton.  She has more baggage than an Airbus A380.  Obama laid off her past issues, failures and scandals during the primary, because it's never a good idea to harm a member of your own party.  The GOP will not extend the same courtesy to the junior senator from New York.  And, because Clinton chose to run as the candidate with "35 years of experience", Obama's political skycaps would get the extra fun of carrying Bill Clinton's baggage too.

8) The Clintons don't have it in their DNA to be second fiddle.  Not only do you have to be able to work with your VP, you have to have confidence that your VP won't try to steal your thunder.  Hillary and Bill would often steal thunder without even trying, given their high profiles.    

9) Clinton's 18 million votes don't necessarily translate into Obama's 18 million votes.  Many of those supporters are the hard-core feminist, Koryne Horbal types.  Some of those are also products of Operation Chaos.  Still others are Appalachian voters in places like Kentucky and West Virginia.  I believe Obama would never see those Clinton votes in a general election, even with her on the ticket.

To sum up, the positives of Clinton as VP nominee are seriously outweighed by the negatives.  Barack Obama should consider offering Hillary Clinton the vice presidential slot - for all of ten minutes.  He should then soundly reject the idea and get on with the general election.