Loved the Chris Dodd idea for VP, but then realized...
Obama/Dodd sounds WAY to close to Ahmadenijad...
you can't be named after two insane islamofacists and expect to win the general

Hillary Clinton's Bosnia Story A Hit On YouTube!
I read this on HuffPo and it got me thinking.  When all is said and done in this election, and we take a look back at the carnage in the rear-view mirror, one of the biggest stories will be how much the internet and YouTube have changed the face of politics.  I think the phenomenon of Barack Obama is evidence enough of that fact, but it's the implication of this new facet of politics that is really jazzing my nibs.
Politicians are going to have to be more accountable to the American public than ever before.  That means they are going to have to make fewer mistakes - lie, cheat and steal less often and run cleaner campaigns.  2 million people and counting are watching Hillary Clinton blatantly lie about the facts on which she has based her entire candidacy, and it's going to take her out of this race (maybe sooner than we think).
The internet is the next evolution in our democracy and it's allowing us to hold our leaders to a much higher standard. I think Barack Obama is just a better candidate than Hillary Clinton, and we are actually coming to a consensus about that thanks to the power of YouTube. Lest we forget how improbable Barack Obama's success was given how the deck was stacked against him just 3 months ago.
Darwin himself would be proud that our technology is allowing us to evolve at such an exponential rate.
Anyone coming with me on this very optimistic (and O'biased) analysis?

I think Al Gore should announce that not only is he endorsing Obama, he's joining Obama's ticket as his vice president.  I'm only half-kidding, hear me out...
I actually think it's true that Al Gore doesn't want to run for president.  Politics is ugly and horrible and the only point of the whole thing is to gain notoriety, respect, money and influence - all of which Al Gore arguably has more of now than most presidents will ever have - but without any of the downside.  Since re-joining the civilian population he's won an Oscar and a nobel prize, started a TV network, some environmental investment funds, become a cultural icon the world over, made millions and everybody loves him - it's beautiful...so why mess with it?
Because right now Al Gore has the chance to completely circumvent the entire political system, unite the democratic party, accomplish more of his personal agenda than he ever thought possible, and make the United States the leader in sustainability around the world.  
He makes the ultimate sacrifice by taking a backseat to Obama, simultaneously making himself the most beloved leader in modern times and making Barack Obama the Exalted Leader of the United States.  Gore actually manages to upstages Obama in the uniter department and does so with near-martyrdom humility and sacrifice.  I mean, even the Evangelicals love this guy.
But, he's not stupid.  No one does this kind of thing for purely altruistic reasons.  Gore's smarter than that, and his years of political failure are behind him.  He's got some perspective on the whole thing now, and he's cracked the American political code.  Business and politics are the same thing in this country, he realizes - there's nothing significant you can accomplish in business without politics and there's nothing significant you can accomplish in politics without business.  He knows that without the pressure and scrutiny of being president he actually has the time and opportunity to manipulate the system in this country with almost God-like power.  He needs only to call on his 8 years of VP experience to know just how much he can get away with.
He has a working majority in congress that he's personally created, ties to the business community that he's spent the last 8 years cultivating, the president in his back pocket and he's widely considered the best human on earth.  With this unrivaled power he will be able to completely change the entire economy and infrastructure of this country during the 8 years of the Obama administration.  And, who knows, maybe he just decides to succeed his protege in 2016, and live out some of his golden years in the oval office of the country that he's basically created.
Here's how it would go down:
1.  They announce an Obama/Gore ticket and the race with Hillary is immediately over.  The democratic party suddenly has the best of all possible worlds, and the entire country - Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Blacks, Whites, Asians and Hispanics all gather around our great new leaders.  They form to create the Megatron of voter coalitions, which leads to a landslide victory like the world has never seen for the Democrats in November.
2.  The message is powerful, and by the midterm elections in 2010 the Democrats have more than a working majority in congress - they have a lead on the Republicans that will take years, perhaps decades to overcome.
3.  Our government finally has the power to get things done, and the entire country is behind them for the first time in my lifetime.
The world rejoices.

I've been following Barack Obama's candidacy very closely for the last year.  I had never really followed politics, but something about Obama piqued my interest very early in this race - he seemed genuine.  In addition to his apparent authenticity, he was also making some pretty bold claims for a newbie Senator aiming for the "leader of the free world" position - preaching transparency and integrity and vowing not to get caught up in the abysmal pandering and politicking that undermine the intelligence of the American people.  
He really seemed to believe in the American public.  The message I took from his campaign was, "I think you're smart enough to hear the truth, so I'm going to give it to you," a message that both inspired the idealist in me and taunted the cynic.  For me, watching this campaign was as much about proving Obama a fake, as it was about rooting him on - and win or lose the odds of him living up to his rhetoric seemed extremely slim.
But then he gave that speech on race.  
It's rare that we get an opportunity to view these candidates as more than meat on the auction block and most often I find it's when they're down that we really get a sense of who they are as people.  Ironically, it was in the hours and days after the speech that my entire outlook on the role of president changed.  I had been so preoccupied with the narratives that both campaigns had been forcing down my throat for more than a year, that I had forgotten what the race for president is really about.  It's not about experience, or hope or change - it's about leadership.  
I have never felt so competently, compassionately and eloquently lead by a politician - certainly not a presidential hopeful.  And, for the first time in my adult life I can actually say that I will follow this man - I think he's got a lot to teach me.
I pray the rest of the country agrees.