Hillary as VP

My first thought was "no."  There was no upside for Obama, should he win (or vice versa: this was last year), to choosing Hillary that he couldn't find by choosing someone else less tainted by anti-Obama primary rhetoric.

My second thought was "yes."  This was, perhaps surprisingly, after Obama won his 12 primaries in a row.  The two of them had just had a debate, and Hillary had demured when having the chance to attack Obama.  Things are coming to a close, I thought, and Hillary's being a good Democrat, and she deserves the slot.

Turns out that evening of Hillary not attacking Obama wasn't so much a quiet concession as it was a skirmish in some ongoing internecine warfare between factions in Hillaryland.  Sadly, the Fuckwit Faction (Mark Penn) won, Hillary started attacking again, her supporters started doing questionable things, though all the while Obama's nomination grew ever more presumptive.

My current thinking is back to "yes."  As a man, whatever my pretenses to a lack of sexism, I think I tend to naturally underestimate the intensity of many women's reactions to having a woman president.  Although in my mind the problems with Hillary's campaign are based on huge strategic mistakes and her unwillingness to explain/renounce her support for the original Iraq AUMF, the optics of this situation are very bad, and may cause bad feelings more intense than usual between the rival Democratic clans.

(Argh.  Just in the process of writing this post, I reread it and am doubting what I wrote.  Or, more specifically, doubting that picking Hillary would be a good idea.  If Obama is appealing to anti-war Independents, Hillary defuses his message.  Must...stop...pondering...VP...choices...Jim Webb, AYEEEE!)