with the "worst of both worlds" comment.  When you pick someone uber-famous, chances are people will pay more attention to their baggage than to their benefits.  A lot of people (here in VA) don't like Ms. Clinton.

I actually remember back in 04, many friends of mine thought Edwards was kindof a slimeball and wouldn't vote for the ticket because of him.  My parents (Cambridge Democrat types that they are) were very comfortable with Kerry, and apprehensive about Edwards, not enough to vote for Bush, but they certainly wouldn't volunteer/donate to the ticket.

Mr. Carter's analysis is very apt in my opinion, and I hope (important) people listen to him.

I will be the first to say it is unfair but the Clintons would bring too much baggage to the ticket.  I know folks right now that start foaming at the mouth at the very name, Clinton.  Also, I saw a discussion on cable this morning that made some good points.  If you add Hillary as VP, you will get both Clintons. The Clintons are used to being at the top and are not used to deferring to others. It will be an additional strain for President Obama to have to deal with them as VPs.  

As usual, we are paying too much attention to the election and not enough to the presidency. Understandable, of course, but still dangerous...

I don't believe an Obama-Clinton ticket would be the best thing for winning the election and I sure as hell don't believe it would be a good thing for the presidency. All jokes about "Obama would have to hire a food taster" aside, how could they work together? How on earth could he trust her (and Bill?) What expertise could she bring to the table that would help him?  

I like Jimmy Carter and I won't necessarily dispute his advice.  However, whether folks in Va like Hillary or not should not be the sole criterion upon which to make the decision.  Like her or not, she essentially did as well as Obama did.  She may not be what is needed, but I don't think how well she is received by Virginians is the ultimate decider.  

Obama needs to find someone who can reach those supporters of Hillary who might be reluctant to go full bore for the ticket in the Fall.  I am not one of those.  I have been with her the whole way, but realize now we must unite to defeat the GOP.  However, justly or not, there are still some Clintonites who need some stroking to get them aboard.  Don't pretend that he can win without those folks.

But what would you suggest? How are we going to get the reluctant Clintonites on board? If Obama concedes to her demands and makes her VP, won't he be perceived as weak and in the Clintons' pockets? Would he need to have another woman as his VP?  

This guy's expertise as a shrewd picker of winning tickets rests on his having selected Joe Lieberman as Gore's running mate and then Senator Edwards -- good guy though he is -- who couldn't even deliver his own state for Kerry?  Man oh man ...

Obama appoints team to help find running mate

... [L]ongtime Washington insider Jim Johnson... is widely known among Democrats for having helped previous candidates, including John Kerry four years ago, sift through vice presidential possibilities. He is a former chief executive officer for the mortgage lender Fannie Mae.

Johnson himself became a subject of campaign controversy during the day after a weekend report in The Wall Street Journal that he had received loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. with the help of the firm's chief executive, Angelo Mozilo

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oba...

Let's get this straight:  Johnson was formerly the head of Fannie Mae and he's been receiving loans from Countrywide's seriously ethically challenged CEO?

Not only should this Johnson guy be dumped, but whoever picked him to head up the VP search should be dumped.  C'mon, people, what are you thinking?  Very un-Obama like, this.

Repeating my earlier comment:  Rewarding the incompetent?

This guy's expertise as a shrewd picker of winning tickets rests on his having selected Joe Lieberman as Gore's running mate and then Senator Edwards -- good guy though he is -- who couldn't even deliver his own state for Kerry?  Man oh man ...

With his losing track record, totally apart from the loans, this Johnson guy should never have been appointed to run the VP search committee.  Obama was quoted Monday saying he was not going to vet the vetters.  He was wrong.

Johnson resigns from team vetting Obama veep

A leader of Democrat Barack Obama's vice presidential research team has resigned amid criticism over his personal loan deals.

Obama announced in a statement Wednesday that Jim Johnson was stepping aside to avoid distracting from the vetting process.

Johnson served on the vetting team with former first daughter Caroline Kennedy and former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder.

+

Re the new name dropped into the VP hat:  General Jim Jones.  One might conclude the impressive General Jones is a stalking horse for Jim Webb.    

Obama should not invite Hillary (and Bill) to join him on the ticket.  They do not represent "change" having been in Washington so long.  Beside, we are going to see some serious issues with Bill's behavior post-White House coming to light very soon--more than was written about in Vanity Fair.  Obama doesn't need the Clinton baggage as a campaign distraction.  The Clintons are establishment, whatever they say.  

NewsHour tonight:

I think there's no question that, by saying that she was available to the vice presidency yesterday, Hillary Clinton rained on his parade. And that became -- and I think it became, you know, a first test of whether he is his own man.

And here's David Brooks from the same show:

I think the effect of what has happened in the last couple of days, especially with her dropping the hint through surrogates that she would accept the vice presidency, I think that has made it absolutely clear he can't pick her.

One of his perceived weaknesses is that he's weak. He can't be seen to be pressured into picking her as vice president. So given what she said the last couple days and the way she's acted, there's no way he can pick her.

I could think of several Democratic tickets that would be more appealing to me personally than Obama/Clinton:

Obama/Edwards
Obama/Biden
Obama/Dodd
Obama/Feingold
Obama/Richardson
Obama/Bayh
Obama/Clark

I'll agree that there are many legitimate reasons for which a person might support Hillary Clinton as the VP nominee.

I just hope that we don't get trapped in the mindset that, because Hillary almost won the nomination, she's somehow automatically entitled to the VP slot or that her inclusion on the ticket is the only way to unify the party. I don't really buy it.