The Tanya Harding School of Politics

If Al Gore had not heeded his small-minded, short-sighted advisors during the 2000 presidential election (who told him he had to distance himself from Bill Clinton) he would have beat Dubya... thus preventing thousands of unnecessary deaths in Iraq. But noooo, just because some members of Gore's Tennessee Bible-thumping team didn't approve of Clinton's personal shortcomings... and in spite of the fact that 'Ol Bill was leaving the White House with a 67 percent approval rating... they kept him at arm's length. But how does a candidate turn his back on those kinds of polling numbers -- that is, if he really wants to win?

The old joke that Democrats always seem to manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is once again resurfacing. Coming off the Denver convention Barack Obama looked like a lock, and then he left the door wide open for the Republicans to steal all the thunder (and currently, the lead) by selecting Sarah Palin as VP -- a move they made only after Obama gave them the perfect opportunity to do so by passing over a highly qualified woman: Hillary Clinton. While I do think that Obama's supporters are overreacting just a tad to the latest poll numbers -- he still could rebound -- I still would be a lot more confident with Hillary as his running mate. According to published reports, Biden seemingly feels the exact same way.

Now, unlike some Black folks who idolized Bill Clinton (in many African-American homes his photo hangs on the wall, right next to the one of JFK) I was greatly disappointed in how he largely abandoned progressive issues — especially those relating to the underclass — during his second term. I understood that he could not allow the right to paint him as too liberal during his first run for the White House, but after his reelection I thought that he would then champion more of the core causes of the underprivileged; but he did not. He governed over the largest prison population boom in history, even though he knew there was zero chance of effectively using incarceration to lock away America's social problems. He remained mute on the issue as even more Draconian laws were enacted... laws that caused prison populations to swell to the point where California is currently facing its largest budget crisis in decades, and is staring down the double-barrel of potential insolvency and bankruptcy. Look for Ohio — and many other states — to be in the same situation, for the exact same reason, if something isn't done and done soon.

But I digress. My point is, I'm not a big fan of the Clintons, but 18 million other Americans seem to be, and yet Obama failed to even give Hillary serious consideration for VP. Why? When people make boneheaded decisions one has to look for the boneheaded reasons and logic behind them.

Theories as to why Obama blew off Hillary abound, but each of them is as weak as the preceding one or the next one — and you can't win the presidency running on weakness. The fear that with Hillary on the ticket the Clintons will overshadow Obama, or that they said some mean things about the Democratic nominee during the primaries, are weak as water. So what? If Obama doesn't win, he won't have to worry about anyone overshadowing him, will he?

The problem is, Obama is surrounded by a cadre of 25-year-olds, and a wife who seems to be calling all the shots; this is a receipt for certain disaster. Politics -- winning politics that is -- is the willingness and ability to do business with the Forked-tailed Devil... when and if the need arises. This takes strength and courage, both of which are being sorely put to the test in term's of Obama's character.

His illogical failure to put Hillary on the ticket can only be ascribed to one thing: Bitch shit... you know, 25-year-olds acting like, well, 25-year-olds, and a wife who has her husband henpecked. "I don't like her, and so she can’t be on the ticket, and that's final," said the Queen Bee in charge of this debacle.

However, all is not lost. Obama could still strap on his nuts and put Hillary on the ticket (let's be real honest folks, he probably can't win Ohio without her and the downstate trailer trash vote she can bring, and without Ohio, he probably will not get to occupy the Oval Office) if his brain trust can just figure out a clever way to get Joe Biden off the ticket. I just hope one of those 25-year-olds doesn't come up with the idea of kneecapping Biden (a la Tonya Harding) to get him out of the race. It's time for adults to take over the Obama campaign, even if that means he'll have to overrule the whiz kids he's surrounded himself with, and even risk sleeping on the couch for a while.

But hey, winning the White House is worth it. Isn't it?

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com

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