Reply #48: Unity Ticket Compromise - The Only Solution

[JackHughes]

Since neither Obama nor Clinton can achieve the number of delegates required to win the nomination outright; and the Michigan and Florida debacle looms as an unresolvable nightmare; and the longer this conflict continues the more divided the Democrats will be and the better McCain's chances become. Therefore:

Hillary agrees to a single term and Obama runs as Vice President. The party is united and the Florida/Michigan issue becomes moot. If elected, she makes history and can institute her policies, yet shows her willingness to sacrifice her ambition (for two terms) for the good of her party and her country -- enhancing her popularity (and possibly even assuaging the anxiety of the Hillary-haters).

For Obama it's a good move for similar reputation-enhancing reasons -- he sacrifices his immediate presidential ambition for the good of party and country. In four years, he (presumably) becomes president while still relatively young (their relative ages make this the only workable sequence).

Any compromise requires sacrifice from both parties and this is the only deal that I can see working. Any other scenario will result in prolonged and increasingly bitter intra-party slashings, and will either require a dark-horse candidate like Gore or will split the party with disastrous electoral results.