Lanny Davis (Clinton surrogate): McCain–Clinton '08?

NYCGirl

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Thu Mar-20-08 01:29 PM
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Lanny Davis (Clinton surrogate): McCain–Clinton '08?

He also loves him some Lieberman! Does a year make much difference?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/12/AR2007011201956_pf.html

Last year's congressional elections showed that voters are tired of the partisan gridlock in Washington. They want some solutions from liberals and others from conservatives. That's the new politics of our age, as exemplified by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's reelection in Connecticut as an "independent" Democrat. Though he has voted mostly with his fellow Democrats over the years, Lieberman is open to both liberal and conservative approaches.

The most important reason for a bipartisan presidency in 2008 is the need to find solutions to the war in Iraq and to avoid delaying the end of significant U.S. involvement over fear of partisan recriminations. Solving the dilemma of Iraq -- how to get U.S. troops out of harm's way in a civil war yet not leave behind a rogue state dominated by terrorists -- will require bipartisan effort and support.

A bipartisan administration is also essential for enacting new taxes. Most responsible political leaders in both parties know -- though few are willing to admit it publicly -- that there is no way to pay for the war in Iraq, even as it winds down, and reduce the deficit while also addressing health care, energy independence, global warming and Social Security other than by raising taxes. Only a bipartisan presidency pushing leaders on both sides of the aisle can make it possible to tackle that issue honestly.

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There are any number of provocative possibilities for a bipartisan ticket in 2008. Imagine the buzz if Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton committed to making the other vice president in the event that either won the election. Pick any combination of other names in the current field of potential candidates: Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Chuck Hagel; Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Republican Mitt Romney; Democrat John Edwards and Republican Michael Bloomberg; Democrat Bill Richardson and Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani. Any of these bipartisan pairings, in any permutation, would create a stir -- and a dynamite ticket. (Okay, strike one possible combination -- there's no way we'll see a Clinton-Giuliani ticket, or vice versa; not only does the Constitution forbid it, as they're both from the same state, but their personal chemistry would preclude it, too.)

Will it happen? In the end, political realism will be the determining factor. If it appears that a bipartisan ticket could enhance the chances of victory, and if any party leader embraces the need to make this a reality for the country's sake, then yes, it's likely to happen.

You don't have to go back 143 years to Abraham Lincoln for an example of such a judgment. Less than three years ago, Democrat John F. Kerry reportedly saw the political wisdom in asking McCain to be his vice presidential candidate, even though he knew the idea would be vehemently opposed by the Democratic Party's liberal base, which disagreed with McCain's positions on abortion, the Iraq war and other issues. Though McCain declined the invitation, it seems evident in hindsight that a Kerry-McCain ticket would have had a better chance of picking up an extra state (or turning 75,000 votes in Ohio) to win the 2004 election.