Nader Thinks the Obamessiah's VP Will Be Hillary

Ralph Nader, when not busy tilting at election windmills, offered his opinion to Politico that Obama must make the surprise pick of Hillary to be Vice-Messiah:

Count Ralph Nader as unimpressed by the crop of supposed finalists to be Barack Obama’s running mate.

“I don’t think he’s that dumb,” said Nader, commenting on widespread speculation that Obama’s choices are down to Sens. Joe Biden, Evan Bayh, or Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

The smart pick, according to Nader, is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Nader phoned into Politico Tuesday afternoon to offer his prediction that a surprise nod to Clinton is actually what Obama has in mind—never mind the talk of mistrust between the Clintons and Obama.

“He just has to swallow hard and do what JFK did” in picking rival Lyndon Johnson in 1960, said the liberal activist and maverick presidential candidate.

According to Nader’s logic, Obama may dislike Hillary, but will conclude he has no choice but to get over it if he hopes to leave next week’s convention in Denver with a unified party and a decent shot against John McCain in the fall: “The polls show 25 percent of her supporters have not gotten on board.”

“He’s got to be very concerned by the [neck-in-neck] polls and by what happened at Saddleback,” added Nader, referring to the recent candidates forum hosted by evangelist Rick Warren. “He got beat in Saddleback—big time.”

That's probably the first time Nader's ever said anything I agree with. Hillary is Obama's best chance to win in November, but it would add a lot of expense to the campaign for food tasters, airplane mechanical inspectors, car bomb detection specialists....

Meanwhile, another member of wacky left fringe, Michael Moore, thinks Obama should choose...wait for it...Caroline Kennedy. It's not enough that she was wildly unqualified to be vetting VP candidates, Moore (no relation, thank God) wants her to be VP just because of her famous name. I thought this passage was particularly interesting:

"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!"

Caroline, I know that nominating yourself is the furthest idea from your mind and not consistent with who you are, but there would be some poetic justice to such an action. Just think, eight years after the last head of a vice presidential search team looked far and wide for a VP -- and then picked himself (a move topped only by his hubris to then lead the country to near ruin while in office) -- along comes Caroline Kennedy to return the favor with far different results, a vice president who helps restore America to its goodness and greatness. ...

The "logic" of his argument is all fine and good as long as you're willing to ignore the fact that by the time Dick Cheney was selected as the VP nominee he had already been a congressman, Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford, Defense Secretary to George H.W. Bush, not to mention the chief executive of one of the world's largest oil services companies.

Ms. Kennedy has spent her life being....well, Caroline Kennedy. When she was 5 she lived in the White House and had a pony named Macaroni, and every now and then she gives out a Profiles in Courage Award to somebody. There's nothing wrong with all that, but it's hardly the level of experience you'd hope for in a person that will be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

And then there's this:

This is the year that a woman should be on the Democratic ticket. This is the year that both names on that ticket should be people OUTSIDE the party machine. This is the year millions of independents and, yes, millions of Republicans are looking for something new and fresh and bold (and you are the Kennedy Republicans would vote for!).

Yes, that's what we need, somebody who is not a political professional. That's sort of like the Dodgers saying "we need a new catcher, but we don't want a professional baseball player. We want somebody who hasn't been sullied by baseball."

You can read his open letter to her at this link.

The left is getting worried.