Should Obama Choose Hillary Clinton as his Running Mate?

By Charles A. Sumpter, Jr.

Ever since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. President on June 3, 2008, Barack Obama has been assaulted with calls to nominate former opponent Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his Vice President.

For one thing, our election process has been severely hijacked and I’m not talking about just corporate America but something more. I’m talking about from other members of Congress, and the media; who has played a massive role in this political campaign (both positively and negatively). However, that is a whole different story on a slightly different topic.

We can all attest to the fact that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has truly shattered a glass ceiling; in fact she shattered it into 18 million little pieces. The Senator from New York also holds firm onto a base of voters that the presumptive nominee needs to securely win the presidency in November. She has made history in her own right and for that I commend her. However, as a result of all this, should Mrs. Clinton automatically be given a spot on the Obama ticket?  I don’t think so.

If ultimately Senator Clinton is his pick for Vice President, then it should be his decision and his alone. The idea that he must and should pick Hillary Clinton to unify the Democratic Party is ludicrous and downright unfair. Now, I’m a native New Yorker, in fact a native of New York City and she is my Senator, but it goes beyond hometown rules and old time politics. As a New Yorker, I call things as I see it and I saw this coming a mile away from the Clinton camp.

In the words of House Majority Whip and South Carolina Democrat, Jim Clyburn, “chill a little bit” to all those who say Hillary should be on the ticket. Give the person who rightly won the position to decide the opportunity to do just that, decide. To demand that she be on the ticket is a slap in the face to Obama and it unjustly undermines his whole candidacy. It is true that a lot of damage has been done, but now is the time to heal and reveal an even stronger Democratic Party to the country and the rest of the world. I believe in that type of change and I hope you do to.

Sumpter is a contributing writer for Regal Black Men's Magazine.