Dem's "Dream Ticket" : Why It Won't Happen

With the two Democratic candidates nearly tied in the number of delegates they’ve amassed, and the prospect of months more of ferocious competition, party leaders yearn for them to settle the struggle by joining together in a “dream ticket” of Clinton-Obama or even Obama-Clinton.

When Wolf Blitzer made this suggestion at a CNN debate in Hollywood, the audience erupted in thunderous applause, signifying their grateful approval. After thrilling to the possibility of either the first woman ever elected on a national ticket, or else the first African-American, the dream ticket scenario offers the Dems the prospect of claiming both distinctions at once.

As the closely-matched battle continues to rage, and the Democratic leadership agonizes over what to do about seating the contested, pro-Clinton delegations from Michigan and Florida, the passion to force the two leaders to join as running mates may achieve nearly irresistible forces.

For many reasons, however, both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will resist all efforts to compel them to run together.

Why She Won’t Take Him

Watching the two of them together, isn’t it painfully obvious that she dislikes him?

Ironically, when Senator Clinton appears together with Senator McCain, there’s a sense of hearty geniality, fellowship even friendship. Her interaction with Obama, on the other hand, suggests tension, awkwardness, and mutual resentment. At the State of the Union Address, Senator Obama even made headlines when he and his new friend Senator Kennedy made no effort to greet Hillary even though she stood, in a attention-getting red dress, some three feet away from them.

On the most basic psychological level, Barack Obama echoes the deepest discomforts of Hillary Clinton’s hideously complex marriage.

For thirty-five years, she’s been constantly upstaged by a charismatic and attractive male whose oratorical and glad-handing gifts vastly exceed her own. She doesn’t want to spend the eight years of her potential presidency similarly upstaged by another guy, notably younger and thinner than she is, with an electrifying magnetism that easily equals her husband’s.