Jimmy Carter tells Barack Obama not to pick Hillary Clinton as running mate

[democracy1st]

US elections: Jimmy Carter tells Barack Obama not to pick Hillary Clinton as running mate


Barack Obama should not pick Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential nominee, former president Jimmy Carter has told the Guardian.

"I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made," said Carter. "That would just accumulate the negative aspects of both candidates."

Carter, who formally endorsed the Illinois senator last night, cited opinion polls showing 50% of US voters with a negative view of Clinton.

In terms that might discomfort the Obama camp, he said: "If you take that 50% who just don't want to vote for Clinton and add it to whatever element there might be who don't think Obama is white enough or old enough or experienced enough or because he's got a middle name that sounds Arab, you could have the worst of both worlds."

Carter, who insisted that he would have been equally against an Obama-Clinton pairing if the former first lady had won the nomination, made the remarks in an interview with the Guardian's Weekend magazine, to be published on Saturday. The interview was conducted before the final round of voting last night confirmed Obama as the party's presumptive nominee.

Carter's remarks could slow that momentum, as they come from the only living Democrat to have won more than 50% of the popular vote in a presidential election, even though the former president, who left office in 1981, insisted he was "on the outside" and no longer had any role in internal Democratic affairs.

His comments are likely to be seized on by those Democrats who privately argue that the combination of a black man and a woman on a ticket will represent more change than the US electorate can swallow in one go. This camp believes Obama needs to pick an experienced, white and probably southern man to "balance" the ticket.

The former president said: "What he needs more than a southerner is a person who can compensate for his obvious potential defects, his youthfulness and his lack of long experience in military and international affairs."

For that reason, Carter says he favours Sam Nunn, the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who hails from his own state of Georgia. "That would be my preference, but there are other senior Democrats who would have similar credentials to Sam Nunn," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/04/uselections2008

[BlooInBloo]

1. That's a good point... Though I would focus more on stretching the electoral map...

horizontally.

On the other hand, what the fuck do I know? :rofl:

[janetblond]

2. ***Jim Webb **** is the man!!

"The former president said: "What he needs more than a southerner is a person who can compensate for his obvious potential defects, his youthfulness and his lack of long experience in military and international affairs."

[Zomby Woof]

11. Absolutely

Webb fits the bill beautifully.

We can't win without a southerner on the ticket no matter who he picks, however.

[Middle finga]

3. Carter has been brutally honest in his old age,

He's telling people what the need to know even if they don't want to hear it.

[Veronica.Franco]

7. Have to admire an honest man .. listen to audio at link ...

Carter is well respected ... maybe Hillary will begin to awaken from her dream ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2008/jun/04/freedland.carter

[KSCFAN]

14. Don't pay too much attention to Carter

There is WAY to many comparisons to the 70's. You don't want a campaign of Carter's 2nd term vs Bush's 3rd term. Both are not popular. Obama is strong enough on his own.

[ReverendDeuce]

4. I agree. I strongly urge Obama not to pick her...

Not because of the fact that it's Hillary Clinton, but because of the fact that she's unpredictable at this point. She's whipped her followers into a frenzy, they make racist phone calls to minority members of congress, they have no decorum.

I am not calling out Hillary supporters, but rather her followers. You can support Hillary and do the right thing. Hillary doesn't make anybody do these actions, but she tacitly encourages it through her own inaction. She needs to steer her flock!

If she is going to be the VP, Obama needs to sit down with her and Bill, and explain that she is not the co-president. She will take her orders from Obama, just as any other VP would do. And Bill needs to stay the fuck out of sight and not open his goddamn mouth every chance he gets.

[Gato Moteado]

5. that stuff sure doesn't sound like anything carter would say

this sentence, among others, really sounds suspect:

"If you take that 50% who just don't want to vote for Clinton and add it to whatever element there might be who don't think Obama is white enough or old enough or experienced enough or because he's got a middle name that sounds Arab, you could have the worst of both worlds."

[rucky]

6. I'm so glad he's getting involved at this level.

Sage advice from a truly good man.

[cyclezealot]

8. Detroit Free Press: Obama needs Clinton to win

Detroit Free Press editorial. / Is Hillary the person to get the Reagan Democrat vote. Poll results, 49% of Democratic women hold Negative views of Obama?
$$$$


Hillary Clinton is the key to victory for the DemocratsThat’s right. The New York senator won 23 primaries or caucuses, racked up 18 million votes, crushed her rivals in big states such as California, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania and pushed eventual nominee Barack Obama to the very end. Unless she is on the ticket as vice president, the party has no real chance to beat Republican John McCain in the fall.

This reflects a practical reality, and a necessary strategy decision, more than any desire to see Clinton rewarded, or worse, to court four more years of her husband’s attention-seeking narcissism in Washington.

**.But a May 30 poll by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press found 49% of women nationally holding an unfavorable view of Obama, with white women’s negative views of him growing by 14 points over three months.


And in late contests in states with high numbers of working-class, white voters, Obama got trounced.


That damage can’t be repaired without help. And Clinton is the ready, willing and able salve for the Democrats.


Obama’s history-making run will get a huge boost if he makes Clinton his partner.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080604/BLOG25/80604065/1069/OPINION01

[Veronica.Franco]

9. Rendell Cools on Obama-Clinton Ticket

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/rendell-cools-o.html



ABC News' James Gerber reports: While some high-profile supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., began advocating for her to be offered the vice presidency less than a day after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, one of Clinton's most vocal surrogates, shot down this very idea in an interview Wednesday with NY1 News.

Rendell reminded Clinton and her supporters that the choice for vice president belongs solely to Obama. "He has to make the choice, and it's his choice to make," said Rendell. "You don't bargain with the Presidential nominee. Even if you're Hillary Clinton and you have 18 million votes, you don't bargain."

Last week, Rendell seemed optimistic that Clinton would get the V.P. nod. By Wednesday, the Governor had changed his tune, fearing that Clinton could overshadow Obama.

"The rule for the vice president is make sure you never upstage the president," said Rendell. "It's rule one. You know, Hillary Clinton in some ways couldn't help but upstage, even if she was trying not to."

Rendell also thinks that former President Bill Clinton could greatly complicate matters if his wife was the vice presidential nominee. Clinton has made several controversial remarks while stumping for his wife on the campaign trail, such as comparing Obama's victory in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson's win in 1988, then later claiming that the Obama camp had "played the race card" on him. Earlier this week, the former President issued a tirade against the media for its alleged Obama bias.

"The Obama campaign would have to make strict rules, you know, about what President Clinton could and could not do during the campaign," said Rendell.

[cyclezealot]

17. Some press reports out

Obama will try to pull in the Hillary vote by making her HHS Secretary. Is that good enough to bring in the Clinton supporters.

[Zomby Woof]

10. I agree with him

But in fairness, I would like to jump into my DeLorean, go back to 1976, and tell him, PLEASE do not pick that raging mediocrity named Walter Mondale. We need somebody who can beat Ronald Reagan in 1984! :crazy:

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. Gotta love Jimmy, telling it like it is. Obama, are you listening?!

[TexasObserver]

13. "I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made," said Carter.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

15. You GO Jimmy ! So sincere, he can smell "fucked-up-ness" a mile away !nt

[PretzelWarrior]

16. once again...I AGREE WITH CARTER!