The primaries are finally over and the buyer's remorse seems right around the corner. Even Barack Obama has been sporting "How did this happen?" expressions in photographs various newspaper editors have chosen to run. Hillary Clinton's concession speech today, though, apparently was the hottest ticket in town, almost any town, though the event was held in Washington, D.C.. Though Sen. Clinton said she would throw her "full support" behind nominee to be Obama, she's not throwing her delegates his way yet, since she merely "suspended" her campaign, a fund raising ploy and her ticket to mischief in the convention to come at summer's end. And, speaking of mischief, when Bill Clinton called the author of a Vanity Fair article, which insinuates a lot of both smoke and fire on the Bubba behavior front, "slimy," it was a veracity endorsement of sort. The former president claimed there were "five or six blatant lies in there," in the article, though that sort of non-denial denial leaves all the rest of the innuendo certified. The timing of the article and Clinton's tirade, coming as it has on the heels of Obama's elevation, seems to have put another nail into the coffin of an Obama/Clinton ticket. The notoriety of a barely published magazine article screams "Here's What to Expect!" if Hillary is put on the ticket. But, with all of Barack Obama's "Change" theme, one thing he did not change was the makeup of his veep selection team. There is Caroline Kennedy (the next Cheney, the one to pick herself?), Eric Holder, a former deputy attorney general under Bill Clinton (and there was so much good luck in picking an actual attorney general in Bill's administration), and, the coup de grace, Jim Johnson, the former head of Fannie Mae (subprime city now), who was instrumental in picking the wonderful veep choices of both Geraldine Ferraro and John Edwards. Now those were some picks!
Change is always a problem if you don't change those in charge. Jim Johnson must know everyone in Washington from the Mondale days till now. Such folk are part of the permanent Democratic establishment. Barack Obama is, too, though he only escapes real entrapment since he's been on the scene for such a short period of time. But that makes it harder to handle; advice in these circles is influence manifested. Who does Obama really have to trust? No longer his minister, obviously. He appears to be as young as once was Robert Redford in the 1972 film The Candidate. A novice wins a Senate seat. What do we do now? is Redford's last line of dialogue (as I recall). This Are-We-Ready problem is shown most poignantly in the case of Obama's wife, Michelle. Her missteps thus far are the result of inexperience as a national public figure. Doubtless, like her husband, she is a quick learner. But, it is like she missed a decade of evolution. Her husband is the rising political figure, The One, but, he, too, is right out of the oven. It's audacious alright.