Obama Calls Clinton's Offer of the V.P. Slot "Presumptuous"

Campaigning on Saturday, in Mississippi, former President Bill Clinton was quoted as saying his wife Hillary and Barack Obama would be a dynamic duo, "an almost unstoppable force." Reuters Similarly, Clinton surrogate Governor Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania told Meet the Press" about a Clinton/Obama ticket, "It would be a great ticket." Reuters

However, Senator Barack Obama is characterizing as "presumptuous" Hillary Clinton's suggestions that he accept the vice presidency on a "dream ticket". Obama said,

"With all due respect, I've won twice as many states as Senator Clinton. I've won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I have more delegates than Senator Clinton," he said.

"So I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place." Yahoo News

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, an Obama backer, also mocked the idea, saying on Meet the Press,

It may be the first time in history that the person who is running number two would offer the person running number one the number two position. Reuters

The problem is that neither of these candidates can win enough delegates to clinch the nomination outright, but either of them can prevent the other from winning the presidency, by dragging a dirty and divisive nomination fight to the Convention and beyond.

Heading into Tuesday's primary, Obama had 1588 delegates while Clinton had 1468, according to a tally by independent website RealClearPolitics.

Neither can reach the winning line of 2,025 delegates, even if Florida and Michigan go ahead with emerging plans to repeat their contests after running afoul of the national party for holding their primaries early.

So barring a backroom deal prior to the convention, the nomination will rest in the hands of nearly 800 "superdelegates," Democratic luminaries who are under enormous pressure from the two campaigns to sway one way or another. Yahoo News

So, it's Clinton who should accept the vice presidency and its Barack Obama who should immediately offer it to her.

Let me offer an analogy: Two mountain climbers from opposing teams are stuck on Mount Kilimanjaro. They are the only two climbers left alive. It takes at least two people working together to get down the mountain, and each of them has only half of the gear necessary. While they argue over who will lead their two-person team down the mountain, the snow clouds are gathering around them, threatening to dump so much snow on them that neither of them will get out alive. What should they do? What if team members at a base camp are urging them by cell phone NEVER to work together under any circumstances?

Well, Clinton and Obama are about to answer the question of what they should NOT do, and then we may see them both snowed in and frozen out when the November election comes around.