VKMHVM2

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

Jonathan Freedland
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday June 4 2008

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.

The intervention of the former president - regarded as the senior elder of the Democratic party by some, and as a walking reminder of electoral failure by others - comes just as speculation of a joint Obama-Clinton ticket is building in the US. Lanny Davis, a close Clinton adviser and friend, has launched a petition drive and website - and written directly to Obama - urging him to appoint his defeated rival.

Meanwhile, Bob Johnson, the Clinton backer and founder of Black Entertainment Television, has announced that he hopes to persuade the Congressional Black Caucus - the umbrella group for African-American members of Congress - to lobby for an Obama-Clinton partnership.

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 1980, 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.

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VKMHVM2

Please listen to President Carter, Mr. Obama!

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infoseek

VK, did you watch the speech he delivered at AIPAC this morning?

VKMHVM2

"My Vichy is bigger than YOUR Vichy!!!" - McHillBama

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It's All Here!

Dr. Albert Pastore: An Independent Investigation of 9-11 and the War on Terrorism

HarperLee

I hope to God he listens to Jimmy Carter.

And now for exquisite irony: Caroline Kennedy Schlossman is one of three on Barack Obama's committee to pick a VP.

Regardless what RFK, Jr., was quoted as saying, I read that most members of the Kennedy family, especially the Obama supporters, were incensed about Hillary's RFK assassination remark, made
just a few days after Teddy Kennedy's dire medical diagnosis.

I don't think Caroline is going to be recommending Hillary.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken

ocealdia

Oh....I'm s-u-r-e she won't. She wouldn't dare!

However, Robt Kennedy's children have supported Sen. Clinton all along.

infoseek

I think the difference is between a real or fake vichy.

I'd go with the McHillBama with the real vichy instead.

Does Obama still stand for real change?