Who Are Barack Obama's Best Choices for Vice President?

Barack Obama likely will be the 2008 Democratic Party nominee for the president. As the nominee, he will be in the position to name his vice president, unless a nucleus of party bosses and super-delegates strong-arms him into accepting Hillary Clinton as his veep, which is not a far-fetched scenario.

Here are some of the leading contenders for the #2 spot on the 2008 Democratic ticket, should Obama actually put his finger through the Big Brass Ring and get the nomination:

Hillary Clinton

The chances of Hillary Clinton obtaining the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008 are now estimated at less than 1 in 10, meaning that her only chance of being the Presidential nominee is if Barack Obama stumbles badly or is incapacitated between now and the convention. To beat Obama, Clinton has to crush him in the few remaining contests, but more importantly, belittle his chances of winning the November Presidential election in the eyes of the super-delegates who will hold the balance of power at the Convention.

Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill, the former President, have waged a no-holds-barred, "scorched earth" campaign that has relied on race-baiting and McCarthyism to try to hurt Barack Obama. Obama -- who already has rejected her rather ludicrous offer to accept the vice presidency on a Clinton "Dream Ticket" -- seems to despise the Senator from New York. From all appearances, he seems to loathe not only her and her husband, but the type of politics the Clintons stands for, which is based on lies: little white lies, medium-weight fibbing, and out and out whoppers! That Hillary Clinton would offer to make him her Vice President after he had bested her in Super Tuesday and in more-than half-a-score subsequent contests in a row only deepened the rift between the two, even before Hillary pushed aside Bill as her campaign's designated race-baiter.

The Clintons want you to know that they would love to vote for an African American -- someday -- but just not this African American, who, after all, as a black man, cannot win in November. Their hypocrisy has something Biblical about it, in the sense of its proportion and hubris.

U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic Party Presidential nomination

Credit: Official Senate Portrait

Copyright: Wikipedia Commons