Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Political Hypothetical

Let's assume that (1) Obama wins the most delegates but (2) enough super-delegates go to Clinton which pushes her into the nomination and (3) they don't run on the same ticket (4) would Obama run as an independent?

I don't think this bizarre scenario will actually unfold, but it's kind of interesting.

2 comments:

Paula said...

He won't run as an independent though Ron Paul might. I don't think they'll run together. I'm still keeping hope alive that he'll win, take John Edwards with him, and be the next President.

Anonymous said...

My two cents: No.

I don't think that he's as independently minded as his campaign portrays him. It's easy for him to seem that way because he's only been in the Senate for two years. Though he talks a lot about being a Washington outsider I have not seen much evidence to convince me of it (a true maverick would have proven to be a maverick by now; and he certainly has all the same allies as any Democratic Washington insiders).

Also, this isn't a situation like Liberman found himself in when he switched from Democrat to independent. In Liberman's case the entire Democratic party had turned their backs on him, he was running in a much more manageable geographic area with a lot of liberal Republicans and independents that liked him, he was running against a very vocally liberal candidate who alienated practically the State's republicans and at least some independents, and he had nothing to lose.

Obama has a very promising career with the Democrats and my guess is that he will only rock it so far as it works to advance him.

Then again, who knows. He could be a job hoper and figure he doesn't want to spend any more than another 3 years in the Senate and consequently doesn't care if he makes the party angry.

I do think this scenario is a real possibility though.

Joe W.