There are a lot of reasons why I think it makes no sense for Obama to pick Hillary, and why I don't think it will happen. There's the fact that Obama's entire campaign was a foil against Hillary's allegedly terrible Beltway-bound judgment. There's the absurdity of the idea that the Obama camp would be willing to wake up every day braced for whatever ill-advised thing was going to come out of Bill's mouth next. There's Obama's need for someone with more unimpeachable national-security credentials.
And finally, we've been told over and over that Hillary really believes Obama can't win. So why on earth would she want to go down with him?*
The whole dance seems ridiculous to me. What's happening here seems really about pride and image on her side, and making nice with women voters on his.
*Indeed, a fascinating drama before us is the Clintons' posture this fall. Some say they didn't go all-out for John Kerry in 2004, in part from a secret desire for Hillary to have an open shot at the 08 nomination. Now consider how much, from a purely self-interested perspective, they have riding on Obama's fate. Should Barack lose to McCain, prepare yourself for the loudest I TOLD YOU SO in political history. Hardly a motivator for them to pull out all the stops on his behalf--though one would hope they're not that self-interested....
--Michael Crowley