David Sirota's
latest column blasts the idea of Hillary Clinton as a vice-presidential pick and suggests that Obama pick an 'anti-Clinton.' An 'anti-Clinton' means someone at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Clintons on free trade and labor policies.
Now, John McCain is trumpeting his support for NAFTA, deregulation and intensifying the war in Iraq. It is the Arizona senator's very own kind of Clintonism. That means for Obama to really draw the most effective general-election contrast, the smart vice presidential pick is not Clinton, but an anti-Clinton - and there are many of them.
In the Senate, there is Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar, Jim Webb or Claire McCaskill - all economic populists. In the statehouse, there is Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer - a guy who told the New York Times, "I was a critic of NAFTA, I was a critic of CAFTA and I'll be a critic of SHAFTA." And outside the electoral arena there are people like Anna Burger - a leader of one of the largest labor unions, who was recently hailed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 50 most influential women in America.
These are icons from potential swing states and swing constituencies whose careers show they can shore up Obama's weakness among working-class white voters far more effectively than New York's junior senator. More important, they are people who can help Obama draw an outsider-versus-insider, populist-versus-corporatist contrast that reinforces the most powerful message of all: The era of Clintonism is over.
"The era of Clintonism is over" - we can only hope.
In David's
latest article on the
Blog for our Future, he suggests that Obama picking an 'anti-Clinton' would be a rejection of the Chicago School ideology:
The question, of course, is whether Obama has the guts to make such a populist move. After all, Big Money is starting to get very scared about what's going on. As just one example, take a look at this Forbes magazine article in which business groups say they now fear a major resurgence of organized labor. That fear has already translated into major pressure on Obama - pressure that resulted in him appointing a Wal-Mart apologist and Wall Street-connected economist as his top economic adviser. You can bet the pressure will only intensify on him to pick an icon of corporate-worshiping Clintonism as his runningmate.
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