A Woman Vice President

Marie Cocco is an ex-Clinton supporter who writes for the Washington Post. She is unhappy with Obama because Clinton’s former opponent has shifted so far to the right he threatens to go off the rails on abortion. Cocco first chastises Obama for “unnecessarily” endorsing Bush's faith-based initiative, which she brands “a sort of patronage program that rewards religious activists for their political support with public grants.” Cocco then hits Obama for declaring "I let Jesus Christ into my life," saying Bush already saw that as an Oval Office qualification, and “look where that's gotten us.” So when Cocco hears Obama now opposes late-term abortions granted because the woman is “feeling blue,” Cocco proclaims it makes her “see red.”

Obama doesn’t need Cocco; she’ll vote for him anyway. But he doesn’t want women drawn to a GOP ticket with a woman on it, women affected by his long, drawn-out battle with the female they thought would be America’s next president. I think if Obama picks a white male for vice president, McCain will certainly go for a woman, such as fired Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina [pictured]. Fiorina is on top of her game economically at a time the economy is the issue. She is also Catholic and against abortion. She adds (relative) youth, vigor, pizzazz, and competence to McCain’s ticket.

Obama, who picks first, has to weigh seriously the prospect of McCain selecting a woman. 2008’s excitement came from him and from Clinton— both of them. Let the Republicans have a woman, and he gives away part of the primary excitement he generated. Obama’s solution: put a woman on his ticket. Why not Kathleen Sebelius [pictured] of Kansas, the very state Hawaii born-and-raised Obama claims as his “home” (his grandparents were from Kansas)? Sebelius is Catholic, pro-abortion, daughter of former Ohio governor John Gilligan with plenty of family and friends still in Ohio. So Obama from Hawaii gets white, Midwestern roots with Kansas, and Kansas’ Sebelius brings along Ohio, and other industrial state Catholics. If Obama is really lucky, McCain will counter by picking a dull white male, leaving Obama a corner on the excitement market without having had to bring Clintons into the White House at all.

A smart McCain will go ahead and pick a woman anyway.