Back room politics

I'd like to make a case for a return to back room politics. It's worked in the past, it makes good financial sense, and, if executed correctly, can practically guarantee the winner of an election.

Historically, the national convention for each major political party here in the U.S. is the time and place for a rigorous discussion and ultimately a determination of the party's representative in the national election. More recently, the conventions have become nothing more than floor shows as the candidates have already been determined by the primaries. In either case, everybody knows who their candidate is at conventions end, which gives the party one message, one candidate, one goal, to focus on and promote.

And really, that's all I'm asking for - I just want to see it done eighteen months earlier in a secret meeting by the five most powerful members of the party.

A quick glance at the 2008 Democratic field yields two strong front runners, Obama and Clinton, each with their own strengths (popular appeal and fundraising, respectively), and a handful of others who may still have some time to either gain some momentum, or distract from the real race: Edwards, Biden, Richardson, and Dodd.

Call a secret meeting. Round them all up. Everybody, all your potential contenders. Bring in Gore and Kerry too. Do it early, before anyone has announced. Sit them all down in a room and say, "Listen. We're going with Edwards. Get on board."

Why not? You've then got a unified party from the very start. You've got all your strongest candidates supporting one guy, you've got the fundraising, the charm, the appeal, all working for one guy. You'll have one name on the ballot for the primaries, you won't have to compete for recognition, you won't have to field any attacks from within the party, you're golden.

It's win win win, because once the party's in power, all the other hopefuls get cushy jobs, or ridiculously awesome jobs, or super powerful jobs, or whatever, and they're next in line for the 2016 elections. It fixes everybody's problems. Think about it:

Run an Edwards/Clinton ticket for 2008; Edwards gets the financial support he needs from Clinton's fundraising. Nobody has to fight Obama in a popularity contest, the country gets its first female Vice President, which is a fine legacy for Clinton to leave, paving the way for generations of women to come, and the rest of the field, Gore, Kerry, et al, get a strong friend in the White House.

Once in power, you just need to worry about setting yourself up for a continued reign. Obama is getting flak for inexperience; How will he look in 2016 after serving four more years in Congress, then four as Vice President? How about a two year Senate term, then two years as ambassador to the UN, or China, then a Vice Presidency? If not Obama in 2016, maybe Gore. In the intervening eight years he'd do well to continue an independent campaign for the environment, but might do just as well with the same campaign as a high-ranking member of the Cabinet.

Maybe something like this:

2008
Edwards/Clinton : POTUS/VPOTUS
Obama : Senator
Kerry : Chairman, Ways and Means

2012
Gore/Obama : POTUS/VPOTUS
Clinton : Secretary of Health and Human Services

2016
Obama : POTUS

Any oversights? Glaring omissions? (Anybody want to set up a meeting?)

-t