The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States.
Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Building Museum, Saturday 7 June 2008 (text here)
Suspend, defined, thanks to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
1: to debar temporarily especially from a privilege, office, or function
2 a: to cause to stop temporarily
2 b: to set aside or make temporarily inoperative
3: to defer to a later time on specified conditions
4: to hold in an undetermined or undecided state awaiting further information
I understand that the Clinton campaign defines "suspend" in a technical, convention-related sense, so that Senator Clinton's delegates can be recognized as such, akin to a similar John Edwards formulation. I am willing to suspend my judgment on the temporary, undecided, deferred, and undetermined connotations of her one use of suspend, and take her at her word (repeated at least 8 times in yesterday's speech), that she will "do all she can to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States." Trust, but verify.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, what next? Barack Obama has deftly chosen the deliberative, "form a committee" path to ponder the Vice Presidential question, so maybe we can leave Caroline Kennedy and colleagues alone, and focus on some other matters. Given Hillary Clinton's stirring-but-suspended speech yesterday, I think discussion of her as a potential VP running mate would best be "deferred to a later time on specified conditions," to borrow a Websterism.
But November 2008 is not just a Presidential election, where Americans get to choose between two pairs of candidates. A true Senate majority (preferably veto-proof, should, heaven forbid, John McCain win in the Electoral College) is up for grabs, and it never hurts to improve on your majority in the House. There will be governorships and state assemblies. All these races will hopefully ride on Obama's coattails.
So, while the Kennedy et al VP committee is performing its due diligence, the Obama campaign might consider who might be invited to form an American version of what is done so effectively in other democracies, especially of the parliamentary type: a shadow cabinet.
A shadow cabinet, American-style, would not necessarily be a mirror image of, say, the UK's venerable institution, with designated ministers (or "Secretaries" in the American context) for each government department or agency. But Barack Obama has attracted a number of extremely competent and bright Americans. So, it should be added, has Hillary Clinton. These people, many of whom have served in prior Democratic administrations, might be called upon at appropriate moments. Like when the Bush Administration flubs up another time on energy policy, and goes begging to the Saudis for more oil and comes home humiliated. Or when the administration belies its pro-military rhetoric and opposes help for soldiers and veterans. Barack Obama, though he does it very well, need not be the only Democrat who addresses issues. The important thing is getting the message right, and coordinating it so that multiplicity of voices does not mean cacophony.
Hillary Clinton, who has shown herself extremely persuasive in the campaign, can be given a voice - should be given a voice. Whatever the outcome of Obama-Clinton private deliberations, their public voice can be in harmony. Welcome to the Obama Campaign, Senator Clinton.