Please, Old-School Democrats: Give It a Rest.

“Hillary has part of the Democratic puzzle, Obama has part of the Democratic puzzle. I think the demographic pieces that she brings to his demographic voters gives us a certainty of winning the presidency. And that’s the most important thing, and that’s why I think the two should come together.”

This comes from Mr. "Oh, I Wasn't Trying to Insinuate That Barack Was Slingin' Rocks" Bob Johnson, who believes that just because he made a fortune showing videos of rappers throwing cash at scantly-clad women of color, he's some kind of expert on Black People (more than often, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton also get the "I Represent Black People" Virus, but that's another discussion for another time). Mr. Johnson is peddling the worse argument ever for a Shotgun Ticket (let's call it what it is; neither Obama nor Clinton would be the other's first choice): Candidate Y won states that Candidate X didn't win, therefore X + Y = Landslide!

How stupid can you get?

First of all, this strategy has varying degrees of effectiveness, depending on your target audience.

Let's assume for this paragraph alone, that the target audience is Democrats. Right now you have generally four factions: Obama supporters, Clinton supporters, people who are skeptical of both and people who will vote for anyone with "D" beside their name. That last group isn't a problem, and neither is the first. Whether the second group becomes in issue depends on whether Clinton's supporters will actually listen to her this weekend when she says (in one way, shape or form): "I want you to support Barack Obama for President." As for the skeptics: if they weren't supporting either candidate by now, they may as well consider themselves Independents. But seriously, after Clinton calls a cease-fire, what's the added political benefits of having her on the ticket? What demographic can she get that Joe Biden, Al Gore, John Edwards, Wesley Clark, or any other prominent Democrat can't? The old white women vote, sure; but other than that? And honestly: if the ticket is about unifying the Democrats, and not about winning the general election, then the Democratic Party might as well wait until 2012.

If the goal is to grab independent voters, I haven't seen or heard too many arguments making that case. Maybe that's because there hasn't been any real polling done to show whether or not independent voters would vote for an Obama/Clinton ticket. Maybe because the main group pushing for this thing are Hillary supporters, and not Average Joe American. Remember when Jesse Venture ran for Governor of Minnesota? Does anyone really think that Independents like that care whether Clinton is on Obama's ticket? Or is it possible that independents just want candidates that won't dick them around? I'm going with the later.

If the goal is to get Republicans, especially disenfranchised Republicans...really, c'mon now. If any Democrats think people who voted for Bush in 2000 (and maybe again in 2004) but now want something different will come in waves to Obama "if he only gives us a certainly of winning the presidency" (read: PUT HILLARY ON THE TICKET!)...well, let me know when you come down from your high. Chances are these guys were (and are still) watching FoxNews, listening to the various bobbleheads as they try to translate the mumble/bumble/stumble that was McCain's Tuesday Speech and thinking, "Is this the best the GOP has?" They may be disconnecting from BushCo like Neo from The Matrix, but that doesn't mean that they've completely broken their neo-con addiction. They're not tuning in to Bill Press, Randi Rhodes or Thom Hartman. They don't know Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller or Ed Schultz. But they do remember Bill Clinton, and odd are that if they were a Republican back when Bill Clinton was president, they hated him. And if Barack Obama can be blamed for what his pastor said (when Obama wasn't even in the building) then bet-your-bottom-dollar that any negatives Bill Clinton has will attach to Hillary Clinton quicker than you can say "alien symbiote."

Bottom line: I don't think that the Hillary Dems who are pushing for this know which of the three groups they want to go after. Obama would have to do some political gymnastics in any case, and considering the hurdles he's faced up to this point, I have a feeling that he'd prefer to make this general election as baggage-free as possible.