Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Who should Obama pick as vp? Pros and cons of Clinton as vp has been dissected over tv and newspaper ad nauseum already. I am against it but if other people have the opposite opinion I can certainly understand it. Frankly I don't know who would be of any help to Obama in the election. I think it will be up to him to win the voters over in the swing states. At best a vp candidate from one of the swing states may help him at that particular state. He will win or lose the election on his own merit.

But having said that, who would I like to be vp? Joe Biden was my favorite to be president in the beginning so obviously I would like him to be vp. But since he got only about 0.5% of the votes while he was running he does not seem likely to be picked.

Anthony Zinni is a retired 4 star marine general who has diplomatic experience especially in the Middle East where he served as envoy to Israel and Palestine. He has written books and taught in colleges such as Duke (where he is now), VMI and Berkeley. He was a Republican at one time and voted for Bush in 2000. He called that one of the biggest mistakes in his life. He was a strong critic of going to war in Iraq from the beginning. This is from a man who had warned about terrorism especially the harboring of bin Laden by the Talibans before 2000. He understood the war would not make us safer. He warned about trusting Chalabi and other Iraqi expatriots who were leading us into the "Bay of Goats", a reference to the Bay of Pigs in the 60's. As a result of the Bush administration going to war in Iraq instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan, he left the party and has been an advisor to Obama in foreign affairs. I have seen him on tv and he is an excellent speaker who sounds very intelligent. His drawback is that he has never run for public office so there is no way to judge his ability on the campaign trail. He was born in Pennsylvania, a swing state, for what that is worth.

Jim Webb is a first term senator from Virgina so he has at least won political office before. Virginia is also a state that Obama would like to take from the Republicans and can possibly do it as he did great in the primary there. Webb is also a retired marine general who was a hero in Vietnam. He speaks fluent Vietnamese and is married to a Vietnamese woman who went to U. of Michigan law school. Like Zinni he has a son in the military. Webb's son returned from Iraq last year. Despite the loyalty he has for the military, Webb is totally against the war. He has teamed up with Obama to try to pass legislation to improve benefits for veterans.

Webb and Zinni are American military heroes who may help Obama with the people who question his "strength". Biden would help Obama with people who question his experience. Biden has never gotten much national support despite his experience. So who knows if any of these guys would do anything for Obama. I am just throwing out these 3 names because I believe these people are men of integrity and intelligence. They would never be elected president on their own but I rather that one of them be one heart beat to the presidency than the multitudes of politicians.