Hillary as VP - stop the madness

More rumors circulating today about Hillary as VP. The rumors center around whether or not either she, Bill, or someone on her campaign is actually pressuring Obama to choose her as VP. Some strong reactions, many opposed. I'm in that camp.

I would bet good money that he won't choose her. Most of the arguments for and against are fairly obvious; she will take her money and supporters, but does he really need her money, and won't her supporters ultimately support him, rather than McCain?

Behind that is a larger issue of who will control the machinery of the Democratic party, and that is an argument that Hillary has already lost. The Clintons' political machine revolves around them; they have thousands of friends and contacts around the country and the world.

But Obama has built a political machine that is largely independent of the Clintons. He does not need Hillary's money people. And while he would love to have her supporters, he already has a huge volunteer army. The Obama campaign has literally invented new technology for getting out the vote. And they have invented lots of this new technology. There were millions of Democratic and progressive activists just waiting to be inspired. Hillary did not inspire them; Obama did. Many of those people have become active either for the first time, or possibly the 50th time, in their communities and their local Democratic parties. Many, many local Democratic politicians around the country have realized this, which is why they are jumping on the Obama bandwagon.
And once she is no longer the nominee, Hillary is just another the junior Senator from New York. She will still have a loyal following; she will still have many friends. But she will not have a political machine like Obama's.