Vice – Presidents are often chosen to either win a swing – state or to provide experience in an area where the putative President is lacking. On the one hand, Clinton is a senator from New York, a strong Democrat state; while on the other, is a junior Senator without any major foreign policy experience. Of course, Clinton was also the First Lady 1992 – 2000 but this does not automatically confer foreign policy experience, whatever she argued on the campaign trail.

Hillary Clinton explicitly campaigned on the slogan of “vote one get two” during the primaries, a reference to Bill Clinton. If Obama selected Hillary, former President Bill Clinton would undoubtedly have been involved. As a former President he would have been able to exercise undue, unelected, informal power in any Democrat administration. A Clinton Vice – Presidency would have been difficult to include in a Obama Presidency.
The enmity created during the Primaries would have made it difficult for Obama and Clinton to work together. Both Bill Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, a close Clinton supporter, were accused of racism during the Primaries and Clinton herself brought up the spectre of Obama’s assassination. Following such a vitriolic campaign, distrust between the two candidates would have made the Presidential campaign difficult.

The central message of the Obama campaign, “Change” would conflict with a Clinton Vice – Presidency. Obama’s message and appeal is related to his distance from the ideological politics of the 20th Century. Hillary Clinton as Vice – President would have signalled a shift back to the politics of the Clinton administration 1992 – 2000 that contained the attempted impeachment of Bill Clinton and “Hillarycare”. Obama’s message is based on a shift away that would only have been muddied by Clinton’s participation.