Josh Marshall offers a standard on-the-one-hand, on-the-other analysis of the question whether Hillary would or should accept an offer of the VP slot on the Democratic ticket: she’d have to wait 8 long years, and be 69 years old, before she could run for Pres. again, and she may have more influence in the Senate; but it would be an unprecedented achievement and a chance to be right at the center of power once more. He concludes she’d be better off in the Senate, where the Democrats are likely to be the majority and she’ll accrue enough seniority to really get things done.

Most people who accept the vice presidency do so either because they believe it will line them up to succeed to the presidency or because it brings them to a level of power and honor their careers held little prospect of bringing them otherwise. But neither applies to Hillary Clinton. She’s already of the stature and standing to run for president. She’s a genuinely historic figure. And she’s already been heavily involved in a successful two term administration.

Remember too that the recent trend for greater vice presidential involvement in key administration decision-making has brought with it a flat requirement that vice presidents be strictly loyal and politically subservient to the president. Quite simply, the vice presidency is beneath Hillary’s stature. It’s not clear to me why Hillary would want to spend four or eight years in a position that I think would actually diminish her stature for the possibility of running for president again almost a decade from now.

As it goes, it’s not an unreasonable analysis. And, as he notes, there is a serious question whether Obama can overcome the bitterness of the campaign to trust her as VP, or even see her as the best choice. But I think there is a way to swing the deal that would work tremendous benefits for both of them and the country.

In a purely selfless act of patriotism, then, I give you The Dream Team Playbook:

  1. Obama offers Hillary the VP slot; Hillary congratulates him on a long and successful campaign, then announces she is resigning her campaign immediately and throwing in with Obama.
  2. Both candidates gracefully agree that the apparent sexist and racist elbow-jabbing during the campaign was just an illusion - the product of hard campaigning and honest discussions during a race that inevitably had racial and gender overtones just because of who they are.
  3. Both candidates publicly express their respect for each other and strongly urge their supporters to adopt the other candidate as part of the ticket; both call on all their supporters not to abandon the cause because the disfavored candidate is on board, but to adopt their candidate’s own respect and affection for the other and work even harder for the Dream Team.
  4. Obama privately pledges not to humiliate Hillary and to credit her for substantive contributions on the campaign trail and in office; Hillary privately pledges not to undermine Obama and not to imply there is a “co-presidency”. Both of them believe these pledges because they are both, at bottom, decent people, and in particular Hillary has a long history of working effectively in subsidiary roles.
  5. Hillary whips Bill into shape, and delivers his agreement to (a) stump hard for the Obama/Hillary ticket, (b) not put his wife forward in contrast to Obama, (c) not put himself forward in contrast to anybody, and (d) remain in touch as the Democratic eminence grise without always hanging around the White House attracting attention.
  6. Hillary stumps like a fiend for Obama’s platform, making sure that its content and vision are always identified as the ones Obama has been pushing from the beginning. She explicitly adopts the “vision for change” mantra and casts her policy discussions - which are her strength - in the rhetoric of change.
  7. Obama grants Hillary primary responsibility - not just in the campaign but in the White House - for several major policy initiatives that she particularly values; she endorses his plans and leadership in all other areas. Specifically, Obama publicly adopts Hillary’s healthcare plan a month or so after she becomes the VP candidate, saying that after close discussion with her he sees that it is better in some ways than his and he respects her career-long leadership in that area. He also puts her in charge of military rebuilding and training - but not combat operations - after the Iraq fiasco is resolved. And he upgrades her VP role from merely attending foreign ceremonies to substantive engagement in foreign policy, maybe negotiating with leaders or leading regional initiatives. He makes sure it is known she is in charge of these areas, with his approval, and she makes it known she supports his leadership in those and all other areas. [This has several advantages: it gets Obama gracefully out from under his own flawed healthcare plan; it leverages Hillary's expertise and experience in areas - healthcare and military planning - where she is well respected and he is not; it creates "zones of influence" that allow Obama to be in overall charge while Hillary also gets recognition for her own leadership, preparatory to 2016.]
  8. In 2012, Hillary becomes Obama’s #1 fan; the campaign platform is all Obama, all the time, and everything the administration has achieved is credited to him. She just can’t believe how much better a President he has been than anybody even imagined in 2008.
  9. In 2016, Obama becomes Hillary’s #2 fan (I assume Bill’s still in the picture). She designs her own campaign platform, but Obama supports it unquestioningly, and specifically credits her with the post-Iraq military overhaul, the new national healthcare plan that everybody loves so much, and some foreign-policy initiatives - making it clear that he had delegated authority on those issues and she is the one who brought them all home. Hillary sails to victory in 2016 with two ex-presidents by her side, both extolling her experience and wisdom.

The point to the plan is that neither is humiliated or undermined by the other. The reason that’s a concern - aside from bad feelings resulting from the campaign - is that you have two strong candidates, either of whom could be President, locked in a race one will eventually lose, almost certainly, by less than 2%. But that is the reason they’re the Dream Team: not only could either of them be president, but both of them will have come within 2% of doing so. In the general election, that’s a recipe for a crippled administration, but in the primaries, with the candidates combining forces, that’s unbeatable. And it only gets better as they continue to leverage their relative strengths in office. The only issue is that Obama has got to keep from looking like he’s being overshadowed, which means Hillary has got to play a somewhat subtle game to keep from doing that and also make her own mark. And unfortunately, both of them can be quick to take a slight, and Hillary is not known for lack of ambition. But they can pull it off with effective communication; as I noted above also, Hillary has done it before.

So there you have it, purely in the spirit of the public good. Of course, if the Dream Team wishes to hire me as policy analyst or White House advisor, I could probably make time in my schedule.