Tea Leaves

Wouldn't it have been nice for politicians of all stripes, the media and the public to be able to take a few days off and bask in the glory of Barack Obama's election to the office of President. We should all be pleased and proud of this historic election. Absolutely everyone, including McCain supporters should take a bow.

Alas, the politicians, the pundits, the mass media and the blogosphere hardly missed a beat, dissecting every breath from everyones mouth. Talk about "much ado about nothing." Even Joe Scarborough was reduced to using the infamous "F-Word" live and on the air when discussing "Rahm 'F--- you' Emanuel." It's a hot video over on You Tube. I'm guessing no one ever heard the word before.

And, oh my god, the hysteria about Sarah Palin! What the hell is that all about? I don't believe she was elected to anything. Did I miss something? Let's see here. We elect the first African American President in history and the media is obsessed with Sarah Palin. So is the blogosphere. The #1 topic today at The Huffington Post, based on the number of times a tag is used is Sarah Palin!!!! Talk about a rock star.

So here I am reading all the posts about everything, which are, in reality, little pieces of nothing.

We are all reduced to reading the tea leaves, trying to find a sign. And I did find one especially good sign today. It seems Barack Obama wants Senator Joe Lieberman to remain in the Democrat caucus in the US Senate. Obama has sent a sign to Senate Majority Leader Reid to "back off." and let Lieberman remain, with his chairmanship in tact.

It seems President-elect Obama really does want reconciliation. And he may well just recognize Lieberman's value to the party and to the country.

It's a good sign.

A Watched Phone Never Texts

Here are a few random thoughts while pondering why Barack Obama hasn't named Hillary Clinton as Vice President.

I personally would love to see John McCain choose Joe Lieberman as his Vice Presidential nominee. I'm deadly serious. Now McCain isn't going to do that, the Republican backlash would just be too overwhelming, but Lieberman reflects my values and my positions on a dozen important issues. And I admire and respect Lieberman.

But, let's also remember that Dick Cheney ate Lieberman's lunch in the 2000 Vice Presidential debate. Of course, Cheney also ate John Edwards lunch in 2004. Never mind that it turns out that Edwards is out to lunch.

Now that I think of it, Cheney would eat the lunch of any prospective candidate currently being mentioned by either party. Except maybe Hillary Clinton. Maybe. Cheney is just that powerful and brilliant.

Now if any of my progressive or liberal readers survived my praise of Lieberman above, they are absolutely going into a blind rage over my praise of Cheney. They shouldn't. Even if you disagree with every thought, position, word or deed Cheney ever even considered, you simply cannot deny the absolute impact of his Vice Presidency. There has never been and will never be a more powerful or influential Vice President.

History will long remember Vice President Richard B. Cheney. Probably longer than history remembers George Bush.

So do we really follow Cheney with Vice President Evan Bayh? Vice President Tim Pawlenty? Do we think history will remember them? Give me a break.

A powerful election would be Obama-Clinton against McCain-Lieberman.

But Obama seems to lack the courage to make the difficult choice. I think he fears Hillary and especially Bill. And I doubt McCain has the courage to buck the conservative right.

Perhaps I'm being unfair. Perhaps courage has nothing to do with it. But can we be happy with either McCain or Obama choosing the homogenized, bland, poll driven, do no harm Vice President?

If it's the top of the ticket that really matters, why not make a daring Vice Presidential choice.