Elzabeth Holtzman for Obama Veep

A situation has developed in the Democratic presidential primary race, which, if allowed to proceed unchecked, could leave the Democratic party with a battered, unelectable candidate for 2008.

The rhetoric emerging from the Clinton camp is increasingly rancorous, negative, and incoherent. In the last several days prior to the posting of this petition, Hillary Clinton herself has repeatedly praised John McCain's qualifications for the presidency, while belittling Barack Obama's, and her husband has issued statements that amount to "Give Hillary a place on the ticket or we'll destroy any chance of anyone else being elected in November."

Well, this situation has got to be brought to a close before it becomes a bare-knuckles brawl all the way to the convention.

Therefore, I propose that the best way to end this charade of self-immolation is for Obama to declare a Veep choice NOW, before or immediatly after the Pennsylvania primary, and choose someone who can split Hillary's constituency right down the middle, effectively ending her campaign.

The person should be female, a boomer, a respected elder stateswoman, preferably to the left of either Hillary or Obama himself. They should be a devastating, lawyerly, soft spoken but razor-tongued debater, encyclopedic, and preferably both loathed and feared by both the neocons and the DLC. They should have immpecable feminist credentials that wither Hillary's "But I was married to a governer and a president" claims to experience with towering accomplishments entirely of their own in Washington and abroad, and with a comprehensive knowledge of mid-east politics, and with at least some recent reality-based community recognition. A background in government finance would be icing on the cake, given the criminal malfeasance that has brought our country's economy to the brink of collapse.

The person who best fits this description is former NYC Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman. Holtzman was the youngest woman ever elected to congress in 1972 at the age of 31. A Columbia and Harvard law grad, she was the point-woman in the congressional investigation of the Watergate break-in, alongside fellow Brooklyn Congresswoman and legend Shirley Chisolm. Holtzman earned a reputation for relentlessness and attention to detail during the initial hearings that lead to Nixon's resignation. She later went on to be a principle sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment, and led the campaign to extend the ratification deadline of the ERA in the late '70's.

More recently, she served as Brooklyn DA, NYC Comptroller, and is the author of "The Impeachment of George Bush".

Hillary's slate of super delegates includes NYC Rep. Jerry Nadler, NYS Assembly speaker Shelly Silver, NYC Rep. Carolyn Maloney, NYC Rep. Yvette Clarke, NYC rep. Nydia Velasquez, all of whom have either served with Holtzman in congress, worked with her when she was comptroller, or supported her in her 2 campaigns for the US Senate seat now held by Hillary Clinton.

I'm building support for this on my blog at www.panix.com/~joshua/blog/. I personally believe that given the contemporary make up of the Democratic electoral base, which is essentially blacks, hispanics, asians, women, jews, union labor, and college-educated young people, that an Obama-Holtzman ticket basically takes it away. Hillary's coalition is terribly vulnerable to another, stronger, feminist presence in the race, especially one with far more authentic feminist cred than she has, and one who is even more of a policy wonk. Given her background as a District Attorney in what was New York's most corrupt, violent borough during the 1980's and early '90's, I pity the poor fool that has to debate her.

The majority of super-delegates are older, party veterans. While a Veep nominee would ordinarily be chosen for vast array of reasons, I am supporting this choice and floating this petition for the sole purpose of ending Hillary Clinton's increasingly destructive campaign. With the slate of delegates she has, Liz Holtzman is the singular choice, potentially taking as much as a third of Hillary's supporters away from her. I can think of no other potential veep who has the power to do that. 

I therefore ask your support in persuading both Senator Obama and Ms. Holtzman to seriously consider the above-suggested course of action, by signing this petition. My goal is 10000 signatures. Upon reaching the goal, I'll sennd this petition to Both Senator Obama Ms. Holtzman. after that, it's up to them. 

Discussion of this topic will continue <a href="http://www.panix.com/~joshua/blog/">on my blog.</a>

Thank you for your support!