Why I think Sebelius would be a good VP pick — or Napolitano

HuffPost’s Sam Stein gets into the policy and politics details, adding flesh to the strategery bones, from where I sit, of picking a woman candidate. To me, the only other female candidate, off the top of my head, would be Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who might give Obama a bit of western states boost. Like Sebelius, she has been elected and re-elected in a traditionally Republican state, and has been similarly unafraid of playing hardball with the state legislature.

First, she’s clearly not afraid to go on the political attack in general. That makes her good VP material. Second, she has progressive credibility. Third, she’s got political skills.

Finally, although VPs generally aren’t big on tickets, nonetheless, I think Obama’s best bet is a woman running with him. True, there are some Hillaryite last-ditchers who say they won’t vote for an Obama-any other woman ticket, but we’ll see.

Some people have suggested retired Army three-star Claudia Kennedy, a John Kerry advisor in 2004, but I think she would be better as the first female Secretary of Defense, though we would have to wait a year for that due to the 10-year rule.

Back to Sebelius. I’ll take at face value her explanation that her response to the 2007 State of the Union address was not the proper place to go attack dog. Whether her decision was politically correct or not, it’s a decision she made. I don’t think she just had a “clunker” speech night.