Fineman: Obama and Kaine: Peas in a political pod?

[Barack_America]

Howard Fineman adds to the ever-growing list of similarities between Obama and Kaine...

Obama and Kaine: Peas in a political pod?
Howard Fineman on why theirs is a relationship made in vetting heaven

...In the meantime, the more you look at it, the more sense Kaine makes as Obama’s running mate. The 50- year-old governor of Virginia and his wife, Anne Holton, fit like precise pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into Obama’s world.

Let’s start with some racial history that is key to their friendship.

Kaine’s father-in-law, Linwood Holton, is a moderate (that is, Lincoln) Republican of the old Southern school.

Back in the 1970s, when public school busing and racial integration was creating a new faction of the GOP — one appealing to the fears and prejudices of working-class white southerners — Holton stood his ground.

As governor of Virginia, he sent his children, including his daughter, Anne, to public schools in Richmond to prove his point...

(snip)

...Harvard Law School is another deep connection.

Linwood Holton came up from Washington and Lee University to study there.

Obama, his wife, Michelle, Tim Kaine and Ann Holton all are graduates as well.

They didn’t overlap — the Kaine’s are a few years ahead of them — but those Cambridge ties are still strong.

It’s logical that Michelle and Anne are also both Princeton graduates, though Anne is older and they didn’t overlap.

And the connections don't stop there...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25912762/

[TwilightGardener]

1. I really don't think Obama needs a white Obama. I just don't know why

their life similarities are important.

[Virginia Dare]

2. It sounds like he's somebody that Obama trusts, feels comfortable with,

and can relate to. Perhaps that's what he's looking for in a running mate? Maybe he's looking beyond political expediency?

[TwilightGardener]

3. Well, if it were up to ME, LOL (and it's not)...

Obama would choose someone who is actual Presidential material, and not worry so much about feelings and friendship and chemistry.

[Virginia Dare]

4. I don't think that Kaine is any less Presidential material..

than Bill Clinton was.

[RichGirl]

5. If presidential mattered...

...we'd be trying to re-elected President Kerry!!

Obama and Kaine are two peas in a pod. Neither of them would ever say anything mean about anyone, including McCain. So while McCain is beating the sh*t out of both of them, they'll be talking about how much they respect and admire McCain and what a great service he has done for his country, blah, blah, blah!

The difference between Kaine and Bill Clinton is this: Bill Clinton=pit bull Kaine=mouse. Personally I think Obama needs Mrs. Pit Bull.

[Virginia Dare]

6. Kaine was able to rise above Jerry Kilgore's nasty vicious attacks..

I suspect he could handle McCain's. His wife is pretty astute politically too. Her father was a VERY tough and courageous politician. I think he'd be a fine choice really.

[TwilightGardener]

7. Well, I'd have to argue you there. Clinton had more experience.

And Clinton was a master politician. Kaine hasn't been in office long enough to prove he's Presidential material. Not saying he won't ever be, but I don't recall anyone calling for him to run himself.

[Virginia Dare]

8. It depends on what experience you're looking for..

you can make the same argument about Obama really. At any rate, he's not running for President.

I think Kaine is a pretty good politician, he just hasn't had much "national stage" experience. Politics in Virginia are ROUGH, he's been through the mill.

Like I said, sit tight, and you just might be pleasantly surprised...:hi:

[Barack_America]

9. Maybe because the fact Obama isn't white is what's behind this "can't seal the deal" nonsense.

More than anything, Obama needs to pick a running mate who can help convince voters that he's "one of them" and not overly risky.

He's got the policy edge over McCain hands-down, all that's lacking is the perception edge. McCain's leading in that now, but the narrative of an Obama/Kaine ticket just might change that...

[Undercurrent]

10. Interesting. Fineman also says,

"The key one is not that Kaine is from Virginia — a state Obama thinks he can win — but that he is Catholic.

On one level it is absurd to consider that the nation’s 47 million Catholics is a voting bloc, but they are — and whoever wins them, history shows, wins the White House. As a result of his missionary work in Latin America, Kaine is also a fluent in Spanish, a terrific asset as Democrats seek to pile up big majorities in the (mostly Catholic) Hispanic community. Right now Obama is running even among Catholics in his race with Sen. John McCain, but the Illinois senator needs to do better among the demographic in some key states, like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

Kaine’s relatively unique (for a Democrat) support of gun rights could help in the Deer Hunter regions of these and other states.

Kaine is also personally opposed to the death penalty, in adherence to his Catholic faith, but has not stood in the way of executions in his state."