Post-Partisanship?

Although everything allegedly changed last night, it doesn't really feel like much is different. The Democrats are still bickering, Obama still has a decent-size delegate lead (even if I heard NPR news call it a "slight lead" earlier this afternoon--it certainly seems like "slight" shouldn't be nearly as close to 100 is this is), and McCain is promising little more than an extension of the Bush administration.

One thing that is a bit changed today is the fact that Hillary seems to be far too willing to hitch a ride on the McCain bandwagon. Yesterday, we mentioned that Hillary seemed to be making the point that McCain would be preferable to Obama if that's what our choice boiled down to. The charitable explanation might have been that she was just tired out and misspoke, comparing McCain's experience favorably to Obama's. But that went right out the window when she did it again (twice). James Fallows heard it today live on CNN. The only reasonable explanation I've got is that Hillary has indeed done the math and realizes that the Democratic nomination is out of her reach, so she's reaching across the aisle in an attempt to join the Republican ticket as vice presidential candidate, making it into a true unity ticket. It's not as silly as it sounds. If he were to win, McCain would be the oldest incoming president of all time. Will he survive his first term? Maybe, maybe not. But if not, then Hillary would step right into the breach as president. If she played her cards right, she could serve for up to ten years. But while you're over reading Fallows, make sure you read the whole thing. He's got a great reminiscence of how Bill Clinton, 46 at the time, swatted aside the "experience" issue when running against the uber-experienced George H. W. Bush.