Who should Democrats have nominated for President in 2008?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Out of the two main contenders, Clinton. A world where Clinton wins in 2008 and Obama runs in 2016 after two full terms in the Senate or one full term in the Senate and a term as Governor would be a much better world.

Clinton, if she were to have the same super majorities that Obama had in 09 and 10, would've likely had a lot more to show for them as she wouldn't have been naive in dealing with her opposition the way Obama was, Granted, her foreign policy would've been too hawkish for my taste, but on balance a Clinton Presidency from 2009-17 would be better than OTL.

The runner up, abet with the benefit of hindsight, would be Biden.

My hot take is Obama never becomes president in a world Clinton wins unless he is her VP . Being in the senate during a Clinton administration would absolutely destroy a lot of his “change” appeal as he’d have to vote for her entire agenda and defend it constantly too .

[OSR stands with Israel]

Out of the two main contenders, Clinton. A world where Clinton wins in 2008 and Obama runs in 2016 after two full terms in the Senate or one full term in the Senate and a term as Governor would be a much better world.

Clinton, if she were to have the same super majorities that Obama had in 09 and 10, would've likely had a lot more to show for them as she wouldn't have been naive in dealing with her opposition the way Obama was, Granted, her foreign policy would've been too hawkish for my taste, but on balance a Clinton Presidency from 2009-17 would be better than OTL.

The runner up, abet with the benefit of hindsight, would be Biden.

My hot take is Obama never becomes president in a world Clinton wins unless he is her VP . Being in the senate during a Clinton administration would absolutely destroy a lot of his “change” appeal as he’d have to vote for her entire agenda and defend it constantly too .

I agree, Obama would have lost his appeal as outsider had he stayed in the senate. However, I think there's a possibility he runs for governor of Illinois in 2010 instead. It's well known that he didn't like the senate.

IL Governor though is definitely not a great job to have either especially since Madigan basically still had full control over the IL Dem party then.

[OSR stands with Israel]

If Hillary had gotten the nomination—especially after a hotly-contested race—it would have been hard for her not to pick Obama as her running mate

Yes.  Given Obama's enormous popularity with African Americans--a group that constitutes the backbone of the Democratic voting bloc--Clinton would basically have had to choose Obama for VP.  I remember thinking this while the 2008 primary was going on. 

If Obama lost the primary it probably would be early on with either a loss in Iowa meaning he never able to really get on the map and Hillary cruises to the nomination, or a loss in SC meaning Obama never is able to win the African American vote from Hillary(who was leading Obama with those voters in 2007).


The coalition he put together to win Iowa(Progressives) and South Carolina(African Americans) is basically the coalition he put together to beat Clinton