Lets Hear Your Dream Cabinet Picks

I think Webb is without a doubt the best possible VP choice. Here are the reasons:

1. He brings military experience to the ticket. Webb served 2 tours in Vietnam, Assistant Sec. of Defense under Reagan, and Sec. of the Navy under Reagan. His experience is equal to, if not exceeding that of McCain.

2. He is a former Republican. Who better to speak about the promise that Barack brings as a uniter and post-partisan candidate.

3. He is from Appalachia, the backwoods of Southern Virginia (where I would be remiss if I did not mention my family comes from as well). Webb would help Obama relate to the people of Appalachia.

Those are my three main points. However, let me tell a story to reinforce these reasons. I have recently sat in on a few focus groups and the results of these groups have only reinforced my long held belief that Webb should be the VP choice.

In these focus groups, of people from Appalachia and the Midwest, they almost unanimously did not support Obama, as most were Clinton supporters. They almost all also said they would not support Obama in the general election, even though they were all Democrats. One would assume this is because of Obama's race. However, most in the room said that they would vote for Colin Powell. This results leads me to conclude that the problem is not Obama's race, but that they think he is different than them, in the sense that he does not share their culture or values. They do not have this same fear of Powell, because he served in the military, which they value.

With all of this being said, I think the best chance Obama has of winning Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Virginia is if he adds someone who comes from the Appalachian culture. He will never convince people of this region that he is one of them on his own, that he shares their values. However, by picking a VP from Appalachia, that VP pick can vouch for Obama's values, which means we could make some headway with white, rural, Appalachian voters. Given Jim Webb's track record, his military service, his work on the topic of Scotts-Irish, and his roots in Virginia, I can think of no better choice.

In short, it is almost too good to be true that there exists someone so perfect to be Obama's running mate. If you were to ask me to sit down and come up with the qualifications for Obama's running mate, I would say they need to be Southern/Appalachian, have military/foreign policy experience, and could win us a state we do not normally win. He helps us win Virginia and would go a long way towards shoring up support in southern Ohio.

Finally, just let me say that while I have been to these focus groups, I do not really need to go to them because my family is my own focus group, as they represent almost perfectly the bloc of the party Obama has yet to win over. They all voted for Hillary and are hesistant to vote for Obama, even though no one in my family can remember the last time any of them voted for a Republican. For crying out loud, I have a Great-Uncle named after FDR. Anyhow, in short, in my conversations with them, they all have said they would be willing to vote for Obama if someone like Webb was on the ticket. If its not Webb, the only other person I could think of would be Wesley Clark. Any other suggestions?