As soon as “change” became such a big deal around Obama, Hillary should have focused her entire rhetorical response around the idea that what could be bigger change from George W. Bush than Hillary and then enumerate every single thing where she has disagreed with Bush and the Republicans not only for the last 8 years, but the last 30 years. Nothing else she attempted had anything close to the potency of that argument.

Here’s a way for Barack Obama to get to the presidency. A way, not the only way.

Hillary has kind of, perhaps inadvertently, backed herself into a corner with some public statements she made before the Texas and Ohio primaries. If Obama gets the nomination and offers her the VP slot, she pretty much has to take it. Obama’s case to Hillary and the superdelegates should be:

A. What he’s already saying–he won more delegates by vote than her, super delegates shouldn’t overturn that.*

B. He will make Hillary his VP and give her real power. He’ll start by putting her in charge of something major–health care, perhaps. She needs a guarantee of real influence a la Gore and Cheney. I realize this takes a carrot away that he could dangle in front of others, but he won’t need it. An Obama-Clinton ticket is unbeatable. It’s hard for me believe I’m saying that a ticket with a black man and a polarizing white woman on it is unbeatable, but I really think it is.

C. Enlist Gore and Edwards. You don’t necessarily have to announce what position they’ll hold in the administration, but get them out there campaigning and saying they would be honored to serve in any capacity. There are so many ways to use Gore that it nearly makes my head hurt.

D. Find a way to secure one or two high profile GOP endorsements. They’ve got a lot of legislators who are retiring this year. That’s your best bet.

E. Forget about public financing. Obama declared earlier that he would use public financing if the GOP nominee agreed to do so also. John McCain is already knocking him about that. The public financing limit is something like $85 million this year. Considering that Obama raised $40 million in March alone, it’s insane for him to limit himself that way. The extra money he can raise will far outstrip any harm that comes from this bit of hypocrisy.