A few weeks back I would have been completely opposed to the idea of Hillary Clinton as Obama's VP.  I'm not a big fan of the Clintons and would see choosing her as a perpetuation of the old guard in the party rather than embracing a new, less-partisan direction.  Also, a significant fraction of the country hates the Clintons.

However, this week I've had a change of heart of sorts.  First of all, in the campaign at least, Obama doesn't really seem like a new kind of candidate (and he probably can't be if he wants to get elected).  Also, it's clear that the people who despise the Clintons will despise Obama too.  I should have known that from the beginning. 

One of the favorite themes of the talking heads lately has been how McCain has been following Hillary's blueprint for attacking Obama (link):

"The McCain campaign believes that some of Hillary Clinton's tactics, especially questioning whether Obama is ready to lead, can be a real winner," Schneider said.

Clinton nearly overtook Obama during the primary campaign after she started airing ads asking whom voters would rather have answering a 3 a.m. call to the White House.

"The McCain team has been very open that they went to school on the Hillary Clinton campaign, that they learned from that," Gergen said.

Ironically, McCain's success in following Clinton's game plan could breath more life into her VP prospects.  Obama must be feeling a little vulnerable, as McCain has pulled into a dead-heat in the polls (link).  Instead of feeling like he doesn't really need Clinton, these days he might be feeling more like he'll lose without the white, working-class voters she might help bring.

I also underestimated how stubborn Hillary's supporters would be about rejecting party unity and not supporting Obama.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll also points to a big challenge for Sen. Obama as his party gathers in Denver next week for its convention: rallying Sen. Hillary Clinton's supporters to his cause. Only half of those who voted for Sen. Clinton in the primaries say they are now supporting Sen. Obama. One in five is supporting Sen. McCain. The Republican has reached out to Clinton supporters by offering steady praise for the former first lady and hinting that he'd be open to a running mate who supports abortion rights.

Apparently there is still a significant effort by Hillary supporters to derail Obama's nomination (link):

A massive e-mail and Internet campaign is under way aimed at derailing the nomination of Barack Obama and making Hillary Clinton the party’s standard bearer next week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

“It’s downright nasty,” said Memphis, Tenn., superdelegate and city council member Myron Lowery, who has shared dozens of the messages he’s received with The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal newspaper.

Most of the messages Lowery has received from across the country come from Hillary supporters making the case that she won more voters’ votes in the primaries, she won bigger states, that Obama won states that won’t vote Democratic in November, and that she is the only “electable” Democrat.

I still think the chances of Obama picking Hillary are slim, but it wouldn't bother now like it once would have.