Chuck Todd finally got it!

[Anonymous]

I agree there are few no brainers in politics, and I hardly think this was one of them. Obama has gone to extraordinary lengths to try and make an argument for change and for a new type of politics and fairly or not, picking Hillary as VP would have complicated that argument because, again fairly or not, it would have resuscitated a lot of the arguments and feelings from the 1990s.

I certainly think that there are people who would be more motivated to get involved in the election for the R's if Hillary was on the ticket. I agree that sexism was an impediment to her primary campaign, so the idea that it would disappear in the general election seems a little strange, and when you add that to the baggage of the 1990s, I don't see how you can say it was a no-brainer strategic decision. It may have been the right or wrong decision for other reasons, but on a purely strategic level there were arguments both for and against her.