I am one of the few people I know who is convinced that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will be running mates regardless of which one is at the top of the ticket.

Yes, I know it has been a bitter campaign and that the two don't appear to get along.

But I can't help thinking back to 1960, when John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson REALLY disliked each other and the differences between the two (poor rural Texas vs. wealthy New Englander, etc.) were huge.  What brought them together as running mates was that someone counted the electoral votes from Massachusetts and Texas and realized that the combination would take the ticket a long way toward what was needed to get elected.

Obama and Clinton are the modern day equivalent of this situation.  Black and white, male and female, winner of the small states and winner of the big states, new generation and old generation, etc.

Clinton will take the number two spot to Obama because the Democratic leadership will pressure her to do it.  If she refuses and he subsequently loses, she will become a paraiah and her career will be through.  If she agrees and he wins, she will get at least some of the credit, especially if she can attract large numbers of female voters.

Obama will take the number two spot because if he does and she wins, he not only will get much of the credit but he will instantly become the heir apparent.  By contrast, if he refused and she lost, he would be blamed and his ability to run for president in four years would be hurt badly.  He's also a young man and spending four or eight years as vice president won't stop him from running for the top spot at some point. 

The talk about Obama not wanting Bill Clinton around if he's president and that the Clinton folks can't be controlled in a general election campaign is nonsense.  The best way for Obama to keep Bill from becoming a critic is to keep him close.  And a Hillary  vice presidential campaign would be closely controlled by the mothership.  Like all other vice presidential campaigns, where she goes and the speeches she makes would be determined by the presidential campaign's apparatus.