In retrospect, Barack Obama might have made a big mistake by not choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

I’ve got to say, I never thought it was a good idea at the time to take her.

My view then was that she carries a lot of baggage, she would have galvanized the far right, and it would have been hard for Obama to say he’s going to turn the page when on the very next page is another Clinton.

Plus, she was disrespectful to Obama during much of the campaign, and explicitly appealed to white voters.

And of course, there’s Bill, who might have been impossible to deal with.

But here we are, after the conventions, and Obama is down in the polls, and the snubbing of Hillary doesn’t look so bright after all.

For all the atmospherics at Mile High Stadium, the Democrats didn’t leave as united as they should have been—and would have been with Hillary on the ticket.

Obama appears to be losing some women to McCain’s cynical choice of Sarah Palin. Had Obama chosen Hillary, the Republicans couldn’t have pulled that stunt.

And Obama sure could have used Hillary and Bill on the campaign trail 24/7.

If there’s one thing they know how to do, it’s campaigning. Bill’s the best there is, and Hillary herself turned into a formidable campaigner by the end.

As it is, though, Hillary and Bill are likely to do the bare minimum for Obama, and the rehearse their “I told you” so speeches.

So Obama is out there seemingly on his own, with Joe Biden bringing none of the firepower that Hillary has.

Yes, it might be have been unpleasant for Obama to deal with Bill and Hillary in the White House again.

But he might find out that it’s more unpleasant to lose the White House.