Anyone remember Randal Pinkett? Randal Pinkett was an exceptional, highly talented and extremely well educated candidate who won on the Apprentice reality show two years ago. There were two things that made this particular season’s show a stand out. First, Pinkett was an African American. Second, the week-long controversy that resulted from his response to Trump’s public request that he share his win with the woman who was the runner up. I wrote about this at the time and my perspective on it is still posted  here in the archives. The bottom line was that Randal absolutely made the right decision when he refused to hire the runner up. It was a good business decision. Trump himself said that many high level corporate heads had called him to say that Randal had indeed made the right decision. Why? Both were competing for the one position. To bring the person who didn’t win back into the picture as your peer would only continue the competition. That would be bad for the business because the focus is on the continued competition and not the job at hand.

Here we are today with history being made with Senator Barack Obama winning the Democratic primary and ultimately he will win the general election. His choice for vice president is an important one, as will be his decisions on his cabinet appointments. With Bob Johnson, and other supporters of Hillary Clinton, making overtures to Democratic members of Congress, in hopes of her becoming the choice for vice president, it is imperative that we all step back and take a second look.  Senator Obama and his advisors should not give in to any real or implied pressures concerning Senator Clinton. She is absolutely the wrong choice. Even before the end of the primaries, when she playfully suggested that Obama would make a good vice-president, I did not believe that she would make a good vice president, nor did I believe that she would even consider it.

Surprisingly enough, she has been overtly and covertly attempting to position herself and it's not just because she needs some help settling her primary debts. But here’s the thing: she is not a good fit fora secondary role. She is a very strong-minded woman who was certain that she would be the presumptive nominee and has had a very hard time letting go of her dream, even when it was clear she had lost. The person who showed up in the last two weeks of her campaign defined for me who she really is.

I am a firm believer that true success in business, government, requires a leader who surrounds him or herself with people who are more talented, intelligent, strategic, even more experienced than he or she is and, most importantly, are on the same page as she or he is as the leader. Their only agenda is to work as a team, becoming successful in their own right by working as a team, adding depth and value through the skill sets, experience and talents they were chosen for, and following the vision of the leader. In a role as important as Presidency of the United States, one does not have the time or should take the time and energy to have to continually manage someone who really just wants your job. Hillary Clinton would never be happy in a second position, and has the ultimate potential of derailing Obama’s presidency with constant instigation of controversy.The baggage of entitlement that the Clinton's bring with them is an issue that overshadows any benefit she brings to the party.  She is better suited for and deserving of a cabinet position where she could devote her energies to the success of a specific vision she has always wanted to develop.

There is the socio-psychological aspect of what happens when a person of color is selected for a position. As Randal said himself : It would be the same as if I had won a gold medal in the Olympics and I was then required to share it with the bronze medal winner. He didn’t win because there was a quota to fill; Trump’s executive staff looks exactly as Trump wants it to because he chooses who he wants. Randal won because he consistently exhibited the leadership, talent, experience and strategic savvy required to make him a winner. It was, in fact, not as close a decision, as many have been lead to believe. So, why the “controversy”? What is the real issue that no one wanted to address directly? Larry King, in his interview of Pinkett, made a feeble effort to get to the heart of it, but he missed the mark because he came into the conversation with bias. When the Media approaches a subject with bias, they are simply stating a story according to their opinion and that is not objective journalism. King believed that she should have been hired and simply went through his show trying to convince Randal and Trump that Randal was wrong. While Trump may have genuinely, albeit naively, felt that race was not a factor, it, in fact, was on so many levels. In the executive world, genuinely capable, highly intelligent African American executives and managers can share one anecdotal story after another -- After all , one is told, you won’t mind taking one for the team? Or…you and I know that you are the better choice, but I need to reward Joe or Sally Sue because … -- about how they have been asked to share, diminish, even relinquish their awards, rewards, promotions, acknowledgements so that the other person, usually white, would feel better about not getting what they believe they were entitled to. Thus, Clinton supporters will likely dive into a fresh dish of anger when the decision about who should be vice president is made and if it’s not Clinton. It won’t matter to them that Obama made his choice based upon who is best for the position, not based upon making her – or anyone else – feel better about not getting what they believe they were entitled to. I am still interested in having a competent woman as vice president, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for example. Someone who has the ability to work well with Congress and with the president – neither of which I believe Senator Clinton would be effective or – at the end of the day – happy with doing. (I would even like to see Donna Brazile as White House press secretary, but I am perhaps dreaming a little too much?)

The bottom line is that choosing Hillary Clinton as vice president for any reasons other than talent and capability is simply more of the same in politics. As a candidate for change, Senator Obama has the power to truly be the different politician that we need and make a different and wiser decision.