Barack Obama had this to say last week:

“I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory in America, in a ways that, you know, Richard Nixon did not, and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.”

The Clintons immediately threw their red flag challenging the play and calling for a review.  They blustered after Obama, saying he was not sufficiently a Reagan-hater.

But guess which Democrat joins Obama in publicly recognizing the historical significance of Ronald Reagan?  It’s Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Kaine said this on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” today:

“I think Democrats, you know, we didn’t like an awful lot of what Ronald Reagan did, but we do understand, most of us, that one thing he was good at was communicating to the American people a message of hope and uplift at a time where we were in a period of, kind of, gridlock and malaise.

“We’re in that kind of time right now, a time when we can’t really count on Washington to produce solutions that matter, when it doesn’t seem like Washington can competently manage either an overseas war or an at-home response to a hurricane.

“And so what we seem to need, I think, is somebody who is going to have transformative effect of really being about hope and uplift and optimism and counting on the best of the American spirit….

“Everybody called Reagan “the great communicator,” whether they were Rs or Ds. Again, whether you didn’t like what he did, that was one thing, but he had a way of capturing that spirit of optimism and pride in America.”

First off … Kaine is straight-on correct.  Second off… Huh?  A Democratic official invoking malaise — that most Carter-esque of political memories? A Democratic official citing optimism — that most Reagan-esque of political emotions?

What’s going on here?

Well, here’s one theory. Kaine, one of the first to endorse Obama, is jockeying to be a running-mate.  Today’s Washington Post:

“Kaine comes from a swing state, is term-limited out of his job in 2009 and will be looking for the next step.”

The Democrats would be well-served to choose for a VP candidate a Southern governor who fondly remembers Ronald Reagan.  Any chance they’ll do so?  Hardly.