Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[amigo Jorge]

By Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny
The New York Times
updated 1:07 a.m. ET, Fri., May. 23, 2008
While Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers insist that she is determined to win the Democratic nomination, friends of the couple say that former President Bill Clinton , for one, has begun privately contemplating a different outcome for her: As Senator Barack Obama ’s running mate.

The reports about Mr. Clinton’s musings surface as the Obama camp has quietly begun the process of searching for a partner on the Democratic ticket.

The prospect of an Obama-Clinton ticket has been fodder for political gossip for months, with some Democratic leaders pushing the idea as a way to unify the party. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have consistently shrugged off the idea, however, and Mrs. Clinton has been adamant that she is only interested in the presidency.

Yet anyone who knows the Clintons is well aware that, at times, they come to politics with different motivations. Both of them want to return to the White House; Mrs. Clinton, of New York, also enjoys being a senator, while Mr. Clinton, according to associates, sees the vice presidency as perhaps her best path to becoming president someday if she loses the nominating fight. And Mr. Clinton has his own ideas about his wife’s best interests — even if she sometimes does not share them.

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said Thursday that Mr. Clinton had not had private conversations in which he was pushing her for the vice presidency or arguing that she deserved it, and that he believed the choice of a running mate was a personal one for the nominee.

Friends of the former president say his musings have been more casual: He believes that an Obama-Clinton ticket could help unify the party, and he thinks she has earned a meeting with Mr. Obama to discuss the possibility.

According to these friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to be identified revealing private talks, Mr. Clinton believes that his wife’s victories in major primary battles, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the 16 million votes cast for her candidacy make her the proper choice for Mr. Obama.

"If she’s not going to be the nominee, then he wants her in the second spot," said one friend of the Clintons. "In the long run, it’s the best way for her to run again in 2016."

Time magazine first reported Mr. Clinton’s interest in the No. 2 slot for Mrs. Clinton on Thursday.

Clinton advisers were emphatic that neither Mr. Clinton nor anyone else in the campaign had given up on Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, and they emphasized that no efforts were being made to position Mrs. Clinton to be the running mate with the Illinois senator.

[SPIDERMAN]

Oh puullllllllease spare me. The bozo Democrats don't get it.  I am not voiting for Obamasama even if they package him with a free set of dishes and 10,000 Green Stamps

B B

[grc]

Oh puullllllllease spare me. The bozo Democrats don't get it.  I am not voting for Obamasama even if they package him with a free set of dishes and 10,000 Green Stamps

B B

   That was a good one Brian.  Now, how about if they up the ante and throw in a Jim's 131?  

Jerry

[FreestateSE3]

If HRC is the VP, Obama had better get a food-taster, and more SS protection, because the most dangerous place in the world would be a heartbeat between her and the Oval office....

[iski]

Not sure which is stranger to watch - the internal race war in the Dem party or the internal sexism war.

Remembering that just a few years ago, President Bill was running about declaring himself the "first black president."  Maybe he should have declared himself the "first woman president" too......

Hillary as VP candidate does little to nothing for her career & is deadly to Obama's.  But politics makes for strange bedfellows.

[grc]

After all of her BS about answering the phone at 3 am, I figured she was leaning more toward the White House switchboard operator job. 

Jerry

[SBB]

 That was a good one Brian.  Now, how about if they up the ante and throw in a Jim's 131?  

Jerry

Don't temp him Jerry!
That might push him over the edge.

 

[SPIDERMAN]

Don't temp him Jerry!
That might push him over the edge.

 

Chip
      If H-D Inc. had a promotion like VH-1 had a few years ago where a guy won every model year of Corvette ever made and they gave me one of every model year CVO in every color and all I had to do was vote for Barrack effin Hussein effin Obama, my garage would still only have my one 07 wannabee SERG in it.

 Now does that make the issue clear enough or do you need trifocals ?

B B

[Capo]

Oh puullllllllease spare me. The bozo Democrats don't get it.  I am not voiting for Obamasama even if they package him with a free set of dishes and 10,000 Green Stamps

B B

Nice. B B doesn't this look a little like JFK and LBJ? Following the nomination JFK chose LBJ since he was the second most vote getter. Don't get me wrong I'm not intimating that either current candidate is equal to or not to the gentlemen from the 60's .....I'm just saying.

[SPIDERMAN]

Nice. B B doesn't this look a little like JFK and LBJ? Following the nomination JFK chose LBJ since he was the second most vote getter. Don't get me wrong I'm not intimating that either current candidate is equal to or not to the gentlemen from the 60's .....I'm just saying.

 Kennedy was smart enough to see that picking LBJ would assure him the Presidency, so whatever misgivings he had he put aside. But as I understand it, there were only misgivings on the Kennedy side of the fence. On the other side, LBJ was said to loath the entire Kennedy clan. Fast forward to where we are now. If the DNC had any brains at all, they'd go with Hillary as Prez and Obamasama as VP. That ticket would in my opinion ( and as much as it makes me gag) win the election. But that ain't gonna happen and I really can't picture Hillary accepting the VP slot, nor do I believe Obamasama wants anything to do with her. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that yes,  he'll pick a woman as Veep  Somebody like Nancy Pelosi who can work Congress for him and bring in the woman's vote in the election. More fuel to the right for sure, but possibly attractive to Hillary supporters who will be pi$$ed when she doesn't get the Veep nod.

B B

[CVOJOE]

Chip
      If H-D Inc. had a promotion like VH-1 had a few years ago where a guy won every model year of Corvette ever made and they gave me one of every model year CVO in every color and all I had to do was vote for Barrack effin Hussein effin Obama, my garage would still only have my one 07 wannabee SERG in it.

 Now does that make the issue clear enough or do you need trifocals ?

B B

CRYSTAL CLEAR !!! 

[elvislee]

Kennedy was smart enough to see that picking LBJ would assure him the Presidency, so whatever misgivings he had he put aside. But as I understand it, there were only misgivings on the Kennedy side of the fence. On the other side, LBJ was said to loath the entire Kennedy clan. Fast forward to where we are now. If the DNC had any brains at all, they'd go with Hillary as Prez and Obamasama as VP. That ticket would in my opinion ( and as much as it makes me gag) win the election. But that ain't gonna happen and I really can't picture Hillary accepting the VP slot, nor do I believe Obamasama wants anything to do with her. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that yes,  he'll pick a woman as Veep  Somebody like Nancy Pelosi who can work Congress for him and bring in the woman's vote in the election. More fuel to the right for sure, but possibly attractive to Hillary supporters who will be pi$$ed when she doesn't get the Veep nod.

B B

All good stuff there Spiderman and I tend to agree with all of your statement which leads me to believe the LLL's (Lefty Liberal Loonies) will have to insist ObamaBinOsama pick Hillary as VP in order to become un-pissed off and have a stronger grip on the electoral vote come November...Without Hillary; ObamaBinOsama has a huge task in front of him in McCain...JMHO

[Twolanerider]

All good stuff there Spiderman and I tend to agree with all of your statement which leads me to believe the LLL's (Lefty Liberal Loonies) will have to insist ObamaBinOsama pick Hillary as VP in order to become un-pissed off and have a stronger grip on the electoral vote come November...Without Hillary; ObamaBinOsama has a huge task in front of him in McCain...JMHO

Perceptions of one's view of electability aren't the only thing defining the task here.  McCain has a huge mountain ahead of him in an area wholly different then just one guy running against another.

National election is a kind of a land war.  The combatants are just shooting off their mouths rather then more consequential weaponry.  McCain, as needed for any land war, doesn't have boots on the ground.

He crapped out the first time he ran against Bush because he couldn't mount a national campaign.  He nearly crapped out and went broke last year trying do the same thing again this time.  They scaled back.  Back to a "national campaign" that had by some credible estimates 90 paid staff until surprisingly recently.

Against the odd collection of contestants against him this time, and utilizing the primary rules extraordinarily well, and going state by state they somehow managed to pull off a national primary cycle without a national campaign staff or effort.  It was a cool thing to watch.  But it won't fly in the national election itself.

They've been starting to gear up again.  More bodies.  More places.  Though some of the choices I'm not fond of as being the correct strategist or tactician for the right task in the right place at the right time.  But he's still never proved he can mount an effective "national" campaign.

Obama has proved just that.  Against a woman who is challenging (to out it nicely) competition.  If McCain's camp can't get their act together no message, no idea and no outside support will make a lot of difference.  They'll get their asses handed to them.

[elvislee]

Perceptions of one's view of electability aren't the only thing defining the task here.  McCain has a huge mountain ahead of him in an area wholly different then just one guy running against another.

National election is a kind of a land war.  The combatants are just shooting off their mouths rather then more consequential weaponry.  McCain, as needed for any land war, doesn't have boots on the ground.

He crapped out the first time he ran against Bush because he couldn't mount a national campaign.  He nearly crapped out and went broke last year trying do the same thing again this time.  They scaled back.  Back to a "national campaign" that had by some credible estimates 90 paid staff until surprisingly recently.

Against the odd collection of contestants against him this time, and utilizing the primary rules extraordinarily well, and going state by state they somehow managed to pull off a national primary cycle without a national campaign staff or effort.  It was a cool thing to watch.  But it won't fly in the national election itself.

They've been starting to gear up again.  More bodies.  More places.  Though some of the choices I'm not fond of as being the correct strategist or tactician for the right task in the right place at the right time.  But he's still never proved he can mount an effective "national" campaign.

Obama has proved just that.  Against a woman who is challenging (to out it nicely) competition.  If McCain's camp can't get their act together no message, no idea and no outside support will make a lot of difference.  They'll get their asses handed to them.

Many good points Twolanerider and you are right; without a strong grounded campaign with plenty of boots on the ground, McCain does have a hard row to hoe. He also has the task of beating away the curse of George Bush. The Dems have been and will continue to link McCain to Bush who as we know is not in good graces with the American public right now and that strategy by the Dem's will likely do them well but how well is still to be seen. With that said, ObamaBinOsama has what I see as what might be the most important decision of his campaign to this point and which gets us back to the original topic...Should he pick Hillary as VP?...I say he takes a huge step forward to the Whitehouse by selecting her and he might ought to take a page from the JFK playbook as noted by Spiderman because I don't believe Hillary's supporters are going with him without her...buy hey, Ive been wrong many times before...JMHO

[Twolanerider]

Many good points Twolanerider and you are right; without a strong grounded campaign with plenty of boots on the ground, McCain does have a hard row to hoe. He also has the task of beating away the curse of George Bush. The Dems have been and will continue to link McCain to Bush who as we know is not in good graces with the American public right now and that strategy by the Dem's will likely do them well but how well is still to be seen. With that said, ObamaBinOsama has what I see as what might be the most important decision of his campaign to this point and which gets us back to the original topic...Should he pick Hillary as VP?...I say he takes a huge step forward to the Whitehouse by selecting her and he might ought to take a page from the JFK playbook as noted by Spiderman because I don't believe Hillary's supporters are going with him without her...buy hey, Ive been wrong many times before...JMHO

VP pics are like casting runes.  Weird stuff and mushrooms seem to be the roots of the logic sometimes.  And they're always viewed only through hindsight.

Having said that I just don't see an Obama/Clinton ticket.  Too much bad blood.  She has to know that she'd be an EOB VP in his administration.  And she couldn't stand being a lamp shade.

I agree the distaff side of the Democratic party is proving itself to be more distaff then Democrat right now.  I don't know, however, that when all is said done they won't come around.  They'd simply rather vote for Obama then McCain come election day.  At worst some will stay home.

Obama can mend that fence, or at least mend it enough, without taking Senator Clinton.  That's why my own mushroom enhance guess (as suggested by Willie G's pool boy's........ whatever) is Governor Sebelius from Kansas.  She gave Obama the public endorsement at an effective time.  She's smart.  She's in "the family" so far as the Party is concerned. 

I could be wrong.  I often am where VP choices are concerned.  But she is where my money would be were I one to wager on such things...