So while I was out having falafel dinner and enjoying my first experiences with both hooka and Turkish coffee (though not at the same time) at our summer staff party deal at The Egyptian, a self-styled “café and hooka bar” in Broad Ripple, those wacky Democrats went and nominated themselves up one Barack Obama to run for the Presidentiality in the upcoming electorate. Not that it was a surprise, mind you, but now everyone can rest a bit easier knowing that neither Hillary Clinton nor Al Gore’s supporters will attempt any sort of insurrection from the floor.
Bill Clinton gave a speech before Delaware Senator Joe Biden accepted the nomination for campaign attack dog - er, Vice President - and while I’m not entirely convinced that anybody named Clinton is really behind Obama, I am somewhat convinced that they are behind the Democrat. They may not ever like the fact that it’s Barack Obama, but now it’s time to get out there and take the White House away from the Galactic Empire and give it back to the Republic. (The end of that last sentence was steeped in fiction, of course - though that fiction itself was based on the reality of the Roman Empire - but it’s a little too close to reality for comfort, isn’t it?)
It’s time for Barack Obama to prove that he’s a savvy politician as well as a brilliant orator - and the first thing he needs to do after he gets the polls showing the size of the post-convention bump is to set a group of his best aides to work on vetting at least one, if not both, of the Clintons. That there was nowhere near enough time to vet Hillary - a sort of misleading way of saying there wasn’t enough time to vet Bill and where his foundation gets its money - was touted as the primary reason Obama did not lock up the election by taking Hillary as his running mate.
I don’t know exactly how much time they need to vet someone properly. It’s two months and change to the election, and two more months and change after the election to the inauguration; and there’s no real timetable, I don’t think, for filling cabinet posts or ambassadorships, after the inauguration. Bill Clinton himself took quite a bit of time to fill out his cabinet - most of which was spent vetting three different potential candidates for Attorney General. If there is enough time to vet the Clintons properly, Barack Obama has a unique opportunity to call back into service one of the most intelligent, gifted, and popular politicians in the post-war era - not to mention the only politically viable ex-President in recent memory. In what capacity? I’m thinking something really tasty, like Secretary of State. Of course, if Obama is leery of keeping the leering ex-President in Washington, he could make him Ambassador to China. Or India.
He’d have to be confirmed, though, too, which could be a dicey proposition for someone like Bill Clinton. Pollster.com currently shows the Dems adding to their majority in the Senate, though not by enough to break a filibuster on party lines. Their 2008 Senate map, as of this writing, shows 54 Dems and 43 Republicans, with 1 toss-up going Republican, and 2 “other,” which are the two Independents, both of whom caucus (one openly), I believe, with the Democrats. Give the toss-up, North Carolina incumbent Elizabeth Dole, to the Republicans and the two “other” seats to the Dems, and that’s 56-44, four short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. A simple majority would do it, of course, but I wonder that that might not be a bit of a fight. Either way, Obama needs to swallow his pride and do a good thing for the party by reaching out to both Bill and Hillary Clinton as the general election campaign ramps up into high gear.
7 comments:
why? wouldn't that just kind of prove that obama isn't really about change and merely about business as usual. this is his chance to break free from all this two party rigamaroll. fuck the clintons they had their shot, and barack already took a step back with the naming of a washington insider as v.p.
he is beginning to look like just another politician who make great promises and ends up doing things exactly the same as they have been done for years.
"change" and "hope" have essentially become the new version of "read my lips...no new taxes." and barac looks like just another politician who plays the same old washington game.
a disappointment no doubt.
Change doesn't mean running the country entirely with non-Washington people. It means abandoning the neoconservative thinking and policies that have been the foundation of Bush's spectacular failures.
Bill Clinton had a number of successes during his presidency, including NAFTA and significant process in the Middle East peace process. It's hard to imagine, after the last eight years, that any American president ever had any success in foreign policy, but Clinton did. Appointing him as the highest ranking foreign policy wonk would be a tremendous advantage for Barack Obama, though the American people probably are far too stupid to see the advantage in such an appointment.
You really think anyone will change their votes from R to D because Nobama brings on the Clintons?
I seriously doubt he'd willingly bring on that sort of a headache for the marginal political utility.
And after Bill's snubbing comments the other night, I doubt there's any love for Slick Willie there.
"You really think anyone will change their votes from R to D because Obama brings on the Clintons?"
Of course not. Cabinet is not selected until the election is over. But if Obama wins, he would be foolish not to put Bill Clinton to work, presuming there is enough time to vet the ex-President - which is why Obama needs to do it now.
Sorry, I didn't see the post-convention bump.
Only the Democrats could screw up their chances for the presidency. I would have put down a pay-check last year that the D's would win this hands down, but this is not the case. There wasnt't that post-convention bump that the D's were expecting. Then McCain surpises everyone with his VP pick. I guess noone from the R's can talk about inexperience anymore, and for the D's to spout off against experience is the pot calling the kettle black.
The bump is 2-4 points, taking them from a tie to as much as Obama by 8, depending on the poll - and it's reasonable to assume that, over a holiday weekend, some polls are still in the field. McCain also announced his VP pick the same day the Dems ended their convention, which cost them some of the bump, assuming that Palin helps McCain in spots - though she is obviously not a slam-dunk.
Palin helps McCain with the Bible-beating evangelicals, where he does need help; but most of the women who were for Hillary are more reasonable and evolved than that. Oddly, maybe, Pollster's latest data shows Alaska as a toss-up, where it had previously been red/pink.
A year ago it was easy to look at a potential Clinton-Giuliani race and see a shellacking in the making for the Dems. Who knew the GOP would buck a 24-year trend and nominate a candidate who was worth a damn, thereby making the race interesting?
I suppose one could argue that the Dems brought all of that - including the Republican nominee?? - on themselves, but the argument makes little sense.
If all of the Hillary supporters are the wack-jobs shown at the convention, I think you are giving them waaayyyy too much credit.
I was just saying that this should have been a slam dunk, but there were errors in judgement on their part (Palin not included) that if they had played their cards right, this would have been completely over before it started.
Nice review of 3 sisters by the way.
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