http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=1248 What will Clinton’s terms of surrender turn out to be? Her husband, for one, seems to have a pretty clear idea what he thinks she should get as a consolation prize. In Bill Clinton’s view, she has earned nothing short of an offer to be Obama’s running mate, according to some who are close to the former President. Bill “is pushing real hard for this to happen,” says a friend. The Field can now confirm, based on multiple sources, something that both campaigns publicly deny: that Senator Clinton has directly told Senator Obama that she wants to be his vice presidential nominee, and that Senator Obama politely but straightforwardly and irrevocably said “no.” Obama is going to pick his own running mate based on his own criteria and vetting process. Lots more on the site, but it's mostly opinion. The above was the newsworthy part - and if it happened in the last few days, it explains Clinton suddenly going on the warpath again on Wednesday.
I doubt Hillary asked after her slash and burn negative campaign. Her disdain and resentment of Obama is obvious to anyone with an IQ higher than 50. Plus, she had to know he would say no. My guess is this is a bunch of talk.
YEA!!! Maybe, I think it's more of a psychological play for her supporters. She is trying to set in her supporter's minds that the nomination was somehow stolen from her by someone who she believes doesn't deserve it. It will help in 2012 if things don't go right in the next four years.
I think the cynical flipside of this is that she wants power, and the VP spot is more powerful than one-of-a-100-senators, especially in the post-Gore, post-Cheney world. It gives her direct access to the inner circle of advisors. It does make sense - for about a week or two there, she had really toned down the rhetoric there. Both Bill Clinton and Terry McAllif had said that a half-vote compromise for FL/MI would make sense, etc. Then yesterday, she went off the deep end again, suggesting she'd take the FL/MI issue to the convention, that they feel that Obama should get 0 delegates from Michigan, that nothing less than full seating of the delegations is acceptable, and that Florida's "plight" is somehow like Zimbabwe's election. And then to top it off, she met with a FL superdelegate yesterday; that SD sued the DNC today to try to force it to seat the entire FL delegation. Something definitely changed in the last few days. It would make sense that she toned it down in the hopes of a VP slot and if he rejected it, she launched back into her attack mode. Really, at this point, I don't even blame her. I blame the superdelegates. They are all acting like wussies too scared to declare their support for a candidate. If they'd all just declare for someone, this race would officially be over.
I don't really blame the holdout superdelegates. At this point, they may as well wait until after the final primary. The intimidation factor of Clinton Inc. is still there. What I can't believe is that Hillary actually thinks she can bully her way into being the veep choice. If she and her handlers are really that delusional, then just imagine her administration. IMO, all of this musing is for public consumption only. The comments comparing Florida to Zimbabwe are just more bizarre, off-the-wall comments that bury her deeper. But I can see why you'd think she toned it down until Obama said no, then return to inflame mode. I understand your statement on Hillary going back to the Senate. It probably doesn't seem attractive to her now. IMO, her Senate time was intended to be merely as a stepping stone for her ultimate goal.
This is all hypothetical and involves my lack of knowledge on the subject, but could Bill Clinton become VP? Also assuming he could become VP and Obama for whatever reason quit, would Clinton be able to become President even though he's served two terms? Also assuming Bill could become President would he be able to serve a second term again? Also assuming his impeachment hindered him from any of this, lets take this completely out the window and assume he was never impeached at all and still played out the scenarios I raised above. Is it all feasibly possible? If not, why?
Hillary could be very influential in the senate for years to come (especially after the news of the last week). President pro tem or senate majority leader could lead to a lot democratic legislation.
He could definitely not be elected President again under any circumstances; the impeachment's irrelevant. Don't know for sure about VP or automatic succession.
I believe the answer to your first two questions is yes; the third would be no. The impeachment is irrelevant. Bill can't *run* for President, but I believe he can *be* President. That said, Hillary would probably murder Bill in this scenario, so Obama would have to pick a new VP anyway.
I think that would be a really bad ticket, and a big mistake. Obama and Hillary are quite similar on most issues, and quite liberal. If Obama is smart, he would seek a VP who's more of a 'centrist' or even a conservative. May be a strong independent would be the way to go here, or someone who wouldn't garner much of a 'backlash' or too much scrutiny from either party. Also, given the inevitability of questions regarding his experience in foreign policy and military affairs, may be he can go for someone who's a decorated military officer, someone like Wesley Clark wouldn't be a bad choice, probably not too polarizing. Just my two cents...
Hillary wants power. Not VP power, but she'll take it because she's one step closer at that point. If something were to happen to Obama, she'd be the freaking president. She probably sees that there is a decent possibility that something "could" actually happen to him. I hate to even say this, but I will say what I believe and I think the clintons are such lowlifes that they might even come up with a strategy to off Obama.
I would love that, I'm a big fan of his. However, that's highly unlikely and just not very realistic. Probably the best route to take will be asking someone like Clark to join the ticket, that way they can try to neutralize McCain's perceived testosterone advantage. Or may be a seasoned diplomat who's well-regarded by all sides. Or better yet, Collin Powell
I honestly believe that Obama would rather step down and not run for president at all than to have Hillary running with him. The guy has such strong character, he stands for what he believes in. If he accepted Hillary he'd be going against everything he believes in and stands for. And I'm not talking about their democratic policies. I'm talking about her typical politics, her lying ways, and her sleaziness.
