Posted by
beltway girl on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 2:44:05 AM
Hillary Clinton delivered what may have been the best and most important speech of her life tonight. Looking confident and well-rested, she showed the party why she won all those votes and took all those states.
The reason why Hillary is not on this ticket remains a mystery. Some sources have suggested that the veep vetting process would have involved releasing damaging documents regarding Bill's donors to the Presidential Library. This is ridiculous. This woman was herself competing for the presidency. Any such damaging documents should either already have been exposed in her own candidacy or would ultimately have been exposed had Obama not amassed enough delegates to put her out of the running.
The logic is ridiculous. The UK Telegraph noted in a story in July that a Dem strategist had said the Obama camp would have to see records for the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Library in order to be sure there were no "ticking timebombs in there." This was, interestingly, something Obama had questioned her about during the primaries.
Some might argue that oh, well, this makes it very clear. Obama would look like a complete hypocrite if he took Hillary on the ticket without a complete vetting.
Bunkum. As if taking Joe Biden, the ultimate Washington insider, Iraq War-voting Joe Biden, wouldn't be vastly more hypocritical?
Had Senator Obama really wanted to take Hillary Clinton on as a running mate, he could have done so. None in the dog-eat-dog, eager-beaver press had already followed up on his suggestions to make Bill Clinton's donors into an issue. And there's no indication that they would have done so in the future. Even had something broken, could it possibly top Obama's own "issues" at this point? Highly unlikely.
Either Barack Obama didn't want Hillary Clinton at the bottom of his ticket, or she herself didn't want to be Obama's Number Two.
Which is it?
Let's explore the first option.
By the time we'd reached the stage of the fateful Obama capaign text message, things were already on a downhill slide for Barack Obama. He was not doing well in the polls, was coming off a poor performance at Saddleback, and was imbued in a bitter battle over his official position on infanticide. Etc.
Hillary Clinton would've provided just the jolt he needed to turn his flailing candidacy into a formidable force. Hillary Clinton would've packed instantaneous power into the ticket and added immediate bounce at the polls.
So why wouldn't he add Hillary?
Theories abound. Ego. The overpowering Bill. A frosty relationship with Hillary herself.
On the other side of this is the hypothesis that Hillary may have taken her own veep possibilities out of play.
Why would she do it?
Ego again. It would be something to be considered here, too. "It's going to be me." This was the inevitable nominee for a long, long time. Hillary Clinton felt she had worked, scratched, and clawed to be at the top of that ticket.
It's quite possible that Hillary might pay polite lip service to an Obama veep post, but would reject it outright if it ever became a reality. Not all that long ago, such a scenario would have been viewed as a joke by the Clintons.
Next, we have the idea that Hillary may have been protecting her own interests and political survival. Obama is, by no means, an unencumbered candidate, and, at this point, he is not looking like an inevitable president. We have issues and stories swirling around his head in great numbers. At this very moment, the same press that hasn't bitten at Clinton donor scandals is chewing at the bit for Annenberg documents, which involve the Obama-Ayers connection. We've got Wright, infanticide, Ludacris, and so much more.
And the very same factors that would have spurred an Obama to run to Hillary, the poll numbers, Saddleback, Obama's upcoming separation from the teleprompter, all of these same facts of life would put Hillary running from Obama's veep tap like it was a rat carrying bubonic plague.
What makes this mystery all the more interesting is that we may never know what actually happened. Right now, pundits are musing over this, and the general concensus is that Obama took a pass.
Don't be too sure. Had Hillary actually been the one to take the pass, would Obama's campaign want this leaked?
And would Hillary want to suffer the reprecussions from her party had this been the case?
Even in the event that party higher-ups had known, would they want this made public?
As Hillary Clinton stood on the stage tonight, she looked relaxed, she looked powerful, and she looked natural. She delivered a phenomenal speech under the circumstances. And Barack Obama, now fighting along without her, looks extremely vulnerable and weak. The Obiden "bounce" is speaking for itself, and when Barack Obama loses in November, this woman will have won.