Monday, March 10, 2008

A Clinton Ploy

Recently, both Bill and Hillary Clinton have mentioned Barack Obama as a vice presidential running mate. This is remarkable when one considers that Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates 1,578 to 1,468 and that he is likely to maintain that delegate advantage regardless of what Clinton does in the remaining contests, including Pennsylvania. All this makes it difficult to view the proposal as something other than a strategic but cynical ploy to placate Obama supporters, particularly black voters and attract voters sincerely torn with having to choose one over the other. For if Hillary Clinton sincerely believes that Obama is insufficiently experienced to assume the responsibilities of commander in chief, it surely follows he is no more experienced to be vice president, given that the vice president must be ready to assume the presidency in the event of the president's incapacity. (This talk is also absurd for another obvious reason. If Hillary wins the nomination, the position of vice president, for all intents and purposes, will fall to husband Bill. Anybody who believes otherwise is not dealing in reality.)

Apparently not to be outdone by his boss, febrile Howard Wolfson, Clinton's chief spokesman, told reporters in a conference call: "We do not believe that Sen. Obama has passed that key commander-in-chief test" supposedly required by Clinton in a running mate. But not to fret, Obama, Wolfson believes, can bolster his credentials before the Democratic Party national convention in Denver in August. Thanks Howard.

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Alexandria, VA, United States
'To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle." - George Orwell