In the absence of a truly competitive Democratic primary, rumors have begun to sprout that the Democrat most threatening to Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid is, again, Barack Obama.
The narrative goes that 2008-era acrimony between President Obama and Hillary Clinton has not faded, and that Obama would rather see a Republican follow him into the White House than Clinton.
There is no truth to this, Democrats of both camps say, nor does it make much sense. But when such a tantalizing theory enters the political ether, echoed on cable news and in online columns, it tends to stick — and this particular one, fueled by those dynamics, has quickly caught on among a segment of influential conservatives.
Dick Morris, an alum of Bill Clinton’s White House who has since become a vocal critic of the Clintons, echoed the idea this week on a New York radio program, saying the controversy over Clinton’s use of personal email at the State Department was sparked by an Obama ally.
“I think the reason the email scandal got released to the newspapers by the administration was because they wanted to torpedo Hillary,” Morris said, in reference to a recent report by the New York Post’s Ed Klein, whose coverage of the alleged feud includes the 2014 book Blood Feud: the Clintons vs. the Obamas.
Asked about the surprisingly resilient narrative, former Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor emailed a clip from the 90s comedy Billy Madison, which begins: “What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard.”
Put more seriously, most Democrats see quite simply Clinton as their ticket to keeping the White House after 2016 and maintaining the changes Obama has implemented. It’s cool pragmatism that supersedes any lingering ill will.
“Electing Secretary Clinton is the best way to ensure that Republicans won’t unravel the work the president has done to get the economy back on track, help the middle class, and get millions of people healthcare coverage,” Vietor said.
Indeed, this is the tone that Clinton’s team has lately been striking, by acknowledging the Democratic successes of the Obama administration and suggesting Clinton would be the best steward of his legacy.
In a tweet Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of Obamacare, Clinton listed popular facets of the law. “Repeal those things? Embrace them!” Clinton tweeted, accompanied by a photo of Clinton hugging Obama.
Clinton and Obama met in the White House this week, as they occasionally have, in an off-the-record discussion — a sign that the lines of communication remain open.
Although many Republicans are skeptical that Clinton and Obama have completely moved past the scars of the 2008 election, they aren’t banking on a Clinton-Obama rivalry to win the election for the GOP, and most doubt Obama would seek to derail Clinton’s candidacy.
“No doubt there’s still some tension existing between the two, but given the administration’s unwillingness to work with or notify the House and Senate on practically anything, it’s hard to conceive how Obama would want any Republican filling out the presidential brackets,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “Were Hillary Clinton to lose, though, it’s clear there would be no short supply of schadenfreude.”
Without another strong Democratic contender for the presidency, meanwhile, Obama alums have been lining up to support Clinton. Former White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri will hold that role in Clinton’s campaign. Obama’s former campaign manager Jim Messina will help lead the pro-Clinton political action committee Priorities USA. Other Obamaniks who have signed on to Clinton’s team include polling guru Joel Benenson. Were Obama’s allies to deliberately “torpedo” Clinton’s campaign, it would be a spectacular suicide mission.
“It’s an appealing plot line for conservatives,” said one Democratic operative, “but it’s one that’s completely detached from reality, and one that I assure you won’t cause Democrats to lose any sleep.”
