Barack Obama is acting pretty antsy about bringing the Democratic nominating process to a close. He and his team are talking about turning toward the general, but they don’t quite seem to believe it themselves.
As he walked the stage in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, Obama sounded as if he was trying to convince himself that his long ordeal was over.
The problem is that his opponent, like the much-abused Milton Waddams in the movie “Office Space,” won’t stop showing up, no matter what he does to her. And Obama surely remembers that after Milton finally did get the message (only after losing his beloved red Swingline stapler), he burned down the building.
Obama will feel a lot better once he knows whether Hillary Clinton will burn the joint down.
It is not to Clinton’s advantage to do any more to hurt Obama — at least overtly. The idea of wrecking the party in a doomed effort would be totally out of character for her. She might wreck it to win, but not to lose.
There will be the requisite amount of fist pumping and hugging before Clinton and Obama turn frozen smiles toward the cameras at the Democratic convention. She will accept her loss and act enthusiastic.
But what will the former first lady turned second-place finisher choose for herself? And will she demand that Obama provide it before she exits (stage right, of course)?
– Clinton could barge her way onto the ticket. While pundits salivating over yet more drama and Republicans tantalized by the prospect of the most awful Democratic ticket since Mondale met Ferraro are pushing for this scenario, it’s not a good bet.
Clinton could certainly use her delegates and twin arguments about disenfranchised women and unimpressed Appalachians to make it happen. But the vice presidency would hold little appeal for someone who’s already been the No. 2 in an administration.
And as her argument on the stump reveals, Clinton believes Obama will fail. If she were his running mate, she’d get most of the blame — especially if she got on the ticket in a strong-arm move.
Obama certainly wouldn’t object to her veep demurral. Aside from wiping out his already weakened argument that he is a break from the politics of the past, this strategy could have Hillary and her husband both rattling around the executive branch, undermining Obama’s authority and credibility. And unlike regular appointees, you can’t fire your vice president.
– Clinton could take a new position of distinction. Justice Hillary Clinton. Aside from making Ted Olson wake up screaming, the idea of a victorious Obama appointing Clinton to the Supreme Court would have the advantage in the minds of many liberals of taking her out of political circulation for good.
That is, of course, exactly why she wouldn’t like the idea. Plus, imagine the confirmation hearings. They’d have to rent space just to store the disclosure documents.
There are other appointments Obama could make that would not be political exile for Clinton. Many have enthusiastically suggested Clinton for secretary of state. He could promise to nominate the hero of Tuzla for more overseas missions, but if Obama reinforces the idea that he needs to be backstopped on foreign policy, voters will be put off, not reassured.
For Clinton, the idea would have some appeal, as it offers high visibility and a chance to burnish her foreign policy credentials. The downside would be that she would not be free to set her own agenda and would be a scapegoat when Obama’s initiatives run into resistance overseas. The trust isn’t there to make this one work.
– Clinton could return to become the mistress of the Senate. The Democratic old guard is passing, and the current boss, Harry Reid, has had a lackluster run. Clinton gets kudos for her mastery of arcane Senate rules and consensus building. Her greatest admirers think this is the part for her — the next liberal lion of the Senate and the first female Senate majority leader. It’s a boring, procedural job, focused on bureaucratic minutiae — a good start on convincing Clinton.
And if she truly believes Obama will lose this fall, what better role could Clinton have for the next four years than that of chief tormentor to John McCain. She would be in the public eye, wordlessly reminding Democrats of her warnings about the inadequacy of “Hope.”
And she could re-establish her liberal credentials by thwarting McCain’s agenda. At age 65 in 2012, she’d still be a whippersnapper by Senate standards.
