Democrats ask, “Too clever by half?”
The announcement was originally to be made by text message Saturday morning, but was leaked to Fox News via an anonymous telephone call late Friday night. It is suspected that the caller may be a butler or other employee of the Clinton household, as the call was traced to a pay phone outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, New York.
Obama’s nod to Clinton for vice-president appears to be an attempt to heal the rift between the senator’s supporters and those of Hillary Clinton, just as Democrats prepare to begin their national convention in Denver on August 25. Though many Obama supporters counseled that choosing Hillary Clinton as a “unity pick” could make the Illinois senator look weak, the choice of Bill Clinton allows Obama to avoid a Hillary pick at the same time as he capitalizes on a large base of Clinton supporters and the former president’s popularity.
The Clintons are expected to contribute a sense of sobriety and experience to the campaign, balancing what many perceive as Obama’s youthful naïveté and self-aggrandizing pomposity. Once in the White House, both Clintons can then advise Obama in areas outside of his expertise, such as foreign policy, health care, taxes, the economy, trade, Social Security, military issues, education, energy, the environment, transportation, agriculture, telecommunications, labor issues, race relations, and last names of world leaders.
Clinton’s acceptance, however, is not without its trade-offs for the Obama campaign. According to the caller, Clinton negotiated transfer of Hillary Clinton’s campaign debts to the Obama campaign as well as a shift in the DNC conventions programming: Obama will now speak during Sen. Clinton’s Monday slot, while she will have the convention’s last word on Thursday. Parties also came to an agreement regarding White House office space after the election: former president Clinton will assume the White House’s vice presidential offices, while Hillary Clinton will occupy the West Wing offices normally reserved for the president’s staff. Obama, in turn, will work out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Admittedly, Obama/Bill Clinton may yet turn out to be a risky ticket given the former president’s “fairy tale” comments during the Democratic primary campaign, even as Obama becomes the Clinton’s—and John McCain’s—fairy godmother.
