As we take the long, floating soft leap off the wedding weekend and hit the hard Monday ground, we are met with the first, to my knowledge, suggestion from a Democrat that Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, replace Joe Biden on the 2012 ticket. In an Op-Ed in Politico today, L. Douglas Wilder, former Governor of Virginia, suggested just that.
Obama-Clinton ticket for 2012
By: L. Douglas Wilder
August 2, 2010 04:35 AM EDTWith midterm elections approaching, and many focusing on politics, more than a few people want to determine what the tea leaves might mean for 2012 — when the “Big One” is on us again. It would be good for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to address some important issues — now.
The president’s poll numbers can be read different ways, depending on who is doing the reading. One thing is clear, though: He has to improve his favorability numbers, as well as the unsettled national mood reflected in the “right track/wrong track” indicators. Neither is easy. Nor is there a simple fix.
But one thing Obama can do is reconnect with the 2008 campaign themes he used to barnstorm the nation: “audacity’ and “change.”
Since Obama has expressed admiration for the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that Doris Kearns Goodwin paints in “Team of Rivals,” he could do the 16th president one better: He should name Hillary Clinton as his running mate in 2012. That would be both needed change and audacious.
We have been hearing this suggestion from Republicans, some U.K. sources, and Fox News types, but this is the first I have seen it suggested by a Democrat.
The problem with this White House is not Joe Biden. Bless his heart, he does provide comic relief from time to time, and he is out there in earnest doing his job. He presides over the Senate, makes speeches to explain policy, and has traveled as requested. The problem with this White House, in part, is that the POTUS is not IN it. Nor is he on Capitol Hill trying to get bipartisan support for important bills like the extension on unemployment benefits and such. No, he is on the road campaigning. So while Joe sits in the Senate Chamber doing his job, the White House is devoid of a leader.
The tea leaves tell me that Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have done enough bail-outs of a President who was not ready to govern when he was elected and fails to do so now. No it is not the bottom of the ticket that needs replacement. Joe is doing his best. It is the top of the ticket that will be a problem in 2012 if Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name is not there. No compromises are worth considering. Hillary on the top of the ticket. Period.
I would hope that you would take a moment and read my DailyPUMA article on what needs to change for Hillary Clinton to win in 2012.
http://dailypuma.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-is-really-stopping-hillary-clinton.html
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I am sure there is more than one wealthy over 40 person out there who perhaps together get a controlling interest in TVLand. Interesting suggestion. I hope one of those people sees your post!
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I just read you piece and have another, similar angle for you to consider.
First off, I come at this from a different point. I’m twenty-five now – well within the age range you described and during the ’08 election cycle it seemed that the same thing that made her and her husband so attractive to young people in the nineties worked against her and for Barack Obama in 2008. In 1992, Bill Clinton was a good looking, well spoken, guy with a cute family talking about “a place called Hope” and preaching about the need for change since there had been a republican-held White House for 12 years. The other candidates looked old and out of touch by comparison. In 2008, Barack Obama was the young guy with the stylish family and the message of “Hope and Change”. The Clintons now looked old and disconnected from young people. If I’m truely honest, my friends and I joked (affectionately) about Hillary looking like our mothers.
I supported Secretary Clinton in’08 and know others my age who did, but we are serious policy voters. We’d debate issues during breaks in rehearsals. It’s what we like, so we were less concerned with appearances, but those who were saw “the cool guy” vs. “their mom” and picked who they’d rather hang out with. They would’ve voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 for the same reason, but the difference between Bill and Barack is that Bill Clinton had governing experience and good policies. President Obama is not so lucky. Getting re-elected is a whole different thing from getting elected. Charm will not save a president’s behind if they have nothing to show for their four years in office.
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Well, I am glad to know you and some much younger people I encountered were issue-oriented in 2008. I listened to all the debates and a lot of the speeches. Then, and now, the difference for me is substantive planks in the platform vs. walking on the charismatic cloud of hot air. He had no plans then, and he still does not. When he needs one, he calls in the Clintons. Of the first 3 days of this week he will be out of DC for two. The Oval Office is vacant. This is no presidency. Young people today are noticing. they think he should be “at work.”
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Because they’re not.
It’s hard for a lot of educated young people afraid that they’ll be declaring bankruptcy before declaring full independence from their parents to see someone they put their trust in take the job he was given for granted – especially when part of that job is fixing the job market.
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True. Or even if they are, and their parents are, they know what “work” means.
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And meanwhile there’s the Secretary of State bouncing from one exotic location to another and giving her daughter a fairy-tale wedding. She’s the “likable” one now.
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Not to mention all the treaties she’s signing and carrying home and he is not bothering to push through Congress for ratification! Grrrr!
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I meant going from one exotic location to another in the context of her work. They see her working. They also see how gracious she is every time someone brings up her defeat in the election.
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And every night, be it Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, David Letterman or Kimmel, it was male bashing of a strong female candidate that hurt Hillary Clinton the most in 2008, moreso than her age.
And, the bashing that went on in 2008 magnified the age difference between Hillary and Barack Obama. ALL THE MEDIA ignored talking about Bill Clinton’s record until AFTER Hillary Clinton was out of the race. I remember Chris Matthews glowing talking one day about how Barack Obama and the democrats should remind everybody how well the country was doing in the 90’s under Bill Clinton.
Really?
this could not be discussed while Hillary was in the race?
With no real television base, people had no where to go to show their support for Hillary Clinton in 2008. I felt like an outsider in 2008 when it came to watching news about Hillary Clinton’s campaign and I certainly had no way to support advertisers who supported her Channel, because she had no channel.
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That’s true – burned into our collective memory. But I think the worm has turned now. I don’t think 2012 will be like 2008. We had that experience and know what COULD happen, but if the DNC has any sense and wants to keep the White House, the one-trick-pony is not the one to ride in on!
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In college, I was a Theater and Media Arts major. The idea of every politician having a “channel” does not sit well with me. Beyond that and as weird as it sounds, people of my generation really didn’t see Hillary Rodham Clinton as a woman running for president, or if they did, it wasn’t seen as a huge deal. We are, by and large, post-women’s-movement babies. Woman have been occupying positions of power for most, if not all, of our lives. The Chris Matthews crowd may have had that issue, but it wasn’t imparted on the youth vote.
The issue was that it was Hillary – a person who has been being belittled for as long as most of the youth vote can remember. If it’s sexism,we don’t see it because she is, to us, a caricature rather than a person because of all the stuff – most of it, admittedly, is bullfunky – that we’ve heard and perhaps even said about her. She’s been a comedy piñata for nearly twenty years. How do you take someone seriously after years of that. Without a serious change of image, no one would choose her over the suave younger guy with the soaring rhetoric unless they were a committed policy voter (like me :D) who were bothered by the lack of a concrete plan beyond behind all the fancy words. Also, she never seemed to try to get a piece of the youth vote – like she’d given up on them from the outset. Everything she put out there resonated with my mother, but failed to really move me or anyone else my age. Her policies and ideas matched my own,so she had my support, but not my affection. She has my mother’s affection.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/23/AR2009122301315.html
This is an article you’ve no doubt read about a book I really ought to read called Notes From the Cracked Ceiling and I thought that was food for thought as well.
Today, it’s a different atmosphere. Barack Obama is losing the youth vote because of the lack of jobs and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is proving to be nothing like the heartless, loveless egomaniac she’s been portrayed as for years. She also is increasingly seen as one who delivers on her promises, unlike the administration. MSNBC may still tingle for Obama, but young people are increasingly disaffected.
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Wow. I talk a lot. Sorry.
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Perfectly fine!
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Check it out, readers. Good article.
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Joe Biden has to stay. I like him and not just because he makes me laugh. He’s taken a lot of flack for saying stuff that his boss won’t touch. When the going gets tough, they send Joe to take one for the team… again. He’s also a lot more personable than his boss. I usually dismiss that sort of ‘have-a-beer-with-you’ nonsense, except, when something like the BP spill happens, that type of approachability means something to those that are hurting. So Joe stays and your girl ascends.
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*two thumbs up*
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DEMOCRATS HEAR US ROAR – “ON THE TOP OF THE TICKET” – IF YOU ARE DAMNED AND DETERMINED TO KEEP OBAMA THEN PUT OBAMA AS VP SINCE HILLARY REALLY WON THE FIRST TIME AND HE CAME IN SECOND!
NO MATTER WHAT PUT HILLARY ON THE TOP!
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*two thumbs up* (Wish I had more thumbs.)
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Hillary don’t play second fiddle in NOBODY’S BAND!
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No second fiddle! Top of the ticket!
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Everytime I watch and listen to Hillary speak as SoS–she is so real and authentic–without notes & a TelePrompTer. Obama continues to be distant and remote–much to his detriment. Our problems are too big and too serious at this time in our history. Hillary can bring some backbone as well as badly needed empathy for Americans, which this WH has failed to effectively communicate. I want her on the ticket in 2012. It would electrify her supporters from 2008–the 18 million of us.
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Yes, Tanya, the 18 million PLUS the former Obama coalition members who are peeling away every day. Her backing will be much larger next time around.
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You are right–they are peeling off by the day.
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well I’m one of those 18 million and I didn’t sit down, I didn’t shut up, and I didn’t get over it. I want to take my party back. That is what must be done. We must take our party back and draft Hillary in 2012. She won in 2008 but this time, she’ll end up in the white house where she belongs. he’s had his chance. we knew he wasn’t ready, we knew he had no character, we knew he was an empty suit. the whole damn thing was one huge mistake, and it needs to be corrected. Hillary on the top of the ticket in 2012. nothing less.
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We’re all still out here, and we’re strong! We are going to correct the course.
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STAMP!!!!
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Thought I’d give you all a present.
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Oh! She looks so KNOWING! (Because she IS!) Thank you! (She also looks beautiful and cute,)
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I agree and cannot wait to put our best foot forward! Here-Here! Go Hillary!
Like last time around, I am willing to be the first to donate for Hill 2012!!!
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Well, there was that article from Sally Quinn saying Obama should dump Biden and replace him with Hillary, so that might have been the first Democrat to make such suggestions recently.
But, I agree with you Still4Hill….it’s Hillary at the top of the ticket in 2012!!
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I think if Obama stays on Hillary’s ticket..it will hurt Hillary..
You may or may not agree with me but that young Cantor, who is a republic, would be a great running mate for Hillary.
He is bright, energetic and honest. Not too many of those left in either party.
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thanks for that photo! That’s where Hillary belongs, at the podium with the presidential seal. look at Obama. he looks like a lost puppy.
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tkxiu !
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😉
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