June 6, 2008
"And I will be deliberate and systematic about it, because this will be my final counselor when I’m making decisions in the White House."
Based on that quote from Barack Obama, I'm going to predict that he will not pick Hillary Clinton as his VP. If that's his picture of what the Vice President will be doing, I don't think HC is in it.
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33 comments:
Whomever he picks, I bet the MSM won't mention gravitas the way they did with George Bush, I'm sure they think Bambi has enough gravitas of his own, no matter how callow and inexperienced he is.
"And I will be deliberate and systematic about it, because this will be my final counselor when I’m making decisions in the White House."
Oh great, now Obama is promising to be Bush's "3rd term"! Maybe he should pick Dick Cheney.
Palladian, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest that Dick Cheney will be needing a job come next January.
Forget Dick Cheney. Sounds like he is going to choose as a consigliere his wife Michelle!
Iago.
He should pick someone with a little less experience than him so as to avoid any bad comparisons. I suggest a city council person from Charlotte.
Bob,
Your comment is unwise. BHO's a self made success. Where you start matters. He ended up in the same place as his competitors, but he didn't start in the same place. Bush-McCain started with famous and connected families. HRC was the beneficiary of her husband's accomplishments.
BHO supporters can only hope and pray that McCain is surrounded with folks like you.
Regarding VP; I think Warner would be perfect.
If we're talking "final counselor" stuff as the main criterion, one quick look at the paltry list of qualified Democrats for the job screams no one is better qualified than the been there done that team of Hill and Bill.
My pick for Obama's VP is the current mayor of Toledo, Ohio, Carlton S Finkbiener. Our mayor is the one who kicked a Marine reserve unit out of the downtown area(vacant buildings) for their training. He also wanted to solve a noise abatement problem at the airport by moving deaf people into the houses near the airport. In other words; "They ruined a good horse's ass when they put teeth in his mouth!"
He'll come to the same conclusion about the Clintons as LBJ did about J. Edgar Hoover
It’s probably better to have them inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.
President McCain will be consulting VP Romney on all the economic issues.
On everything else not so much.
Obama goes back to the Senate, then on to another multi million dollar book tour and endless StuffWhitePeopleLike admiration.
Me, I'll be putt putting along in life, as usual.
Whoever the final counselor turns out to be, Obama should take care to pick a semifinal counselor who disagrees with the final counselor about everything. If Obama had gone directly to his current final counselor's position about how the status of Jerusalem must be negotiated between Israel and the PA, without first trying out the semifinal counselor's position that Jerusalem must remain united under Israeli control, the world would be a duller place.
Quoting Gail Sheehy from the NYT article:
As a result of being in this “emotional space,” Ms. Sheehy said, Mrs. Clinton’s speech did not look “graceful” or even “grounded.”
Did anyone give a good speech that night? This includes Obama, since his wasn't memorable in wording and delivery (it was in import, of course).
The problem with this Hillary Bubble Sheehy refers to is that all candidates live in self-protected bubbles -- Obama does too.
I don't think he realised just how close he came to being unseated by HRC, and how much he had to exert control over those self-same "surrogates" Sheehy mentions.
It's just that history is harsher towards losers.
I don't think he realised just how close he came to being unseated by HRC
The graphic I wanted isn't on the web, but as far as I recall, Obama led in pledged delegates from the start. Eventually the superdelegates acknowledged his lead among the rank and file, as well:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/06/03/us/politics/20080603_SUPERS_GRAPHIC.html
FLS, I think the process we just underwent, 5 months in the making, was touch and go. It wasn't certain until the Rules Committee decided what would happen.
It would take a very brave Democrat to say she never laid a glove on the guy during that time.
Althouse for VP!!
Btw, I love the new camera lens.
1jppb - (on Obama already having gravitas)
"Your comment is unwise. BHO's a self made success. Where you start matters. He ended up in the same place as his competitors, but he didn't start in the same place. Bush-McCain started with famous and connected families. HRC was the beneficiary of her husband's accomplishments.
BHO supporters can only hope and pray that McCain is surrounded with folks like you."
The military has some family pull involved, but tends to be more a meritocracy than most areas of American life. Many sons and daughters of generals and admirals and powerful politicians fail out of the Service Academies or have truncated, undistinguished careers. In fact, McCains father and grandfather were the first 2 generation line admirals ever...
And Mccain - with all his flaws - won his gravitas the hard way.
Barack Obama is more manufactured than self-made. As the Magic Negro of various powerful liberal's dreams, he has been mentored and guided and steered into patronage jobs (as was his wife) by some of Chicagos wealthiest and most connected (they control the Daley Machine, U of Chicago BOT, and Merchantile Exchange) since he was in his 20s.
Obamots neglect he was a student, then tried law for a few years, was a community organizer trying to wheedle more taxpayer dollars be sent to "his people", then a plum patronage position as senior lecturer while he spend some time as a part-time state senator.
Hardly gravitas - until you put him in front of a Teleprompter making Team Axelrod's written speech product "soar".
**********
My guess is he won't give HRC the VP slot - but will give her her version of health insurance - which has a far better chance than his version "opt out if you have no assets, affordable, voluntary insurance" , of working.
We can narrow down the field by using a technique know as process of elimination. He will not choose Rev. Wright, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson, or OJ Simpson. Diana Ross is still up in the air.
I really enjoyed this line from Solomon Obama - "You know, I am a big believer in making decisions well, not making them fast and not responding to pressure."
If choosing Hillary gives Obama the best chance for victory, he'd be dumb to not pick her.
This is a big test for Obama. Let's see if he screws it up like a typical Dimmicrat!
Trumpit: The only thing all those people share in common is that they're black.
congratulations. Why don't you add James Byrd Jr.'s daughter on the list of candidates for Obama VP just so you could be more obscene.
God bless you Cedarford.
Could you become a major McCain adviser? They really need your insights.
By the way, were you listening to Rush today? He was pushing the magic negro meme again. (If you were listening, did you think Rush was trying to hide that he thought his especially sycophantic caller (Rush make 2bil.) was nuts? Hopefully that wasn't you, no offense if it was.)
McCain's campaign should use Rush as measure of reality. And Hannity and Hugh too. Those folks have the gravitas to run a government: it makes perfect sense for wingnuts to follow these leaders, I hope they (especially McCain) continue to do so. By the way, can you think of a presidential candidate and incumbent who they loved and thought was the best thing since sliced bread? How did that work out?
Doesn't phrasing it the way he did -- that he wants a VP who will be his final counselor -- make it *harder* for him to exclude Hillary? He'll be saying that she's not worthy of the "final counselor" position. That seems like a questionable thing to say, considering that roughly half the primary voters liked Hillary more than him. If he ends up making a calculated pick that balances the ticket it will look even worse.
Obama needs a regular folks type - to reassure typical white persons that they will not be target No. 1 of his administration - as his Veep. I'm sure there is no lack of such poseur types in the Democrat ranks.
The final counselor jive is just that, jive. Anyone with half a brain knows by now that his only counsel will come from the Wright/Michelle/Farrakand School of Hate Whitey.
If Obama picks Hillary as his VP he'll need his Secret Service detail to keep an eye on her hands (especially when she's behind him). And he'll need a detail to wisk Billy to somewhere remote to minimize damage. Probably someone from Ringling Bros who has experience with handling clowns.
The general mistake being made here is assuming that his words mean something.
This is the guy who said one day:
"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."
And the next:
"Obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations."
The words mean nothing.
I presume the same of John "I'll build the god-damn wall if they want it" McCain.
Cedarford presents a time line puzzle, like one of those comic strips chopped into panels that you have to resequence:
Obamots neglect he was a (1) student, then (4a) practiced law for a few years, was a (2) community organizer trying to wheedle more taxpayer dollars be sent to "his people", then was a (3) law student, then (4b) his evident merit so impressed the top-ten University of Chicago that they named him one of their very few senior lecturers -- a peer of Posner and Easterbrook, while he spent some time as a (5) part-time state senator.
Being state senator is indeed a part-time job in Illinois. That's why he practiced law and taught conlaw courses at the same time.
If he is dumb enought to pick Hillary as VP, God help him. He will be president in name only. Uncle Festus and Hillary take a back seat to no one.
If she is forced on him by the party then he should do what JFK did to LBJ. Lock her out, ignore her, and tell her nothing. Just use her for the only thing she is qualified for and has experience at; social soirees and tea parties.
former law student said...
Being state senator is indeed a part-time job in Illinois. That's why he practiced law and taught conlaw courses at the same time.
From the looks of it being a US Senator or Congressman is a part time job too.
m.c.g.
You missed a perfect opportunity:
"take a back seat to no One."
The cap "O!" What, now I need to do the work of the anti-BHO folks?
Slackers.
Steve: Sir, are you the leader?
Peter: Jack is the oldest, but Ralph is the colonel.
[group voices votes for Ralph]
Jack Merridew: I guess you just won the election.
Ralph: It doesn't matter who's in charge. We've just got to work together. First, we build a camp
(Lord of the Flies, 1990)
Let us hope that Obama has gotten better at figuring out who to have as his counsel. So far, his track record in this regard is not impressive.
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