Paul Rahe speculates that Obama might want to replace Biden as VP, and especially with a dramatic and game-changing choice, which could only be…
…Hillary!
Yeah, that’s a forced exclamation point, because speculation about how to figure the Hillary-Bill-Barry dynamics is a very tired/tiresome excercise. And I’m with our Peter in worrying that conservatives like Rahe are overall underestimating Obama’s campaign situation.
So the real import of Rahe’s post is where he asks who might Obama appoint besides Biden or Clinton, and can only come up with a incredibly pathetic Reid-Pelosi-Gore-Kerry-Edwards-Waters-etc. list of top Dems who are all too unlikable, even ridiculously unlikable, to be any sort of game-changer for the Obama ticket.
Its been more than a decade since I left the Democrats, and for that reason and others I don’t think I have the best read on the party. So those who know the Dems, please read Rahe’s post, and tell me, who are Democrats of stature? The only names I can really come up with are Tim Kaine of VA, but he has to win again before we really award him that status, and Kirsten Gillibrand of NY, who is one of these young faces that may or may not have substance behind them. But who else?
Or is the Democratic Party, leadership-wise, as pathetic as Rahe presents it?
August 13th, 2012 | 6:19 pm
What about Andrew Cuomo? Not much experience, but he has name recognition and is seen as a pol who is willing to make spending cuts.
And if Cory Booker ever wins statewide office or Congress I suspect he would be formidable.
Neither are viable for VP, but they have bright political futures for the Democrats.
August 13th, 2012 | 9:02 pm
Yes, I thought of Cuomo right after I posted.
What’s the top-ten?
August 14th, 2012 | 8:10 am
Cuomo comes to mind, but I don’t think he really has appeal to the wider population. Plus he’s funny looking, which for better or worse almost certainly eliminates him from going for it all.
I’m not aware of any Dem governors who are considered worth anything. They have some mayors who get their moment in the sun but invariably seem to implode due to both personal scandals and overall incompetence on both an individual and party level. See Villaraigosa, Newsom (although his recent election to lt. gov. demonstrates how completely off the cliff CA is now) for current examples, Cisneros for a 90s version.
Booker’s the only guy in their farm system who seems to have a brain, and so of course their establishment hates him, as far as I can tell.
August 15th, 2012 | 9:01 am
Booker was recently quoted as saying he is no longer on the guest list at the Obama Whire House. His defense if orivate equity firms as protecting the pension benefits if state and municipal publuc employees was too much truth fir Obama.
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