The problem with this strategy is two-fold. If Obama becomes president, all of the factors that led to Senator Clinton being passed over are in play again: the baggage of an ex-president shambling around his old digs on Pennsylvania Avenue and ogling the interns, and Hillary’s high negatives and unbounded thirst for power.
The second problem is Governor Palin herself. Unlike Hillary, Sarah (as all of her constituents in Alaska seem to call her) did not get to be where she is by riding on the coattails of her husband. She in genuinely likeable, something Hillary isn’t. If the McCain campaign can be bothered to write some new speeches for her (she seems to be simply repeating her “greatest hits” from her acceptance speech on the stump so far), Sarah comes across as tough as Hillary but more human.
Scott Ott, of Scrappleface, told a story on a CNN web panel: he was in the bathroom at the Republican convention when he overheard two journalists discussing how Sarah reminded them of someone but they couldn’t place her. Scott opined that she reminded them of a real person, a rarity in politics. She isn’t the product of focus groups and polls, driven by soft socialist theory that she has to keep hidden from the voters. She is certainly not beholden to special interests that have funded her political career as both Obama and Clinton are. She’s not going to get teachers’ unions to contribute or knock on doors, so she can pursue a realistic reform of schools that puts the students, not the unions, first. She’s already implemented a successful market approach to generating more energy and more tax profits from the oil industry, personally besting the efforts of representatives and senators from both parties in Washington.
There is no doubt that a last-minute substitution of Mrs. Clinton for Biden will shake up the campaign and influence many voters’ decisions. Will it be enough to overcome the new energy and popularity of the Palin/McCain McCain/Palin ticket? My money remains on the Republicans, who will make history with the first female vice president (and then in four years inexorably the first female president). Dresses and “down to earth” persona will beat pants suits and pardons.
http://www.chronwatch-america.com/articles/3549/1/Obamas-October-Surprise/Page1.html
But, Biden really isn’t the problem. He’s only made two gaffs serious enough to be reported. The comment about Gov. Palin’s nomination setting women back 20 years and asking the dude in the wheelchair to stand up.
The big stinky stuff has been spoken by Obama himself or one of his surrogates, and HOW would Hillary change any of that? Plus, poor Harry would be getting 2 VP’s if he called in Hillary for reinforcement. His personality isn’t strong enough to overcome that.
I think that, for better or worse, Nobama is stuck with Biden. A few of my reasons are that:
* It is too, too transparent for Biden to get “sick.” They can float that out, with as many doctor reports as they want. It would simply not be believed. They have played on our gullibilty too often. No one believes Nobama when he says that he wasn’t calling Palin a pig. We can’t prove it, but when you take the entire week in context, put it together with his body language, no one really believes it. No one believes that Nobama was just “scratching” his face when he shot Hitlary a bird during that speech. It happened twice at the same spot in the speech with the same pre- and post-gestures and smirks. No one believes it. Just because we can’t prove them wrong doesn’t mean we accept them as truth. No one would believe that Biden is really sick.
*Second, getting rid of Biden calls into question the first executive decision that Nobama made. If he screwed up so badly on this as a mere candidate, how many other screw-up decisions would he have to recall as a President with far greater consequences. Many people will call his judgement into question and vote against him on that basis.
*Hitlary may accept a spot as the VP, but it won’t go down well with the PUMAS. They all know how she was treated earlier and they are not happy. Some may accept this treatment as better than nothing, but many would say that second choice is a no choice, that it is an insult to expect her to now pull his chesnuts out of the fire.
*Mishelley won’t allow Hitlary on the ticket because it would make it appear that Nobama is less of a man and cannot survive w/o Hitlary riding in to save the day. Shelley is riding Nobama’s coattails as well and to put him down is putting Mishelley down too. She won’t let that happen.
I don’t think we’ll see a change. The ticket is Nobama/Biden and it is another Hill & Bill type marriage.
Harry=Barry