Posted on 08/17/2012 9:18:11 AM PDT by null and void
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was pressed by her husband and a top Obama aide to consider replacing Vice President Joe Biden just a couple of weeks ago, claims the author of the New York Times bestseller "The Amateur."
But Clinton, exhausted from four years of international travel and diplomacy, shrugged off the suggestion to lay the groundwork for her own 2016 bid with her husband at her side, according to author Ed Klein.
"As recently as a couple of weeks ago, the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary Clinton was interested in replacing Joe Biden on the ticket," Klein told Secrets. "Bill Clinton, I'm told, was urging his wife to accept the number two spot if it was formally offered. Bill sees the vice presidency as the perfect launching pad for Hillary to run for president in 2016."
He made similar comments Thursday night to CNBC's Larry Kudlow. The White House has dismissed speculation of a Clinton for Biden swap despite a string of recent gaffes by the vice president.
Klein, whose book is No. 2 on the NYT bestseller list, quoted unnamed sources who revealed that top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett put the vice presidency on the table during a lunch with the secretary of state. "The lunch was ostensibly about policy issues, but the subject of the vice presidency came up," he said. "Hillary told Valerie Jarrett that she was not interested in running as Obama's vice president."
Klein said she cited two reasons: If elected, she didn't want to be tied to Obama's left-leaning politics in her own 2016 bid. Second, if Obama loses, she would be tarred as a loser.
New on Friday: Klein told Secrets that Bill Clinton is working fast to get a 2016 Hillary for President campaign up and going. His sources told him that Clinton is sniffing around for a major donor to offer up a jet for the potential candidate to use. Also, Klein said, Clinton is looking for somebody to take over the Clinton Global Initiative "so that he can devote his full time to Hillary's campaign."
Klein has sources deep in the Clinton camp and he said that they said she is eager for a rest followed by a makeover. "She clearly is exhausted. She needs to lose weight and get her energy back for a four-year slog."
He added that Obama has never talked to Clinton about replacing Biden. The reason, said Klein, is that Obama was afraid she would turn him down and Bill Clinton would leak the snub to the media.
She’ll be 69 then.
“He added that Obama has never talked to Clinton about replacing Biden. The reason, said Klein, is that Obama was afraid she would turn him down and Bill Clinton would leak the snub to the media.”
He would, too.
“He added that Obama has never talked to Clinton about replacing Biden. The reason, said Klein, is that Obama was afraid she would turn him down and Bill Clinton would leak the snub to the media.”
First time Obama was ever right. Looks like Bubba was leaking even tho the quasi conditional semi somewhat offer was thru a proxy.
Hillary does have work to do. Bury the weight and the grooming sloth, which has always been her true self. A trademark really, when she isn’t running for something.
Why would he White House put out feelers? Wouldn’t Obama simply ask her?
..no, she had her chances in '08 and this cycle
she should have run against Obama, like Kennedy did Carter (probably with the same result)--by 2016 the clock will have completely run out on the Clintons...
If Hillary runs in 2016, she’ll be as old as Reagan was when he ran in 1980 (69). Don’t think she’ll be able to pull it off like Reagan did. She’s not aging quite as gracefully. Despite his age, Reagan came across as a positive, energetic person on the campaign trail. Hillary...not so much.
That report, with Biden and Obama and Clinton at lunch, reminds me of “The Maltese Falcon”, when Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and Kaspar Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) are figuring out how to cooperate together and lay all of the blame on low level thug Wilmer, who happens to be in the same room and is unable to stop the open plotting against him.
All this talk about Hillary just means the Obama campaign is broke and they don’t know how to fix it.
- Can’t run on the economy
- Joe is proving that he’s always been an a$$
- The MSM is upset that Zero won’t talk to them
- R2 is taking the fight to them on Obamacare and Medicare
- Mitt won’t give them his tax records
Besides, Klinton is old and tired and hasn’t had a new idea in years. Bill is pushing it for his own purposes, just to get back in the spotlight.
I tend to agree with you.
1. Hillary voted for the Iraqi war resolution - that debate all over.
2. Hillary will have to explain why the DoS wanted to give Libya millions of dollars a month prior to the US campaign.
3. Hillary will have to explain why she thought Bashir al Assad was a reasonable fella.
Can she and Bill Clinton constitutionally HAVE a second co-Presidency?
She is rejecting running with a very flawed and hated president that even his party is not happy with and refusing to run 4 years from now with his failed policies and blame on her shoulders. She instead will take on running with an enthused dem base in 4 years after the reign of a republican president whose base already does not like or trust and with 4 years under his belt of proving to his base he is no conservative.
Yep...I would make that choice also if I really wanted to win.
Amen. If she runs in 2016 “with her husband by her side” they’ll both look like a couple of escapees from the convalescent home. (He already does, and she’s increasingly looking like she’s well past her “sell-by” date.)
Without wanting to be thought of as sexist, I think that issue would be greater with a woman than with a man. A woman, regardless of qualifications, may be unfairly discounted for the presidency if too young and pretty (I think that was a real problem for Governor Palin, particularly with other women) or for being too old and decrepit, as the Hildabeast is increasingly looking.
Any speculation on who the next Secretary of Hate will be?
I heard they’re going to ask Jimmy Carter to take Biden’s slot on the ticket.
Kerry is rumored to be next in line.
Obama is stuck with Slo Joe. They will keep him on a very short leash and be guzzling Tums during his debate with Ryan. A gaffe eruption could happen at any time, anywhere.
I think it’s believable, especially in the light of the way Obama has treated her as SOS. She has been the least powerful, most ignored SOS in history and she has been reduced to a laughing-stock, doing the electric boog-a-loo in Third World countries for the amusement of the press.
This would only get worse if she were VP, and I think she sees it as blurring her “brand identity,” so to speak.
If she does want to run for President, I think she wants to put some distance between herself and Obama first. They’re equally left-wing, so it’s not that she doesn’t like his policies (or those of whoever sets them). But he’s fumbling and bumbling, on top of having dissed her virtually every time he has had the chance to do so, and I don’t think she wants to be associated with that.
Also, maybe she does think he’ll lose...
And after having said all that, I don’t think she was even asked to be VP at the supposed meeting a couple of days ago. But I do think she was called to consult (as a sort of proxy for her husband) in the selection of a replacement for Biden.
Dunno. Who would satisfy the requirements?
Must not outshine Obama
Must be utterly ineffectual in supporting our allies
Must support our enemies at every turn
Must be approved by by the House of Saud and/or CAIR
LGBTTQ a plus
Covert Marxist, Stalinist or Maoist a plus
Not photogenic a plus
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.