Howard Fineman was on MSNBC with Keith Olbermann, and he repeated that, based on his reliable sources, Hillary Clinton really does not want to be Obama's vice president, despite what you are hearing from Clinton surrogates, including Lanny Davis and Diane Feinstein. Fineman then gave his explanation for why he thinks Hillary doesn't want it.
Before I heard Fineman's explanation, I was a bit incredulous, because it seemed to me that Hillary's speech tonight was a signal that her campaign for vice president was beginning. But, after hearing Fineman's reasoning, I'm starting to think he may be right.
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Fineman's argument boils down to this rather simple point: being vice president is a lousy job for someone of Hillary Clinton's stature. The only way for the VP slot to appeal to Hillary is if she could be a vice president in the Dick Cheney mold. Problem is, there is no way Obama would let her do that.
Instead, if she took the slot, she would have to subordinate her own independent political identity and play the loyal spokesperson for Barack Obama and his policies for up to eight, very long years.
When I heard Fineman make that point, I thought, oh . . . he's absolutely right. There is no way someone with Hillary's ego and ambitions could play the loyal, subordinate soldier to Barack Obama for eight years. That would be like a prison sentence for Hillary. She wouldn't be able to give her own speeches without considering another person's policies and views, and she'd always be seen, not as her own person, but as Obama's subordinate. And I can't emphasize this enough, if she became VP, she'd be seen as Obama's subordinate for up to EIGHT YEARS.
She's led a life living in the shadows of her philandering husband for several decades. Could she really stand to make a choice to stand in the shadows of her another man for the next eight years?
So, I'm starting to come around to Fineman's argument. It actually makes much more sense, given what we know about Hillary Clinton. So, what to make of her statement that she is open to being VP, her defiant speech, and all the VP talk by her surrogates?
My theory - Hillary is bluffing, big time, to gain as much leverage as she can to get what she really wants from Obama. The question is, then, what is it that Hillary Clinton really wants? That, is the $64 million dollar question. And I don't think anyone really knows. Does she want Obama to adopt her health care platform? Does she want him to make women's issues a more central part of Obama's campaign? Does she want one of her surrogates to be VP? Does she want to play a big role at the convention?
I don't think anyone really knows the answer to what Hillary really wants. The next few days will be very interesting.