All Is Illuminated

Hokey dokey...I saw the future and it's...cough...Lisa Caputo (Senior Analyst for HRC) on...ugh...MSNBC.

It's clear that they are jockeying for the VP.  Jockeying hard.  Caputo was basically saying, as I hear it, that if Obama wants HRC to go away, he has to "unify the party."  

After the flip

However, Matthews then asked her about HRC's view of the VP.  Caputo answered by saying it was VERY empowered during Clinton/Gore and doubtless the VP would remain empowered.  (Like Cheney...well, she didn't say that...but you knew it was coming.)  

You've heard it first.  The cost of unity is HRC as VP.  I don't know whether the Obama camp takes this seriously.  I don't know whether the DNC takes it seriously.  I have no idea how troubled they are by the possibility of HRC pulling a Gotterdammerung at the Convention.  In other words, I don't know how much outside pressure is being put on Obama to make it so.  I can only imagine that the Obama camp is resisting muchly.  I can also imagine that as of tonight, they are sitting with a fine looking hand.

In essence, I saw the Caputo interview as representing negotiations.  I have had a little...um...chardonnay tonight.  The latte didn't quite wipe out the alcohol.  Oh well.  I'm ordinarily not much given to short diaries but tonight is a night amongst nights.  Cheers.

•  please for the love of God, no

  don't do it Barack, don't do it!

  by gnat on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:49:00 PM PDT

  •  Is it just me?

    Or is it in the air?

    I hope not.  I've spent 8 years eschewing the news because of Bush/Cheney.  I don't want to spend the next several eschewing Vice President Bill and Hillary Clinton.

    by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:50:36 PM PDT

    •  Don't worry.

      All the spin dominos are falling one by one.

      We just have to go through the moves.

      by MAORCA on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:00:12 PM PDT

    •  It's in the air . . .

      it would surprise me if Clinton were serious about this.  If she is, Obama would have to give it serious thought.  She doesn't bring much to the ticket and would be an incongruous choice, but it would go a long way towards unifying the party.

      by Same As It Ever Was on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:27:44 PM PDT

    •  I agree with you completely

      

      Seems that is the Spin o' the Day and I am not buying it either.

      I hope it remains in the realm of spin.

      by highacidity on Tue May 06, 2008 at 09:39:04 PM PDT

      •  Yeah...

        screw it.  Aint gonna happen.  Hah.

        by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 09:42:35 PM PDT

•  Tipsy jar...

  If you are tipsy...signify by plonking the circle.

  by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:49:25 PM PDT

•  sounds like

  she is going to blackmail the Democratic party.  Make me at least VP or I will make sure Obama doesn't win in the fall.

  by BDA in VA on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:53:15 PM PDT

  •  That's what it sounds like...

    it's like the only possible scenario that makes a sense to me at this point.  It seems to be what some of the surrogates, at least, are pushing.  I just don't know how serious of a threat it is.  He's taken her worst...and has risen resurgent.

    by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:57:47 PM PDT

    •  He has shown us in his style of campaigning

      that he doesn't go in for political expedience.

      I hope he doesn't change his mind now!

      The Clintons would be a horrible drag on his presidency. Not to mention, a lot of suspect dealings (for example the library donors, the ethanol ties) that could surface during the general election or later. Who needs that?

      by Horsefeathers on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:05:57 PM PDT

      •  I hear you...

        entirely.

        by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:09:01 PM PDT

  •  Sounds like words that someone could say

    out loud when nothing else remained to be said, and was probably cooked up by a staffer assigned to produce some novel filler for the next couple news cycles.

    It doesn't have to be workable or mean anything, but if they lean on it, like everything else they've tried so far, it's going to backfire badly.

    by Creosote on Wed May 07, 2008 at 01:51:01 AM PDT

•  You really think Hillary would settle

  for VP? I just can't see it.

  by Eyz on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:58:34 PM PDT

  •  I didn't see her accepting it...

    but they have to know the writing is on the wall and I'm sure the'd at least like to keep the door to the WH open, even if as VP.  I just don't see how it plays out.

    Typically, the VP's role is defined, I would think, by the President and so the VP could be marginalized quickly.  I would also think that HRC would be willing to accept the position unless she negotiated certain points of influence.  I just don't see her having that kind of bargaining power.  Thirdly, I don't see why Obama would want to have ANYTHING to do with her...although I guess that's the art of politics.

    In sum, I don't see how it can happen but it certainly seemed like Caputo, a senior spokesperson, was advocating strongly for it.

    by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:02:32 PM PDT

    •  What about another position?

      Can't she do something else?  Something with more distance from him?  I DON'T want her as president.

      by not this time on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:49:45 PM PDT

    •  Could it be that she just wants it offered, to be

      "graciously" declined?

      by gfv6800 on Tue May 06, 2008 at 09:06:30 PM PDT

      •  Russert is saying...

        that she'd definitely consider it...and Harold Ford is desperately pushing the idea...but Russert also said that he didn't think Obama would be favorable nor could they be forced by the SDs.

        by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 09:19:15 PM PDT

•  The Clingons are deluded.

  Picking her as VP undermines the entire purpose and promise of Obama.

  In tonite's speech he said that NC's vote was for changing the game played in Washington.

  The Clingon stooges are clutching at straws. VP for Billary is not going to happen. That would be a surefire way to lose all the independent, republican and youth votes, not to mention attracting the wingnuts to polling stations in November.

  The FL/MI BS is just that.

  by MAORCA on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:58:38 PM PDT

  •  I would like to see a Governor as VP

    by kenjisan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:27:25 PM PDT

•  thought Harold Ford was slyly pushing for it as

  well. Can't happen because Obama's major theme to reform washington, includes the way campaigns are conducted. Hillary has so burned her VP bridge with her trashy campaign.

  by no expert on Tue May 06, 2008 at 07:59:13 PM PDT

  •  I don't see how HRC...

    is as much as a threat after tonight.  The MSM can continue to prop her up, I guess, but...hell...she's having to lend herself more money to keep going.  I would think her bargaining position has tanked.  I just don't know how seriously the party bigs take the threat of her "nuclear option."

    by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:04:11 PM PDT

•  what stage of grief is this?

  bargaining?

  by JMS on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:08:46 PM PDT

  •  LOL!!...

    Even Adam Nagourney *yes Nagourney) has handed this tear-stained copy to the NY Times:

    Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s loss in North Carolina on Tuesday night, combined with a tight race in Indiana, where the counting was continuing deep into the night, did nothing to improve her chances of securing the Democratic presidential nomination. If anything, Mrs. Clinton’s options for overtaking Senator Barack Obama may have dwindled further.

    For Mr. Obama, the outcome came after a brutal period in which he was on the defensive over the inflammatory comments of his former pastor. That he was able, at a minimum, to hold his own under those circumstances should allow him to make a case that he has proved his resilience in the face of questions about race, values and patriotism — the very kinds of issues that the Clinton campaign has suggested would leave him vulnerable in the general election.

    Options Dwindling For Clinton

    Et tu, Adam?  That must be very, VERY hard for you to write after the last three months of shoveling HRC's shit to the masses.  But hey...even the best of parties has to come to an end at some point.  Right?

    Yeah...I don't see her having too much by way of negotiation  position at this point.

    by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:12:59 PM PDT

•  Fortunately, Rachel Maddow is still reality-

  based.  Thank god someone still has a brain on the TV.

  by haremoor on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:16:20 PM PDT

•  VP "VERY empowered during Clinton/Gore"

  Is she talking about Al or herself in the 90's?
  In any case, the Clinton admin's record on global warming did not suggest a powerful VP.

  by SunWolf78 on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:16:52 PM PDT

•  And then how long

  until Vice President Clinton covertly spearheads the impeachment of President Obama?  

  I don't think he'll go for that.  He wasn't born yesterday, and her suggestion that he's that naive is very condescending.

  by ozarkspark on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:21:29 PM PDT

  •  Oh yeah...

    we're definitely talking I Claudius here.

    by mayan on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:28:06 PM PDT

•  Maybe

  They've concluded Obama is inevitably going to be elected, and Hillary (and/or her advisors) think VP is the best position from which to run in 2012?

  by OkieByAccident on Tue May 06, 2008 at 08:41:16 PM PDT