CNN is busily trumpeting the news that a tiny but mighty group within the White House examined the effect of replacing Joe Biden on the 2012 ticket with Hillary Clinton. What is interesting in their presentation are the key questions: Did President Obama know? (Strong probability.) Did VP Biden know? (Probably not. Their ticker reads that he dodged a bullet he did not see coming.)
Absent among the questions is whether Hillary knew. We do not know the answer. The question, apparently, is not considered relevant. That alone is telling. Hillary Clinton is not a game piece. Like the rest of us, she is flesh, blood, bone, and brain (a lot more brain than the other 99% and I am not talking financial assets). Her knowledge of and stance on the switch-off Halperin and Heilmann refer to certainly deserves some discussion.
Anita Finlay reminds us that women are not cardboard cutouts. That includes Hillary Clinton who is not Betsey McCall or a piece of illegal ivory on a chess board. Surely one of the people whose life would have been most heavily impacted merits some consideration by pundits so concerned about whether the two top guys knew about Bill Daley's focus groups. (Obama appears to know very little about what goes on in the whirlwind around him - but that is not the point,)
The story CNN and its pundits ignored, emanating from a second book due out soon, is that following the election Obama tried, perhaps more than once, to convince Hillary to remain for another year as Secretary of State and that she declined stating that it was time for her to leave public office.
Make of it what you will. As stated above, these new publications join a library of gossip surrounding Hillary Clinton who is, after all, a human being whose feelings, opinions, and considerations on these issues that would have hugely impacted her life should be taken into account.
Personal take:
1) Hillary had mapped out a four-year plan of action as Secretary of State. She had accomplished what she set out to do and never intended to remain with the administration longer than she did.
2) I am sick of Hillary Clinton being used as a political football. She is sweet and kind and has her own true concerns and issues that supersede those of this or any administration. She is addressing those effectively in her current role as private citizen and that is worth watching.
3) Hillary Clinton, after 40 years of public service, deserves the kind of private life most of us consider our due.
4) What Anita said.
