As we take the long, floating soft leap off the wedding weekend and hit the hard Monday ground, we are met with the first, to my knowledge, suggestion from a Democrat that Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, replace Joe Biden on the 2012 ticket. In an Op-Ed in Politico today, L. Douglas Wilder, former Governor of Virginia, suggested just that.
Obama-Clinton ticket for 2012
By: L. Douglas Wilder
August 2, 2010 04:35 AM EDTWith midterm elections approaching, and many focusing on politics, more than a few people want to determine what the tea leaves might mean for 2012 — when the “Big One” is on us again.
It would be good for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to address some important issues — now.
The president’s poll numbers can be read different ways, depending on who is doing the reading. One thing is clear, though: He has to improve his favorability numbers, as well as the unsettled national mood reflected in the “right track/wrong track” indicators. Neither is easy. Nor is there a simple fix.
But one thing Obama can do is reconnect with the 2008 campaign themes he used to barnstorm the nation: “audacity’ and “change.”
Since Obama has expressed admiration for the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that Doris Kearns Goodwin paints in “Team of Rivals,” he could do the 16th president one better: He should name Hillary Clinton as his running mate in 2012. That would be both needed change and audacious.
We have been hearing this suggestion from Republicans, some U.K. sources, and Fox News types, but this is the first I have seen it suggested by a Democrat.
The problem with this White House is not Joe Biden. Bless his heart, he does provide comic relief from time to time, and he is out there in earnest doing his job. He presides over the Senate, makes speeches to explain policy, and has traveled as requested. The problem with this White House, in part, is that the POTUS is not IN it. Nor is he on Capitol Hill trying to get bipartisan support for important bills like the extension on unemployment benefits and such. No, he is on the road campaigning. So while Joe sits in the Senate Chamber doing his job, the White House is devoid of a leader.
