Ever since Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, liberal elites have betrayed an obsessive interest in the political career of his wife, Hillary. These are the folks who treated Barack Obama like an uppity Negro for daring to challenge her ascension to the presidency in 2008, and who are now – with no hint of irony – advising him to make her his VP running mate for re-election this year.
Here, for example, is what no less a person than Bill Keller, former executive editor of the New York Times (2003-11), is proposing:
[It’s] just the ticket … just the thing to do to guarantee President Obama’s re-election… And meantime, you know, Joe Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He’s not a slouch on international policy. In fact, from the point of view of those disaffected liberals who were referenced earlier, you know, Biden is probably more popular – would maybe be a more popular secretary of state. So, you know, give him the State portfolio.
(NPR, January 11, 2012)
Mind you, these are the same folks who insisted, quite rightly, that George W. Bush would look like a wimp if he heeded unsolicited advice from conservative elites to dump Dick Cheney and select a more appealing VP running mate to guarantee his re-election in 2004.
Beyond this, they fail to appreciate that the last thing Obama wants is for anyone else, especially a Clinton, to be given credit for his re-election and, by extension, for what is destined to be his historic and transformational presidency.
Not to mention that if he did as they propose, Obama would become a lame duck on day one of his second term as the media focus turns to Hillary (and Bill), who would then be perfectly positioned to replace him as president in 2016 – belatedly fulfilling the restoration that was so generally presumed for 2008.
Indeed, this is why I think, as I suspect Obama does, that their proposal to put Hillary on the ticket this year is almost as misguided, if not condescending, as their presumption that his challenge to her in 2008 would amount to nothing but a “fairytale.”
Incidentally, my position holds even if VP Biden suffers a sudden heart attack before Election Day. Because listening to some of these folks one can be forgiven the impression that they are prepared to knock him off if necessary….
Ultimately, though, it remains my abiding opinion that – despite the universal acclaim she has won as secretary of state – the way Hillary deceived the American people (by being an enabling doormat and political spinmeister for her husband’s infidelities) makes her unsuitable to serve as VP, let alone president, of the United States.
On the other hand, her cupidity, cunning, and covetousness make her ideally suited to serve as an international banker. Which is why even I have participated in Washington chatter about her becoming the next president of the World Bank (WB).
Here, for example, is what I proposed:
Here’s to women replacing more and more men in positions of power. And none will be more heralded (and symbolic) than Hillary Clinton replacing Robert Zoellick as head of the World Bank when his [first] term expires next year.
(Lagarde to replace DSK at IMF, The iPINIONS Journal, June 16, 2011)
Well, this prospect had tongues wagging yesterday after Zoellick formerly announced that he would not be seeking to renew his contract when it expires this summer (on June 30). Because the prevailing view is that the only reason he’s not holding on to this highly coveted job is to make way for the covetous Hillary.
The WB will go through the formalities of selecting his replacement of course, but nobody doubts that Obama will exercise the same prerogative every other U.S. president has exercised over this process since the Bank was created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944:
[T]he irony is not lost on me that a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ exists between the United States and Europe which calls for an American to head the World Bank and for a European to head the IMF.
(Lagarde to replace DSK at IMF, The iPINIONS Journal, June 16, 2011)
To be fair, Hillary has pooh-poohed reports about her heading to the WB with the same conviction with which she has pooh-poohed reports about her running for VP (or president again). But I am convinced that she could not resist the former if it’s handed to her on a silver platter; whereas, given the disappointment of 2008, she would clearly be loathed to pursue the latter.
Accordingly, I urge Obama to have his White House aides begin shining that platter.
NOTE: Claims that it’s time for a non-American to head the WB will prove about as successful as claims that it was time for a non-European to head the IMF did until the European Lagarde was selected.
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Lagarde to replace DSK