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The day after Barack Obama claimed the Democratic nomination and Hillary Clinton sort of insinuated she’s not quite ready to concede it, the two have spoke on the phone about party unification in the coming weeks. Not too many details other than a plan to “unify” the party in the coming weeks.
Video report from RNN:
Story from Breitbart:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama spoke directly with his vanquished rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday and expressed optimism they could achieve party unity after their bruising battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. He also accused Republican rival John McCain over of supporting a “plan for staying, not a plan for victory” in Iraq.
As he traded jabs with McCain over national security policy, Obama visited the Senate where Democrats and Republicans shook his hand and congratulated him. The Illinois senator disclosed he had spoken with Clinton, who was not in the Senate, earlier on the day after he claimed the nomination and she stopped short of conceding.
“I just spoke to her today, and we’re going to be having a conversation in coming weeks. And I’m very confident how unified the Democratic party’s going to be to win in November,” Obama told reporters as he left the Senate.
Asked if Clinton indicated she planned to concede, Obama replied, “It wasn’t a detailed conversation. As I said, I’m very confident of how we’re going to be able to bring the party together.” He dismissed a question about her refusal to concede after the final two primaries Tuesday night by saying she was “understandably focused on her supporters.”
So no deal has been struck as of yet and it appears this process may drag on a bit longer. I think it’s quite clear that the Clinton campaign has some demands they want met before she’s willing to actually concede the race and suspend her campaign.
She has some leverage since she’s still part of the headlines until she concedes to Obama and settles the dispute.
My prediction is that since it was floated yesterday that she’s now open to the vice presidency, I’m thinking that is where she’s angling. She received more popular votes, including Michigan and Florida, so she has an argument to make that Obama needs her on the ticket.
She did, however, praise Obama on his stated support for Israel earlier today:
We shall see in the coming days..
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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If hillary wants to claim her V(i)P she’ll have to change some attitude. She ran a Big campaign, but now it is time for her to fix the dammage. A lot of her voters are angry, very angry. It’s comparable with the monster of Frankenstein. She’ll have to learn them some respect and remind them what this is all about. Not Hillary, but their future. The future can be bright, aslong there is Hope. And Hope, my friends, lays in the democratic hands. Ask Bush on Irak
I’ve been thinking over the leverage bit, too. It seems like the most likely reason Hillary’s holding out, after all.
In truth, if she’s intending to use her numbers as leverage, I think she’s making a bad play there as well. I would imagine that her conduct throughout these last few months have made her a liability to Obama and the Democratic party, whether she’s handed VP or not.
With her attacks on Obama throughout these past few months, it’s unlikely that Obama is on the best terms with her, no matter what he lets on. With her rabid push for the seating of the delegates from Michigan and Florida against DNC rules and her unwillingness to step down gracefully, plus the way she and Bill pressured the superdelegates, she’s bound to have drawn some contempt from the Democratic party as well.
Acknowledging the fact that she isn’t on the best terms with Obama and her party, if she uses her numbers and supporters as leverage and forces her way onto the ticket, then there’s bound to be greater contention within the Democratic ticket. The party wouldn’t be unified under one candidate at all- after all, how could one support a presidential candidate when even his VP running mate has, on the record, questioned his political prowess time and time again?
Of course, if he doesn’t take her as VP, he loses a good chunk of Hillary’s contingent to McCain in places like WV and Kentucky, so it’s a lose-lose situation for him.
If Hillary were to step down gracefully and endorse Barack, some of the damage done might be mitigated, but if she pushes for a spot on the ticket without reconciliation, Barack will have a much more difficult time against McCain.
I think the decision as to a “dream ticket” is out of their hands. The VP will be nominated at the convention, no? Obama may not get the VP he wants if that’s the case, and I don’t think he wants Hillary. He’s appointed a committee to start vetting candidates, Hillary needs no vetting. He’s looking elsewhere. The Party may disagree with him though, it seems extremely split on the subject.
I have a feeling he’ll have his ticket put together before the convention. If he’s going to be congruent with his campaign’s message he won’t allow the ‘establishment’ to have the ruling hand in putting together his VP and cabinet. I believe his campaign’s enormous fundraising power gives him a certain level of autonomy from some of the entrenched interests within the party.
But the DNC has to vote in the VP for nomination just like they do the presidential candidate, its possible they can override any choice he makes. Kennedy didn’t get the running mate he wanted, remember.
Here’s an interesting article talking about some of the possible female considerations for VP.
http://blogs.wsj.com/poli.....her-women/
This may quell the voices calling for HRC to be the VP and take a lot of the wind out of her sails if she’s seeking to become VP at the convention. It might also serve to enable those Clinton supporters, who say they won’t vote for Obama, to rally around the Obama campaign.
all i know is that the picture you guys chose for this post is hilarious