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Broadening his VP search beyond Hillary Clinton, who clearly isn’t on the top of the list, the Obama campaign is apparantly vetting former Pentagon brass with in an effort to fill in the foreign policy and military experience holes in his candidacy.
Story from Yahoo News:
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama is considering former top Pentagon leaders among his possible running mates, which would address his lack of foreign policy experience and balance the military bonafides of a GOP ticket led by a war hero.
Two senators who consulted Tuesday with the Democratic presidential candidate’s vice presidential vetting team said retired military generals were among the names they discussed.
“We talked about many names,” North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad told The Associated Press, including “some that are out of the box, but I think would be very well-received by the American people, including former top military leaders.”
They discussed roughly 20 names with Conrad, who would not disclose any of them. Obama’s campaign has been keeping the process a closely guarded secret.
GOP candidate John McCain was a naval aviator during the Vietnam War and spent more than five years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese after being shot down. Obama has not served in the military.
Obama has a three-person team managing the vetting process that includes former first daughter Caroline Kennedy, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Jim Johnson, the former CEO of mortgage lender Fannie Mae.
Holder and Johnson have been meeting with several Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to get their input.
Beyond the vetting, Obama has been playing off questions surrounding the controversial VP selection team he’s assembled, video report from ABC News:
Meanwhile, one possible choice that I thought would be on the short list was Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. Today Strickland definitively stated he does not want the job and would not accept if offered, story from Fox News:
Barack Obama’s running-mate search just got a little bit easier.
Ted Strickland, the Democratic governor of the swing state of Ohio, attempted to rule himself out Tuesday, telling NPR’s All Things Considered he would “absolutely not†join the Obama ticket.
Strickland, who supported Hillary Clinton during the primary but has been floated as a potential Obama running mate, told NPR in no uncertain terms that he is not interested in the job, and would not take it if asked.
“If drafted, I will not run; nominated, I will not accept; and if elected, I will not serve,†Strickland said in the interview. “So, I don’t know how more crystal clear I can be.â€
He added: “That does not mean that I am any less committed to helping Barack Obama become the next president.â€
It makes sense he’s looking to add some serious military muscle to his candidacy, he will need it when standing next to McCain.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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I can’t see any better pick than Jim Webb.
I understand he’s had several meetings with Colin Powell trying to learn something about military matters.
Babs,
I honestly think Gen. Powell would be an wonderful pick. Our last 2 presidents didn’t have as much of a grasp on foreign affairs, or military matters the way he does. Plus he isn’t truly republican or democrat. He is just good old American with a mix of conservative, moderate, and maybe a liberal view or 2 I haven’t seen that side, but hell I wish he would have run for President on either side.
Melvin, I said years ago I would have voted for Powell for President, and I think it’s too bad he didn’t run. But then that’s one of the reasons I support McCain, the military strengths. Would it swing my vote if he were Obama’s VP pick? No, the VP just doesn’t have the power Obama would have,and I still would go with McCain. But I really do have a lot of respect for Powell. He’s a ten on my scale.
Lets hope obama does’nt dissqualify for POTUS. Theres stories going around that he is’nt even a American citizen. Back in Janurary, when someone broke into the records of Clinton/mccain/obama, it was obama’s people who got caught. I think he should wait til he is the REAL nominee, not the presummed. Chances arte he may not be eligable.
jon, I’ve heard the stories going around as well, and I don’t understand why Obama doesn’t just produce the birth certificate and lay it to rest. If the media is correct in its reporting, he’s refused to do that. McCain certainly took enough scrutiny for his birth in the PC.
Jeff Edwards,
You mean the Jim Webb that got his azz kicked by Oliver North in a boxing match? The same Jim Webb that disrespected the office of the presidency and said he wanted to punch the president?
Babs, even though the VP might not have the power of the president, Obama seems like the type of guy who would listen and get advice from those close to him. So I think having someone with more experience as his VP is a good thing.
Matt, most anyone Obama chooses is going to have more experience, and I applaud him for at least seeking out Colin Powell for advice, he couldn’t have picked a better authority and I understand he has had 3 meetings with him seeking advice about the war. That was during the time that his Iraq strategy began to shift a bit, and I assume it was because he may have taken a little of Powell’s wisdom to heart. He only gets kudos from me on that one.
Obama has been looking at some of the very leftt radical choices lately, as I have seen on the news.
Powell as VP is a fantastic idea; it would really do wonders for Obama in the terms of experience/military issues.
It’s too bad Edwards isn’t expressing VP interest. The Obama/Edwards matchup beats McCain in every possible scenario I’ve seen, regardless of McCain’s VP choice.
i hear obama is making his wife resign from the public eye due to her obvious lack of patriotism.
stop cap and trade
vote glen beck
Michelle,
Where are you getting these scenarios from? Just curious.
Happy to oblige, Stalin. It’s data from SurveyUSA; here’s a link featuring these scenarios.
http://www.jedreport.com/.....-by-t.html
Michelle,
Thanks, as I suspected, McCains numbers go up when he picks a conservative. Whew!
Well, my word, when I went to the link, Michelle, and looked at the links at the top I could sure tell which way this site was biased. *LOL* They don’t even try to look fair, do they?
And Michelle, Patrick’s post echoes a thousand just like it I saw on Yahoo. =/
*LOL* Yeah Babs, I was hesitant to post that link but I did want to show Stalin that chart. I run over to that site when I’m in the mood for some very Pro-Obama coverage. I try to even it out by making this site my main source for neutral articles.:)
I did actually go back to the Obama website and do some digging, and found some posts that fall in the category you were referring to. But there are also posters that welcome Hillary supporters and urge the negative blogging to stop.
By the way, I found this totally funny pic while I was searching. All in good fun, McCain supporters!
McCain supporters express their feelings about their nominee: http://i118.photobucket.c.....McCain.gif