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HILLARY CLINTON AS McCAIN'S RUNNING MATE: Is it possible? With the Clintons, anything is possible.
*New York - To get an opportunity at the Presidency in spite of likely losing the Democratic Primary to Senator Barack Obama, would the indefatigable Hillary and Bill Clinton try a new if not an eyebrow-raising tactic?
And that's having Hillary Clinton as the Vice Presidential running mate to Republican Senator John McCain. Is such an unthinkable thing possible?
With the Clintons, you bet it is.
In Politico.com last week, writers Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen wrote in a widely quoted article, "Story Behind the Story: The Clinton Myth," that Hillary Clinton had virtually no chance of winning the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Vandehei and Allen observed that:
"Unless Clinton is able to at least win the primary popular vote - which also would take nothing less than an electoral miracle - and use that achievement to pressure super delegates, she has only one scenario for victory. An African-American opponent and his backers would be told that, even though he won the contest with voters, the prize is going to someone else. People who think that scenario is even remotely likely are living on another planet."
Adam Nagourney wrote in a March 24 New York Times article, "One Bruising Scenario for Clinton":
"Make no mistake about it; Mrs. Clinton's task in trying to overtake Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is daunting. And it grew even tougher last week, when the collapse of efforts to redo the Florida and Michigan primaries almost certainly ended her hope of narrowing Mr. Obama's lead in pledged delegates and of being able to claim a majority of the popular vote when the voting is done." Then Nagourney offered an almost implausible scenario when he stated in his article, "First of all, Mrs. Clinton not only has to win Pennsylvania on April 22, she has to swamp Mr. Obama there. And she has to go on and post a convincing win against Mr. Obama in Indiana, a state where the two appear evenly matched. Results like those would serve to underscore concerns among some Democrats that arose after Mrs. Clinton had beaten Mr. Obama in Ohio, suggesting he was having trouble getting blue-collar white voters into his column. It is one constituency that aides to Mr. McCain see very much in play this fall."
And clearly, Obama would have to find himself in a 'Spitzerized' moment, as in the lightning downfall of the erstwhile Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer and his set of dark circumstances in order to be swamped by Clinton as Nagourney has suggested. With Senator Barack Obama, that's simply not going to happen. Pouring gasoline on the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright brush fire by Clinton acolytes at Fox News by most intelligent accounts seemed to have all but, fizzled. Moreover, the 'Wright' dustup only offered Senator Barack Obama an opportunity to shine ever brightly in his speech on race that is now been placed along side that of Lincoln's classic 'Gettysburg Address' and Martin Luther King's nearly incomparable, 'I Have A Dream' speech. So, try as they might via a host of bigoted surrogates including the breathless Sean Hannity and the incorrigible Rush Limbaugh, the fires that were supposed to engulf Senator Obama did just the opposite. When faced with the controversy surrounding his long time Minister, Barack Obama seemingly rose to a rarified air seldom visited by a mortal human being, and certainly not a modern day politician.
So, if the entire 'scorched earth strategy' employed with a negative and vengeful élan by the Clinton team has failed, and her hopes at swamping Barack Obama in the remaining contests would not dramatically alter the terrain, then what is her strategy. Of course, the only thing we know for sure and clearly echoed by Senator Barack Obama recently is that the "Clintons do not like to lose." And virtually all Clinton watchers, whether her competitors or friends of the past two decades, agree on one uncontested fact, and that is the Clintons will attempt to win, "by any means necessary."
But, while the media has been painting a virtual no win strategy or an unlikely doomsday collapse scenario for the Obama Campaign via the established Democratic rules, there is another strategy that goes virtually unnoticed and without comment. Perhaps it's a bit farfetched, but with Bill and Hillary Clinton, nothing in their attempt to 'win' is farfetched.
She could possibly run as a Vice Presidential candidate, not with Barack Obama, but on the John McCain ticket. Before you dismiss my theory out of hand, let's look briefly at the facts, as we now know them. First, the Republicans are as desperate to maintain the White House, as the democrats are to win it. Although Senator John McCain was not the Republican candidate of choice, he has bested what most considered a weak field of candidates to become the Republican nominee.
Of all the political candidates that have come and gone over the past fifteen months, two kindred spirits who both believe that they're the anointed ones and are best to be President of the United States are John McCain and Hillary Clinton. And both are single minded in their quest to do so. With most candidates running for public office, a defeat is the time to acknowledge and pledge to support the winner. That's pretty much the accepted protocol in American politics. But, what is accepted protocol by most politicians does not apply to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Jefferson Clinton.
Rather than pledging to return to the U.S. Senate and working with Barack Obama if he is elected President and being a major force in steering his legislation through the U.S. Congress, Hillary Clinton will not likely have any of that.
Over the past few months, the Clintons have warmed up to John McCain in ways that have many scratching their heads. Just recently, Bill Clinton made the "two great Americans" remark…referring to his wife and John McCain. And before that, Hillary Clinton said in no uncertain terms that only she and John McCain have passed the "Commander in Chief" test. Now, were these statements slights to Senator Barack Obama? Of course they were. But, it also could have been a not so subtle overture to Senator John McCain to consider Hillary Clinton as a possible running mate.
So, if her defeat to Senator Barack Obama is a reasonable possibility according to established democratic rules, what's to prevent Hillary Clinton from doing the nearly unthinkable and joining John McCain as his Vice Presidential running mate?
And if by some miracle of chance, McCain were to win with Hillary and Bill Clinton campaigning 24/7, she'd be first in line to run as an Independent or Democrat or even as a Republican in 2012. But, you ask, would she not totally be ostracized by the Democratic establishment. Certainly, but the example of this in just recent memory was when Senator Joe Lieberman bolted the Democratic Party to become an Independent. He had done so as in his view the Democratic Party had abandoned him in his US Senatorial race in Connecticut. And to save his job, Lieberman, having lost the primary as a Democrat, opted to re-run as an Independent and won. He caught grief from the Democratic establishment in doing so, but at the end of the day, he'd saved his job. Now, Lieberman is considered one of John McCain's closest advisors. The two, along with Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, who is Co-Chairman of the John McCain Presidential campaign recently made news on a high profile and somewhat controversial media focused trip to Iraq.
My guess is, most of the Democratic elders were already alienated when Bill Clinton lost control of the U.S. Congress to the Republicans in 1994. And, the Monica Lewinsky memories still linger which caused many long standing Democrats to lose their seats. There's not a lot of good will remaining between old time Democrats and the Clintons. So, after she loses fair and square to Senator Barack Obama, she will not go quietly into the night. Look for Hillary and Bill to try and cut a deal with McCain. He's the only Presidential candidate they could possibly do business with now.
Ronald G. Bookman is President
of Ron Bookman & Associates, Inc.,
An Investment Advisory firm with
Offices in New York and Mobile
www.ronbookmanandassociates.com
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