Don Kates on Hillary and the VP slot

BRIEF SUMMARY: To understand what’s going on here we must realize four
things: 1) the last thing Obama wants is Hillary as a running mate; 2)
the last thing Hillary wants is to be Obama’s running mate; 3) what
Hillary does want is for Obama to lose so she can run in 2012 as the
Democrat who would have won in 2008 but the Party stupidly nominated
Obama instead; and 4) to help Obama lose, Hillary wants to alienate
voters from him by making it APPEAR that she gave her all for party
unity but he excluded her from the ticket.

1) Reasons why Obama does not even want Hillary on the ticket much less
as VP if he wins

a) Above and beyond anything else, Bill Clinton is an erratic,
supremely selfish, self-aggrandizing narcissist who could not resist,
and could not be stopped from, getting headlines by running his mouth –
even w/ his wife’s presidential nomination at risk. Obama has already
been hurt by damaging statements from Revs. Wright and Phleger. God
knows what stupid, hurtful thing Bill might say to garner applause and
publicity. And if Obama wins, having Hillary as VP would mean at least
four years of Bill getting headlines by running his mouth – w/o regard
to actual administration policy or truth or discretion.

b) instead of the customary loyal VP, what Obama would get from
Hillary as VP is a disloyal subordinate deeply resentful because she
feels that the top job should have been hers. God knows what all she
could and would do. At the very least be a source of endless leaks
harmful to administration policy. In any event, it is predictable that
she would be the most troublesome VP since Jefferson got stuck w/ Aaron
Burr.

c) Yes, Hillary has many strong supporters. But she also comes w/
huge baggage: a very high unfavorability rating plus a long record of
outright lies and shady financial dealings. What if in the middle of the
campaign she is discovered in some financial scandal or she asserts some
preposterous lie (e.g. that Obama was w/ her when she wasn’t) being
shot at in Kosovo). The ideal running mate is a VP candidate who brings
support to the ticket not one whose huge negatives must be balanced
against, and may outweigh, any support she brings.

No, Obama would never want her actually on the ticket. But what he
also does not want is to alienate her supporters by making them think
that she would have been willing to serve but he turned her down.

2) Reasons why Hillary would not want to be VP:

As senator from NY she has a substantial amount of power plus an
independent position from which she can dissociate herself from, and
even denounce, any administration decision she disapproves or which
proves unpopular. As VP she not only has no independent power at all,
but she is supposed to be loyal to the administration and regardless of
the merits of any criticism she makes of its policies, she will be
denounced as disloyal. As John Nance Garner summarized his own
experience. "The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss."

3) What does Hillary want?

For Obama to lose the next election so she can run in 2012 as the
Democrat who would have won in 2008 but the Party stupidly nominated
Obama instead. BUT she cannot afford to have it appear that she
sabotaged Obama.

So in a pretense at Romney-like party loyalty she makes a phony
offer to run on the ticket (for the sake of the party) – knowing that
Obama is almost certainly going to turn her down. Notice that her
"offer" has cleverly been phrased in such a manner as to allow her to
withdraw in the very unlikely event that Obama said yes. The whole point
is to help Obama lose in 2008. Hillary seeks to alienate voters from him
by making it appear that she gave her all for party unity but he
excluded her from the ticket.