Posted on 08/17/2012 9:18:11 AM PDT by null and void
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was pressed by her husband and a top Obama aide to consider replacing Vice President Joe Biden just a couple of weeks ago, claims the author of the New York Times bestseller "The Amateur."
But Clinton, exhausted from four years of international travel and diplomacy, shrugged off the suggestion to lay the groundwork for her own 2016 bid with her husband at her side, according to author Ed Klein.
"As recently as a couple of weeks ago, the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary Clinton was interested in replacing Joe Biden on the ticket," Klein told Secrets. "Bill Clinton, I'm told, was urging his wife to accept the number two spot if it was formally offered. Bill sees the vice presidency as the perfect launching pad for Hillary to run for president in 2016."
He made similar comments Thursday night to CNBC's Larry Kudlow. The White House has dismissed speculation of a Clinton for Biden swap despite a string of recent gaffes by the vice president.
Klein, whose book is No. 2 on the NYT bestseller list, quoted unnamed sources who revealed that top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett put the vice presidency on the table during a lunch with the secretary of state. "The lunch was ostensibly about policy issues, but the subject of the vice presidency came up," he said. "Hillary told Valerie Jarrett that she was not interested in running as Obama's vice president."
Klein said she cited two reasons: If elected, she didn't want to be tied to Obama's left-leaning politics in her own 2016 bid. Second, if Obama loses, she would be tarred as a loser.
New on Friday: Klein told Secrets that Bill Clinton is working fast to get a 2016 Hillary for President campaign up and going. His sources told him that Clinton is sniffing around for a major donor to offer up a jet for the potential candidate to use. Also, Klein said, Clinton is looking for somebody to take over the Clinton Global Initiative "so that he can devote his full time to Hillary's campaign."
Klein has sources deep in the Clinton camp and he said that they said she is eager for a rest followed by a makeover. "She clearly is exhausted. She needs to lose weight and get her energy back for a four-year slog."
He added that Obama has never talked to Clinton about replacing Biden. The reason, said Klein, is that Obama was afraid she would turn him down and Bill Clinton would leak the snub to the media.
Bill will probably go the way of Vince Foster, though it will look more natural. That gives Hillary the best of both worlds. She get’s the sympathy vote with none of the baggage.
I guess I need to reserve another website.
OMG, could Bill Clinton actually be the VP ?
Do tell. I think the 2008 campaign accelerated Hillary's aging. She's going to be 69 in 2016, but she already looks older than that:
Anyone else here think that Hillary doesn’t want to be on the ticket because she can’t stand the little creep and doesn’t want to go down in the history books with his name attached to hers?
I really doubt that Hillary will run when she is pushing 70 years old, although I could be mistaken.
To me, the Clinton’s time to reach the top has faded...
I read the line-up of moderators for the debates and I would bet that Old Joe will be fed the questions prior to the debate. That’s no guarantee that he won’t shove his loafer down his throat, but with the help of his staff he’ll at least know the name of the state in which the debate is being held.
EODGUY
From my understanding, Hillary would be glad to call it quits.
But Bill Clinton is still after that third term.
No matter how one pronounces that name it cracks me up!
She doesn't want to be link with the Liberal Messiah more than she is already. I think she made the right decision.
Oh, darn! I was looking forward to “The Fag and The Hag” campaign signs. :)
A really evil person would feed Joe the wrong questions...
So you compare Hillary to Reagan?
You’re messed up, man.
I don't think she has the physical stamina for the job, plain and simple.
“A really evil person would feed Joe the wrong questions..”
Now that would be a debate worth taping for posterity.
EODGUY
They will undercut him whenever they can without harming what they feel is "their turn" in 2016.
Problem is, if Romney and Ryan are elected and the turnaround comes about like it has every right and capability to do...then she will be a woman Mondal in 2016 and lose big time. The leftist/liberal/progressive failures will still be too fresh in people's minds, particularly when compared to the resulting prosperity that will come from correcting it.
She will lose either way, but she will go down helping us take the Kenyan down.
“A really evil person would feed Joe the wrong questions..”
He’d have an answer for everyone...
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