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.
No. See last sentence of the 12th Amendment.
Easy...that would be John effin...he’s been grooming his international cred of late.
Shes running for Anti-Christ in 21016.
She will be almost 20,000 years old.... Will she be able to do it?
As long as she aint nowheres tired she could run. Although,she would be up against the vast right-wing conspiracy.
Anyone brave enough to take sniper fire in Bosnia is tough enough to be President.
LOL!
I doubt there’ll be much clinton nostalgia left over by then. It was already mostly gone 4 years ago.
She has not forgotten 2008.
Even I think she was just royally railroaded by the Obama machine.
As far as she is concerned they can sink.
There is not enough botox and spackle in the world to make this face media-friendly — not now and especially not in four years!
And .. don’t put it past the Clintons to undermine this regime under the table. They’ve been known to do worse to people who cross them.
She will be almost 20,000 years old.... Will she be able to do it?
Well, there is no age limit. Although,I would have to do a google search to find out but I think she has to be the spawn of Satan.
In which case about half the Democrat[ick] Party leadership qualifies.
Nice to know who's really running the country. All we have to do when Hillary runs in 2016 is point out that we've already had two female Presidents...Obama, and Valerie Jarrett.
And one heartbeat away from the first Black president, whose demise would leave her with immense sympathy and power not unlike LBJ enjoyed? With the Clintons' history of "removing" those who got in their way, one would think this offer would interest her.
Everything you said makes sense... even up to the part about being consulted about a replacement. My doubts come from the way the press dealt with Biden's gaffes. The norm for a democrat is for the press to ignore 'slips'. That didn't happen - and I doubt Obama or his people have the power to pull press strings on this level - mockery of a Dem VP... That's more a Clinton gift via James Carville and his type...
That said, I'm standing with you on this one... she was not asked directly to be VP but was asked for her opinion on a replacement...
She can't risk losing and becoming a scapegoat which is a strong possibility, maybe even a probability. If Bambi wins, he might be the most unpopular president ever after his second term.
She can run with or against Bambi in 4 years if he wins, depending on how the second term works out. She can run against Romney in 4 years if he wins.
Win-win-win in her mind.
I’m betting Cuomo will throw his hat into the ring in 2016. He’ll have run for re-election as Governor by then.
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