NY Times reports unnamed Clinton associates say she’s resigned to losing and will drop out and endorse Obama next week. Which is no big surprise. All the current storm and fury signifies nothing except that she expects (and probably should get) a plum post in the Obama Administration or maybe be VP.
The Telegraph UK is reporting Clinton will be offered a “dignified exit“, a place in Obama’s cabinet as Health secretary or a major role in steering health care legislation through Congress, but that she will not be offering the VP post.
In a few weeks, the current supposed irreparable split will be forgotten, the Democratic Party unified, and Obama will continue to be ahead in the polls for the general election.
Recent history should leave us a bit suspect of “unnamed sources”.
There are no good choices. When I came back from ‘Nam, like a lot of guys like me I said “Fuck it, that was my vote”. I sat out the process ’till ’99, when I learned that AWOL was AWOL as I did my tour. Though no fan of Slick-Willie, or Al Gore, or John Kerry. My participation has been of no value, there are no good choices.
Fuck it, my vote was ‘Nam.
Smart move, keeping her off the ticket. Offering her the VP post would pretty much torpedo Obama’s (currently excellent) chances and revitalize the ailing GOP.
People forget about the 1968 Republican convention, which was badly split between Nixon, Rockerfeller, and Reagan. Nixon didn’t get the nomination until Wisconsin put him over the top, and only won it by about 50 delegates in all. That didn’t hurt him in the general election, although Spiro Agnew sure did.
In 1976, Reagan came very close to denying the nomination to President Ford. Ford then ran what was probably the best campaign in American political history and, had the election been held a week later, probably would have beaten Jimmy Carter. (The prospects of Iran going bad and high gas prices under Ford might have denied Reagan the presidency in 1980 and would have avoided a whole lot of other trouble Reagan caused).
So a contested nomination doesn’t necessarily spell disaster for the candidate.