Last week, when I wrote about Biden’s excellent op-ed in the WSJ, I hadn’t seen this Newsweek article all but declaring the cabinet post deal done.
“(Biden)…is emerging as a major consigliere to Barack Obama—perhaps with his eye on State once again. Among the top items on Biden’s agenda: making sure that Obama has better luck in November than Kerry did. That means, first, relentlessly attacking and counterattacking the Republicans on the campaign trail, especially on national-security issues. And, second, relentlessly defining John McCain as “joined at the hip” to Bush, as Biden put it in a speech in Washington on Tuesday.”
Yes, this article is abit over cooked in its speculation, but I am glad to know that Biden and Obama are speaking on a regular basis. I can’t think of anyone else on Obama’s team who might qualify (Susan Rice, Zbigniew Brzezinski?), but who else do you think would be a great Secretary of State for Obama?
But better than this is:
“In an interview, Biden said that he and other leading Democrats are “absolutely, thoroughly, totally” making a conscious effort to ensure that Obama doesn’t become the next Kerry.”
I think that this counts as declaring. But all in all it also looks like he’s seriously auditioning for Obama (with all of that consulting and advice and all), which now takes him off my VP list. But while I think it may have been smart to keep his powder dry, I really don’t think he would have gotten the nod in a Clinton administration — long-time Clinton loyalist Richard Holbrooke (no foreign policy slouch, either, but more on the belligerent side) would have gotten the nod. I would have put money on it.
So if Biden gets to be Secretary of State, who here gets his Senate seat?