It’s Biden.
The speculation is rampant since the release of the Convention schedule and the associated themes for each night.
Looking for clues on Barack Obama‘s pick for a running mate? Consider the Democratic convention’s theme for the night the vice presidential candidate speaks: national security.
Political tea leaf readers would argue that bodes well for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del.; Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who accompanied Obama on his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan; and Sam Nunn, former Georgia senator and one-time Armed Services Committee chairman.
It won’t be Hagel, as he is way too conservative on social issues. It won’t be Nunn for the same reason, and also because Nunn is a relic of the 1980’s and early 1990’s. He has been out of the public spotlight since then. And I doubt it would be Jack Reed for two reasons, even though he is a true progressive: 1) he is unknown nationally; and 2) Rhode Island inexplicably has a Republican Governor. Further, while the article does not mention Wesley Clark, I will. Had not Clark’s words about McCain’s service as a fighter pilot not being a qualification for the Presidency been taken out of context by the traditional media and the right wing noise machine, he probably would be the vice presidential nominee.
I think the right wing knew this, and the machine went into overdrive to kill Clark.
It won’t be Clinton. The petulance of the Clinton camp over the last week (Bill Clinton’s interview with ABC, Hillary’s leaked YouTube video about having a Roll Call at the convention, Wolfson’s remarks about Hillary winning but for Edwards, the coming Atlantic story about internal Clinton emails) proves that they know it won’t be them. Further, the convention schedule has Hillary being the Keynote Speaker for the Convention, and she will highlight Tuesday night.
And with foreign policy reemerging as an issue in this campaign, with Iraq demanding a withdrawal timetable, the Georgian War, and the impending impeachment of Perez Musharaff in Pakistan, it is doubtful the vice presidential nominee will be Governors Kathleen Sebelius or Tim Kaine, or Senator Evan Bayh.
Obama-Biden.
I called it first.
The downside of this is that Obama does not get to play kingmaker for the 2016 elections. But I wonder if we have seen the end of that tradition. Eight years is an eternity in politics.
Maybe in four years, Obama and Co. get the world and nation whipped into shape no need for Biden to run on the ’12 ticket. Kingmaker could then pick someone with qualities similar to his own to then run as the successor in ’16.
HRC speaking on August 26th, the day women got the right to vote.
Obama’s acceptance speech will be the anniversary of MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech.
A convention filled with symbols. I wonder how Fixed News will spin Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights as a bad thing.
The theme of the Vice-Presidential night is word-for-word the name of Wes Clark’s PAC.
Coincidence ? Probably. But don’t be so sure about writing him off. He is the one surging on Intrade today – not Biden.
Biden would be a delight to the criminal element. Note his partisan blocking of a well-qualified judge from the confirmation process. Is he trying to save the seat for Obama?
Will Beau Biden be his heir in the senate? This prosecutorial pipsqueak certainly is letting the goons at the psychiatric center run wild. What did he do about massive record shredding? Threats and abuse of nurses who cared enough about patients to play whistle-blower. Does Beau have a ‘Stop Snitching’ T-shirt in his wardrobe? What about the ripoff of a half-million in patient funds over the last year?
How long was a convicted felon head of the union at the hospital? I suppose clout is everything.
Either Democratic candidate for Governor is likely to mantain the Minner continuum of ineptitude.
I’m sticking with Clark for the very reason that he called McCain out on his military qualifications. That’s what VP candidates do.
The right wing spin just looked stupid crying boo hoo Clark said bad things about McCain. We need somebody to really fire back at all the bad things the McCain campaign is manufacturing to throw at Obama. Clark’s got the credentials to do it. And appeal to the same swing voters as McCain in the process.
But then, I didn’t believe the Edwards scandal so what to I know????
If it is Biden can you imagine the joy in the Delaware Delegation? They will be wild.
Rebecca, I think you’ve got a solid point. The whole conservative uproar about the Wes Clark thing didn’t really catch on as well as their outrage warranted. It seems that most normal Americans knew what he was saying and agreed.
Whether or not Clark’s comments hurt him, I doubt that the Obama campaign would pick him if they really researched the details of his last 3-4 years on active duty, including his service in the Balkans….
I’d say Biden or (my 10% alternate) a complete national unknown…..
Rhode Island inexplicably has a Republican Governor
I understand your logic, but some Republicans aren’t that bad . . .
Joe Lieberman?
The press treats him like an expert on national security because he wants to bomb the shit out of countries not named Israel.
Does this mean we will get a real AG? That puts a race against O’Donnell and Biden for the senate seat….hmmmm.
No! We can’t put Barbie and Ken against each other! Think of the children!
I’m still torn between Clark and Biden. And I’m thinking war records are off the table this year… unless McCain is foolish enough to go there.
This cat says Obama-Clark. Damn the torpedos. The right can’t diminish Clark.
Obama-Biden
Beware of a Centrist revolt (depending, of course, on who the GOP pick turns out to be), if this becomes fact.
If Maverick goes any further right than himself, then consider this moot.
It is not going to be Biden. As confident as they are, there is still such a thing as the electoral college to consider.
My money is still on Tim Kaine.
BTW, is anyone else signed up for the early notification text message?
I’m as giddy as a Celia Cohen.
Clark plus five on intrade futures market. Gephartd plus 8. Biden unchanged.
Please god no Dick Gephardt
Signed up this morning, J!
And agree… NO Gephardt!
Why is Gephardt even mentioned? He is a has-been like Nunn, out of office for years.
Yep, signed up. I propose a competition among us. The first one to post the breaking news here at DL gets a free drink from the others.
How is Bill Richardson doing on Intrade?
AUTHER
I hope your not referring to that Bushie U.S. Attorney of Delaware as a well qualified judge he is nothing but a Repuk party Karl Rove Hack
I’ll take Clark or Biden however I believe that Biden is a better attack dog. just loved the Rudie description a NOUN A VERB AND 911
I’m like 85% sure that it’ll be John Carney.
Richardson is at 4.0
NEW.DEM.VP.BAYH 26. -2.0
NEW.DEM.VP.KAINE 18.0 +1.5
NEW.DEM.VP.SEBELIUS 12.0 -2.5
NEW.DEM.VP.CLARK 10.0 +5.0
NEW.DEM.VP.BIDEN 11.9 0
NEW.DEM.VP.GEPHARDT 12.0 +8.4
NEW.DEM.VP.SCHWEITZER 7.5 +2.0
NEW.DEM.VP.CLINTON(H) 6.5 0
I don’t want Bayh! Blah…
Why do they bother putting an (H) behind Clinton’s name? It is unconstitutional for Bill Clinton to serve as Vice President since he is precluded from ever serving as President again (remember, the VP must meet the same qualifications as the Pres), and Chelsea is too young to meet the qualifications.
Wesley Clark nearly started a world war on the Balkans when he wanted to challenge some Russians protecting locals from Muslims. Fortunately, a British general had the good sense to intervene.
Let it be Biden and see if he has the guts to risk his Senate seat.
I don’t know…Rendell promised to deliver Pa. if Biden is the choice…and he really doesn’t fool around.
Risk his Senate seat? On what planet?
And Wes Clarke did not nearly start a world war. The British General decided that he did not want to stop the Russians from taking control of the airport — he may or may not have made the correct judgment, but John Warner held hearings in the Senate to discuss whether the British general had been insubordinate and taking ideas on how to prevent such behavior in NATO future. Not exactly the actions of folks worried about nearly averting a world war.
In your face Art Downs. Get out of here with that weak shit.
cassandra
With all due respect (seriously) you need to go back and examine the relevant records again; the Warner hearings were as soft a landing as could be arranged for Clark; significant elements among the senior US Armed Forces command structure wanted him cashiered; the Brit General–Jackson–had a far better lifetime record than Clark. Even Bubba wanted Clark put out to pasture.
Eventually, some day, someone with access will research and write the full story of Clark’s own insubordination and dangerous conduct in the Balkans.
He had a long-time reputation in the Army as a nutter before that….
By the way, jason, that “weak shit” about Clark–one of the easiest ways to access the story is through that bastion of conservative journalism, The Nation; you can go there through here
http://delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/wes-i-promise-i-wont-start-ww3-honest.html
Clark is a nutter….
As much as I admire The Nation for alot of things, an article written as a critique of a military man seeking the Presidency is something like fulfulling one of the stereotypes of the Left, yes?
The BBC provides more detail on the confrontation, including noting that the NATO Secretary General told Clark to take the airport, and that there were expectation differences between the Russians and NATO over chain of command. And part of Warner’s hearings dealt with this issue.
I’ve no doubt that Clark has career mistakes, issues and enemies, green suit and otherwise. But there are not many 4 stars that don’t have similar (if less public) baggage. As for your nutter charge — there is certainly a faction down in the Pentagon who would say the same about Petraeus, and do. And those charges (along with details), I’ve heard first hand from folks with stars on their shoulders.
cassandra
Of course you can find (a) competing versions of the events; (b) of course 4-stars are political animals with baggage; and (c) noting that you can find people to say bad things about Petraeus is irrelevant. (I liked your appeal to personal experience of talking to people with stars on their shoulders. Cute and in its own way nicely dismissive.)
I’ve worked with, for and above people who served with General Clark in a variety of assignments. He has more of a reputation as a careerist hack than Colin Powell ever did. There is plenty of evidence about Clark’s bizarre “style of command” and persistent refusals to follow administrative policy and directives.
You would seriously suggest that after 8 years of Bushco you want to place one heartbeat away from the Presidency a man whose judgment and ability to follow national policy (and relevant laws) has been called into question at every position he’s held from Colonel to 4-Star?
Hey, hold that thought.
Steve, you were the one who said that I should go look for better info about Clark’s Pristina episode and now you want to flame me for doing just that. Just because I didn’t find your article from The Nation to be gospel? Please. Enlighten us all with why you think that The Nation is more authoritative than the BBC. But I could save you the effort and just note that The Nation has an account that reinforces the narrative you want.
And it is too bad that you missed the point of the whole Petraeus narrative — big organizations have big organization behavior and that includes cliques, camps, and groups of those with ambitions to be in them and of those who have agendas to against them. And all of that needs to be taken into account when considering how much of what any partisan has to say. But then again, none of this was reported in The Nation, so I suppose it won’t register, either.
Cassandra
If you thought I flamed you, I’m sorry; I intended to disagree strongly.
The problem is that most sources on Clark that can be quoted are not easily available on the internet, while they are open sources. This makes having the discussion difficult.
I reiterate the original point: even by institutional standards of our overly politicized senior military officers, Wesley Clark is considered by insiders to be … well, I said it before, a nutter.
IMHO that fact should outweigh partisan considerations. Obviously, for a lot of people (and I’m not necessarily including you here), it doesn’t.
Steve, when Clark jumped into the Presidential race in 2004, I heard some of the he “almost started WWIII” stuff from two distinctive places — the far right and the far left. I spent a decent amount of time looking at what was available on Clark via Lexus Nexus (which I can’t retrieve from here) and what I think is true is that the definitive account of his career and his time in Kosovo has yet to be done. And since I do have alot of friends and business acquaintances who have first hand experiences with him or who have access to folks with first hand experiences of him. The tales are all over the place, not unlike what they would be for a controversial exec in private industry.
I suspect, at heart, that Clark was too overly interested in the political (and in manipulating the political) in an organization that publicly wants to be seen as politics-adverse but internally (especially at the Pentagon) politics is just as much a professional sport as it is for their overseers up on Pennsylvania Ave.
Clark is considered a nutter by a few insiders and that group has been very vocal in their opinions. But there are just as many insiders who do have different opinions. And if the guy is selected as VP (which is a longshot, I think) I imagine that the vetting process will have shown that persistent vocal group won’t matter particularly much at this point.