Obama doesn't rule out Hillary for VP - Big Dawg makes desision "complicated"

[jefferson_dem]

Barack Obama doesn't rule out Hillary Clinton for vice president
Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

In a phone conversation with a Democratic donor, he says Bill's potential role makes the decision 'complicated.'
By Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

July 12, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama told a potential donor to his campaign that Hillary Rodham Clinton is on his list of possible vice presidential running mates, but that her husband's status as a former president makes matters "complicated."

Jill Iscol, a faithful Democratic donor who was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said Obama reached out to her because he heard she was unhappy about the way the New York senator had been treated by the Democratic Party and the media.

Iscol turned their phone conversation Thursday to the vice presidency -- something the Obama campaign has refused to discuss publicly. She said she told him that Clinton would be his best running mate.

Obama replied that she is on his list, Iscol recounted, and that it would be a mistake not to have her on such a list. But he also explained that he was thinking through a potential "complication" -- Bill Clinton.

"He said once you're a president, even if you're a former president, you're always a president," Iscol said.

That suggests Obama might be worried the White House could get crowded with Bill Clinton back on the scene.

Still, Iscol hung up believing Hillary Clinton had a shot.

Obama didn't say that Bill Clinton would be a disqualifying factor, but he conveyed that he needed to grapple with what it would mean to have a former president as second spouse.

<SNIP>

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-veep12-2008jul12,0,3540067.story

[ErinBerin84]

1. yeah, I believe she's still in the running, along with many others...

Why do these donors (BOTH Obama and Clinton supporters) just love sharing their private phone conversations and emails with the press?

[babylonsister]

2. I think this is a very valid concern. Also, is the big dawg willing to

be vetted? Will there be any skeletons in his financial closet?

[rosesaylavee]

4. financial closet?

How about his actual closet - he has an addiction to sex. I am sure he has not been sexually inactive - extramaritally that is - for the past 8 years.

[babylonsister]

6. Well, I wasn't going to go there, but that too would see the light of

day. Sounds risky to me...

[rosesaylavee]

7. Me too.

I suggest that Senator Clinton has other talents that could be better utilized where her albatross husband would not come into play. I think she would make a very good supreme court justice for instance or having her lead the charge on universal health care as a cabinet member would be a good idea too.

[MonkeyFunk]

10. Her "albatross husband"

you guys are sickening.

[rosesaylavee]

11. Thanks.

[Beacool]

9. Don't you think that if there was proof of him fooling around it wouldn't have come out

during the primary? Other than the tabloids and that scurrilous unsourced article in Vanity Fair, there hasn't been any proof that Bill has been having affairs since the Monica debacle. The guy is a flirt, but I don't think that he'll cross the line again. If not for Hillary's sake, then for Chelsea. Bill was devastated by the effect his affair had on her. He wept when he found out that Chelsea had read online the Starr Report.

No, I don't think that there'll be that kind of trouble that would come out this time around.

[rosesaylavee]

12. Hope not...

but there are rumors that he has done so and that the 527s were waiting for the outcome of the primary to see if they could use it when/if Hillary was our nominee. Of course there is so much bs flying around that that may have been so. I supported that man all thru the 90s and beyond - he is an extraordinary talent BUT without acknowledging his problem and addressing it as a problem, it's not going to go away. But what do I know - maybe he has had counseling about it and has it under control.

[highplainsdem]

3. Previous thread about that article, with several dozen replies and several recs:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6489966

[jefferson_dem]

5. D'oh.

Thanks.

[Ewellian]

8. I don't see him as a problem.

After all, he's demonstrated his ability to stay out of the news for the last month.