Clark on Radar Screen for VP since Spring 2008

[SuperTrouper]

Odds: Strong--precisely because he's a Clinton loyalist. Actually, on paper Clark may be the only veep candidate who meets every single one of Obama's requirements--*UPDATE: or at least what experts say Obama needs, politically-speaking, in a second fiddle.* He's white. Check. He's Southern. Check. And he has the two kinds of experience Obama most desperately lacks: military and executive. A Vietnam war hero, McCain will hammer his Democratic rival on national security and insist that the Illinois senator, whose foreign policy resume is painfully short, doesn't have necessary gravitas to serve as Commander in Chief; Clark, who served for 34 years at the Department of Defense and retired as Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, provides Obama with an effective counterargument. What's more, while McCain fought in a war (and legislated his way through others), Clark boasts what some voters might see as a more relevant resume point given our current situation in Iraq: he actually ran one. (See: the highly effective U.S. intervention in Kosovo--not to mention the fact the Clark, a Rhodes Scholar, finished first in his class at West Point, and McCain finished fifth from last in his class at Annapolis.) In short, Clark would not only help Obama blunt McCain's major line of attack but also give him a leg up on some key military matters (while adding a dash of administrative competence to boot). And like Obama, Clark was against the Iraq war from the start.

Will Obama pick Clark? Who knows; none of his staffers are talking. But in a brilliant dramatization of the Denver convention published in New York magazine's April 7 issue, (Lawrence) O'Donnell imagined how the deal could go down:


Barack: When you walk out of here I’m going straight to a press conference and announce that when I get the nomination, my choice for VP will be Wesley Clark, and—
Hillary(laughs): Not gonna happen. Wes has been with my campaign from the start... I’m not gonna let you have Wes for a phony unity ticket.
Barack: Too late. Michelle is meeting with him right now.
Barack’s iPhone buzzes. He checks it. Barack holds up the iPhone. close on text message: CLARK DEAL DONE. LUV U, M.
Barack: I want you to come with me to the press conference...
Hillary (bitterly):You don’t need me. You’ve got my biggest supporter as your VP. He’s got you covered now on foreign-policy credentials, military experience.
Barack: It’s not a unity ticket unless you say it’s a unity ticket. I want to tell the press that I asked you to be VP, you turned it down and suggested General Clark. I want to give you credit for saving the day, saving the party. I want you leaving Denver with your head held high.

From there, O'Donnell cuts to Clinton "smiling from ear to ear" and shouting, before the entire convention, "I give you the next president of the United States, Barack Obama!"

The only thing that strikes me as implausible about that scenario? That it would take until Denver to happen.


http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/06/02/the-obama-veepwatch-vol-3-wesley-clark.aspx

[Bucky]

1. The other implausible thing is Obama saying "I want to tell the press that I asked you to be VP"

O'Donnell is not without his gifts as a political operative & commentator, but he's part of the conventional wisdom crowd that's been pushing Hillary Clinton down our throats for the last eight years. They can't imagine a Democratic White House without a Clinton in it because, at heart, they have no faith in the abilities of the grassroots of our democracy to pick a candidate without their guidance.

Pushing Clinton for VP was like their bargaining phase in the four steps in dealing with catastrophic loss. When he fantasizes about Obama picking Clark while wanting to put up a front that he asked Clinton, I think it shows he's gotten stuck in the bargaining phase. The idea that Obama would lie about such a matter shows an ignorance about Obama and a mindset that it's okay to lie to voters who merely live in Flyover Country.

[11cents]

2. Don't think you know much about O'Donnell

He's had a hate-on for the Clintons (especially Bill) since he was Patrick Moynihan's chief-of-staff.

[Bucky]

3. People don't hate the Clintons

Also, people in the DC establishment don't love the Clintons. People can only hatelove the Clintons. They profess whatever emotions they wish to convey, depending on who they have to please to keep their careers running. But whatever the topic, Beltway professionals are never able to quit obsessing about the Clintons. It's a kind of like S&M. No one actually likes getting tied up and zapped in the nuts with a cattle prod, but that doesn't mean Lawrence O'Donnell doesn't ejaculate a little every time he someone whispers "Hillary" in his ear.

I know a bit about Larry O'Donnell--West Wing developer, Beltway me-tooer, usually very smart, but then sometimes goes off on a tear, like when he decided he needed to viciously attack Mitt Romney on his religion. Being an insider, he never got called on his bigotry.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. I don't think he hates the Clintons. He respects Bill more than he lies him but he

doesn't hate him. I think he was turned off by the nasty campaign tactics. But even before then, O'Donnell felt that Hillary should have heeded his advice about working with Moynihan on her healthcare plan. He felt that Moynihan would strengthen and give the plan greater credibility. She refused to listen (of course), and went with it. But I don't think O'D "hates" them.

[renate]

5. i remember reading that!

That made me smile from ear to ear, too!