Vetting Bill Clinton

[Dr Ron]

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3364


Vetting Bill Clinton

June 4th, 2008 by Ron Chusid

There are many reasons why Hillary Clinton should not, and probably will not, be offered the vice presidential spot by Barack Obama. I discussed some of these here and here. The Wall Street Journal points out another reason–Bill Clinton’s business dealings since leaving office.

A hurdle for an Obama-Clinton ticket, Clinton associates say, might well be Mr. Clinton’s refusal to release records of his financial dealings and details of his presidential library’s major donors — which have included Mideast governments and businessmen — during the traditional vice-presidential vetting process.

But even if Mr. Clinton did open his records — something he refused to do during his wife’s 17-month presidential campaign — the unprecedented complications he would pose for an Obama White House as the vice president’s spouse go deeper and broader than his personal records, Democrats on both sides say.

A former president’s global travels for his humanitarian foundation, speeches here and abroad for which he has received up to a quarter-million dollars, financial deals and everyday utterances could pose “a whole host” of conflicts with the policies of an Obama administration, Democrats say.

Sen. Clinton would present problems of her own for Sen. Obama, advisers in both camps say: As half of the couple that has dominated in the Democratic Party and Washington for 16 years, she would “completely undermine the Obama message” of change and new direction in politics, as one Clinton confidant put it.