Back-Room Deals

When Obama won the Democrat nomination it appeared the Clintons would be ambivalent about campaigning for Obama especially after he passed over Hillary for Veep. And at first they weren't spending much time out on the stump for Obama and there was speculation that they didn't want Obama to win so Hillary could run in 2012. But then there was a change. Bill Clinton met a couple of times with Obama. (If only I could have been a fly on the wall!)

All of a sudden there are Bill and Hill out campaigning for Obama and I seriously ponder what exactly went on during those private meetings. Obama is President-elect for not even a month and Hillary is his "choice" for Secretary of State. Hmmm. I wonder if that came up during those meetings. Of course that sort of thing is illegal because it's looks like a bribe. And of course, Democrats would never participate in anything that looked like a bribe - right? Right!

I am going to speculate on what I believe occurred during those meetings. Please take my speculations with a grain of salt. I'm as much wrong as I am right.

My conjecture: A deal was brokered that if the Clinton's campaigned actively for Obama, Hillary would become Secretary of State, the most powerful position in the Cabinet, more powerful than even the Vice-President. There had to have been another part to it that Hillary would not run against Obama in 2012 for the nomination. She'll be 68 in 2016 which is not too old to run for President.

Another possibility is that within four years Joe Biden will resign as VP for "personal reasons" and Hillary will become Obama's VP. Actually I think it's possible for Biden to resign before the Democrat convention in 2012 so Hillary would be named Obama's running mate.

I think there's another possible deal: Obama will, at some point, name Bill Clinton as US Ambassador to the UN. If Hillary were president she could not do that. but Obama can. Bill Clinton has for years expressed interest in the position.

It will be interesting to see if I read any of the tea leaves right, but I'm betting on at least one becoming true.