Oh, that Orrin is such a gossip:
Sen. Orrin Hatch says he’s heard Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name mentioned in connection with the Supreme Court vacancy…
[O]n NBC’s “Today” show, the Utah Republican said only, “I heard Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name today and that would be an interesting person in the mix.”
Hatch wouldn’t say whether he’d support Clinton. But he did say “I like Hillary Rodham Clinton”…
Well of course. As candidate Obama told his future Secretary of State in the New Hampshire debate, “Hillary, you’re likeable Enough.” 🙂
Me, I think Clinton is extraordinarily well-suited (and no, I don’t mean the Pants-suits 😉 for the portfolio she’s handling so well now, and offhand I can’t think of a replacement who’d be better — or even As Good. So I hope she stays.
OTOH I do recall that in some TV interview a while back, asked whether she could envision keeping up the job’s frenetic globetrotting pace for a full four years, she said (startingly, I thought): “No”. If she’s truly getting too Tired, one couldn’t blame her for contemplating a sedentary SCOTUS assignment.
But then again on the OTHER other hand: Bill Clinton isn’t Doing all that much these days, is he? (OK, don’t Answer that. 😉 Of course he’s got the WJC Foundation but his work there is somewhat Restricted now due to Mrs. Clinton’s post; and he’s Helping Haiti & everything; I don’t mean he’s Idle — but it’s not like there’d be a bigfat Cabinet Vacancy if he got appointed to something, right? (YEAH, yeah, Disbarred in Arkansas, I know I know, so What? 🙂
Anyway, like I said: that Orrin is such a gossip. ;>
“The White House moved quickly today to squelch the widening speculation that Hillary Clinton could be nominated to the Supreme Court, as Senator Orrin Hatch suggested this morning.”
ah Ha! White House spoiling Orrin’s fun. (And mine.) Party poopers. ;>
Thanks Joe Mama. Guess I gotta start reading Politico if I wanna Try to Keep Up.
But see? — albeit Tardy, I was Right: the WH spokesman said “The President thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as Secretary of State and wants her to remain in that position”. Good judgement, Mr. President.
And now ~~ wottabout Bill? 🙂
Are you people high? No really, put the pipe down. In what universe does having a convicted perjurist on the SCOTUS _increase_ the judiciary’s legitimacy?
Me, I think Clinton is extraordinarily well-suited… for the porfolio she’s handling so well now, and offhand I can’t think of a replacement who’d be better — or even As Good. So I hope she stays.
Hahahahaha! Thanks for the laugh, Joe!
@ James Young
The same universe in which Sarah Palin is qualified to lead something bigger than a girl scout troop?
Always glad to be of comedic service, Andrew, that’s what I’m Here for after all 🙂 and also please know that when I wrote so Offhandedly re Secretary Clinton that “…offhand I can’t think of a replacement who’d be better…” I had, shamefully, failed to think of You. :> (Though I gotta say while you’d surely be stellar at State, you might be even more Unbeatable at the U.N., where things have never been quite the Same since the day John Bolton walked out the door, growling. ;}
James Young:
(1) I never Inhale. ;> I only get high on Life. (Now where’d I put that Keyboard, maaan? Oh yeah HERE it is. Far out. What was I saying? Oh yeah… 🙂
(2) I was being Tongue-in-Cheek re nominating Bill. I’m Subtle, I know :), so I can’t blame you for Missing it. / HOWEVER – since you bring up the matter –
(3) It’s “perjurer.” “Perjurist”, I guess, could be a stenographic contraction for “according to the judge” but I don’t think it actually Is. (Then again, John Wayne made a movie entitled “The Shootist” whereas you or I would probably say “Shooter” so maybe “Perjurist” is OK after all. 🙂
(4) Bill Clinton is Not ‘a convicted perjurer’ (or perjurist). The United States Senate acquitted him of the Impeachment count of Perjury by a 55-45 vote. The federal authorities never Indicted him for the Crime. (Granted, however, he did make a Plea deal in which he came Close to admitting such offense — close, but I gather technically not Quite going there. Slick, as always.) His Arkansas disbarment ended in 2006. As far as I know his SCOTUS disbarment is ongoing.
No, I don’t really think WJC should become Mister Justice Clinton. I was funnin’. Now Mrs. Clinton on the Court, that I wouldn’t mind, provided AMLTrojan confirms his availability for Secretary of State. :>
David K ~ Sarah’s not gonna be leadin’ no GirlScout troop up in MY neck o’ the Woods, by Golly! We Value our daughters ’round here. ;}
Venerable Loy – it is indeed an interesting comparison, between former President Clinton and former Governor Palin … the latter stood down from her elected office for the good of those for whom she was Chief Executive … and before David K can froth his platitudes, Ms Palin didn’t have to make any plea deals to have the lawsuits against her go away … she just had to fight the lawsuits which then went away as a result of their lack of merits …
Still, our current White House incumbent may well have finally provided us with a climate whereby a Congress can be elected which will finally get round to Tort Reform – and someone like Ms Palin will no longer have to choose between the ego of remaining in office and the cost to those who elected her …
I realise how much it must frost certain inhabitants of the soggy Northwest of this country that Gov Palin not only has more successful community organising experience than our current POTUS, she also has more successful experience as a Chief Executive than does our current POTUS … and she doesn’t have to have organised labor organising attendance at her functions …
And while I would not encourage any of my daughters going hunting with certain ex-VPs, I would have no qualms about them going hunting with Gov Palin …
Is it just me, or is Hatch’s statement potentially a brilliant bit of political scheming?
Background
Heading into the 2012 campaign season, it looks like President Obama may be unusually vulnerable for an incumbent. With the effective under/unemployment rate in the high teens, and economic recovery still uncertain, Obama should be facing some serious headwinds as an incumbent.
However, the Romney straw poll seems to indicate that right now there aren’t many on the Republican bench who can take advantage of those headwinds. That can change, but whichever candidate is going to enhance their profile by 2012 really needs to get to work. In summary, its not looking all that promising for a Republican candidate in 2012.
In such an environment, one helpful way for the underdeveloped Republican candidate to bridge the gap is by having an insurgent candidate conduct a scorched earth campaign on the other side in the primary. Reagan in 1976 or Teddy Kennedy in 1980 are the two most famous examples of an insurgent damaging an incumbent in a hard-fought primary.
Strategy
If the Republicans look to enhance their weak bench by cultivating an insurgent on the other side, the most obvious candidate is HRC, given the bitterness of the 2008 primary fight. However, as a high-profile member of Obama’s administration, Hillary is much less likely to go Teddy Kennedy on him than she would have been as a politician outside the executive branch.
On the other hand, if Hillary waits to ’16, she will have turned 69 years old just before the election, and she isn’t aging all that gracefully here at 62. A Hillary presidency from age 69 to 77 is much harder to envision (from a curb appeal standpoint) than from age 65 to 73.
So it arguably behooves Hillary’s presidential aspirations to step down gracefully from her position at state, lay low for a little while, then come out swinging against Obama, starting with his foreign policy failures (of which she disapproved) and then turning to the domestic front.
None of which is remotely feasible if Obama had shrewdly invited HRC to age gracefully over at the Supreme Court, where it would have been nigh impossible for her to run against him.
But Hatch dropping his little casual speculation forced the White House to comment, and they couldn’t really give the standard non-answer, because the meme had legs, so they had to deny. Which closes the SCOTUS door for HRC and leaves open the insurgent campaign door.
Little victory: Republicans.
Jazz: a well-theorized Thought experiment; but somehow it feels too Clever by Half. / OK, say by a Quarter. (No offense intended to the Scheming abilities of Senator Hatch; I just still think he was Gossiping. / You might be right. But more likely, yes, it’s Just You. 🙂
Estimable Alasdair: obviously we disagree about the comparative Successfulnesses of President Obama vs. Governor Palin; but I grant you the No Plea Deals point re Palin in contradistinction to Bill Clinton. / Like I Said above, I’m not really plumping for a Mister Justice Bubba. ;>
Being in a magnanimous mood, I’ll also hereby recant my foregoing snarkisms re Girlscout Troopleader Sarah. I’d be proud to have her so serve in Connecticut. / In fact, I bet she could lead a troop of Eagle Scouts unerringly through the Wilderness without a Compass & scare away any Bear that dared to question the expedition. (Btw, waw haw: good one re no Daughters going hunting with former VP Vader 🙂
Also btw, IMHO David K does not Froth. / Sometimes he Boils; but often with good reason. / As to your charge of Platitudinousness, I’ll think I’ll just tend to my own platypodes & keep my bill out of it.
(Ducks… 😉
Too Clever By Hatch?
(a hilarious buddy-comedy sitcom starring Orrin Hatch and Barney Frank, coming soon to a Fox affiliate near you)
Hatch and Frank ? An “Odd Couple”, indeed !
Venerated Loy – in terms of executive successfulness, I point out that the Good Gov stood up to her own party, and got rid of a bunch of corruption, and managed economic Good Things for her areas of executive responsibility …
The Pusillanimous Prez, on t’other hand, has not stood up to his own party … rather he has not only encouraged the same Congressional Leaders whose Budget and legislations turned a reasonably prosperous and advancing economy into an initial recession – he then compounded it by out-Hoover-ing Hoover (who turned a market downturn into the Great Depression) … the PP also has done nothing to root out corruption – when he has encountered it, he seems to like to nominate it (at least as far as tax-evasion goes) …
I look forward to your next salvo – or will it be a classical salve ? (grin) Or will you just continue platypussy-footing around ? (Joe speak with webbed tongue ! ?)
Okay, fine, perjurer–even tongue in cheek that’s insane because some people might actually be like, “Hey, you know…”.
As to Sarah Palin’s qualifications–folks, last time I checked the Constitution just said you had to meet certain requirements, none of which said “must have an encyclopedic knowledge of foreign affairs.” Sorry, but we’ve departed the realm where “serious thinkers” or “major actors” occupy the White House since about 1988.
While I’m hardly a die hard Palin fan, I find it very interesting that those who support the current President (who, despite having very little “experience” seems to be getting stuff done, like it or lump it) are quick to point out that “breeder ho from Juneau hasn’t really done anything “besides pop out a stupid teen mom and a retarded kid.” (<–Why yes, that is an exact quote from a rather left-leaning friend of mine. Public discourse–it's just getting better and better.) Well, sorry, I think I'm sort of done with folks whose "turn it is" or "the establishment likes." As a party agnostic, I think both Obama and Palin are examples of how an outsider can benefit a party's agenda. (Now given that I think those two agendas are "bankruptcy today" or "bankruptcy next week" that's not necessarily saying much.)