Here’s the story, PUMAs: Barack Obama doesn’t rule out Clinton for VP.
Like it’s up to him.
It looks like Obama just blinked. Here’s my theory, FWIW. The joint fundraising is revealing a rift that the idiots in charge did not anticipate. It looks like the Clinton supporters are still a bit miffed about the whole primary season. Oh, sure, the party has had surrogates on every other day saying that everybody kissed and made up and the sex was good and… hey, why is Debbie Wasserman-Schultz grinning madly like that? OK< so it’s not going well. The rift is fairly wide and looks like it’s getting wider. There’s some insurgent group out there calling itself PUMAs or something and making mischief and getting on TV, ferchrisesakes. Jeez! Why can’t they just suck it up like they did for Kerry? And now they’re calling the office at all hours of the day and night demanding that Clinton gets a nomination and a roll call vote. The Republicans NEVER have to put up with this $#%@.
So, the money’s not coming in, the poll numbers are starting to look alarming, FISA didn’t go so well and there’s too much time left before the convention. We can’t put Hillary on the ballot. If we do that, she might just pull it out. By late August, Obama could be in real trouble. How do we get everyone on board and yet still keep firm control of the party and Obama?
By George! Let’s float the idea that we’re considering making her VP! It’s brilliant! Some of the low info holdouts might go for that. It just might be enough to swing the sucker for BO. We don’t have to actually follow through. We’ll just leave the possibility hanging out there. Once it gains enough traction, people will say it’s the best consolation prize she’s likely to get and they’ll accept it. It’s a good thing Axelrod read that section of the psych book on learned helplessness. As long as the voters think this is the best that she can do, they’ll stop pushing for anything more. They’ll never know how close she is to getting the whole shebang if they just keep screaming for a fair convention.
Wow! I never thought I’d say this but it’s a good thing that low info voters watch Fox. Otherwise, they might not even know there was a PUMA movement. Hey, if Clinton is getting under their skin enough to make them offer her VP, she might as well go for the whole thing. Maybe some seniors my Mom’s age would settle for second place, but none of the PUMAs *I* know would. When they start screaming “VP!”, then it’s working. No backing off now, guys. Full speed ahead to Denver.
Filed under: Presidential Election 2008 | Tagged: Denver Convention, VP | 364 Comments »