August 7, 2008
Forget the OxyContin (at least for this weekend). Rush Limbaugh is going to be on a “natural high”, because his favorite fantasy might just become reality. The Clintons are in “full hostility” mode and the Hillarologists are planning a parade and more for the convention in Denver. Limbaugh has attempted to claim credit for the likely showdown in Denver, with his own label: “Operation Chaos”.
Bill Clinton raised some eyebrows with his response to the question, posed during an August 3 videotaped interview on ABC News, as to whether Barack Obama is qualified to be President. Bill replied: “You could argue that no one’s ever ready to be President”. He never gave an unqualified, positive response to that question.
The current situation, from Hillary’s perspective, was reported by Karen Tumulty and Mark Halperin for Time magazine on August 6:
Clinton is also annoyed that Obama has yet to deliver on his end of an informal bargain, reached as part of their truce, that each would raise $500,000 for the other. “Hillary has done her part in that regard,” says an adviser. “Obama has not.”
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True, Obama has asked Clinton to give a prime-time speech on the second night of the convention later this month. But as the odds that she will be Obama’s running mate have faded, there are signs that Clinton’s backers could demand one last show of respect before Obama claims the nomination in Denver. Clinton has been giving tacit encouragement to suggestions that her name be placed in nomination at the convention, a symbolic move that would be a reminder of the bruising primary battle. “No decisions have been made,” Clinton said when asked in California — to whoops and applause — about that possibility. Still, it was hard to miss what Clinton would like to see in the pointed way she added, “Delegates can decide to do this on their own. They don’t need permission.”
The photo of the Clintons, accompanying that article, depicts one pissed-off looking duo. The reports are mixed as to whether Hillary will insist on a convention floor nomination vote. As Rick Klein and David Cahlian reported for ABC News on August 6:
The refusal to publicly announce her intentions is widely seen as a bargaining chip Clinton is holding on to as party officials negotiate logistics regarding her convention speech and other activities, according to several Democrats who are closely involved in the matter.
In the mean time, Hillary has written an op-ed piece, published in the August 6 Wall Street Journal. Although the target was the Bush Administration and its complicity in the profiteering from the Iraq war, one could not overlook the absence of any reference to the Obama campaign. Instead we saw the self-promoting remarks of someone who still considers herself a viable 2008 Presidential candidate:
I’ve proposed a comprehensive overhaul to root out corruption in no-bid contracts and other shady deals.
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Of course, we need far more than a Truman Committee. We need the Truman spirit in the White House, where the buck finally stops.
Does Hillary doubt whether Barack Obama will bring that “Truman spirit” to the White House? It appears as though she is forming her own platform for the Presidential campaign, regardless of whether Obama is “on board” with it. In case he isn’t … she has her own army ready for a fight in Denver. Rush Limbaugh is counting on it.