Rumor of the so-called "Dream Ticket," this time with Hillary Clinton switching places with Joe Biden for the 2012 elections, has a new pusher, better-placed than the last: Bob Woodward. But would it really be a promotion for Secretary Clinton?
Woodward, who has an Obama administration book coming out, said on CNN yesterday, "It's on the table. Some of Hillary Clinton's advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012." He added that "President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the [2008] primaries and, so they switch jobs, not out of the question."
Okay, so it's not rock-hard sourcing, and the man has a book to promote, and you can always float something as a possibility and never get called on anything if it never happens. And political reporters are bored with all this "economy" and "midterm election" stuff. Especially when there's a 2016 election to speculate about, as Woodward did.
"And the other interesting question is, Hillary Clinton could run in her own right in 2016 and be younger than Ronald Reagan when he was elected president," he said. Specifically, she would be 69 in 2016, a couple of months younger than Reagan was in 1980.
All of this speculation always assumes that Hillary Clinton would be thrilled to take the number two job. Sure, it would be a better title, and Joe Biden has had plenty of substantive things to do, but given how amorphous and ceremonial the role of Vice President traditionally is, it's not clear that it would be a step up for her. Would it better position her as president if she wanted to run in 2016? Does anyone have any idea about any of this?
One thing is clear: On the record, Clinton herself is saying it's bunk. She just said at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit,
"I think the Vice President is doing a wonderful job. He's a great friend of mine. We work closely. He's an expert on Foreign Policy... We have a great relationship and I have absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than dismissing these stories and moving on because we have no time. There is so much to do. I think both of us are very happy doing what we are doing."
DISCUSSION
It seems like, at least publicly, Secretary of State does a lot more than VP. Why would she want to trade that in, especially if she's eyeing 2016?