Bob Johnson does not seem like the person to get this done.

We don't have to guess who went to dinner!

Yeah, I know if I wanted someone to campaign for me to be VP, it would be the same person who made controversial statements about Obama's past drug use as part of the Clinton race-baiting campaign, among other things:

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/01/jesse-jackson-plan-or-clinton-plan-b.html

Yeah good pick.

So much for the idea of having Obama offer it to her and her turning it down to help her save face.

Just say HELL NO to the nightmare ticket!

Good God...can't wait to flush these folks away...Bob Johnson leader of the pack of attack dogs Hillary sent by to get Barack...kiss my ass Bob Johnson!

More anonymous Obama staffers leaking nonsense...

1. Na. Ga. Ha. Pen.
2. Johnson's credibility isn't exactly sky-high. Nor is he the person to whom she would entrust a delicate job.

Wow. This IS surprising. Kind of puts her last month of campaigning and her speech last night into new light. Forcing Obama's hand to giver her the VP spot? Perhaps.

In any case, I saw quite a bit of Hillary supporters supporting Obama last night. I do not think we need her on the ticket, especially that now that Obama is the official nominee.

We need someone that will offer us a swing state win, preferably a governor.

I'll admit, after being in the Xcel Center last night, I think it could work, possibly. If anyone could make it work, it would be Obama and his campagin. But Hillary has a lot of work to do if she wants this spot. She has got to woo him. She has to apologize for her war vote. She has to suspend her campaign.

Unfortunately, I do not see any of that happening any time soon.

Overall, I think Obama can find his own VP, he won, it's his right. More importantly, Clinton's campagin going like it is only ensures that he won't. He cannot cave in with her still running and dividing this electorate. More importantly it can't look like he is caving.

Choosing his own VP would show leadership. The Democrats will unite whoever the VP will be. Of that, I am assured by the Hillary supporters who sat next to me in St. Paul and cheered on Obama with me.

Okay, I think Hillary is a bad choice for V.P.
As we've all said, Obama has a big job ahead of him. He can't worry about managing both Bill and Hillary--both of whom love the spotlight and love having the world revolve around them.

So, Hillary does have a lot of supporters that, if we want to win in November, need to be addressed. Plus, we have to get the independents and the moderate republicans A V.P. really has no power. What else might Hillary be offered? While I would love so say Ambassador to Ecuador, I was hit with the thought of Secretary of State. A powerful position for her.
There's a gamble there, of course. But she might be a really good one.

V.P--I'm still thinking Warner. Webb is a good choice, too.

Maybe if Barack is "in the neighborhood" he can stop by and tell Bob Johnson to blow it out his ass.

Childish and pathetic.

No. Period. End of Story.

There mere fact Hillary Clinton is even sending out very strong signals – today of all days – exemplifies exactly why she’d be a nightmare choice as Obama’s VP. She is a Narcissist. Here are the numerous reasons, beside the narcissism, that make her ineligible for Obama’s VP:

1. If the first major decision Obama makes is seen as being forced upon him – as taking Hillary Clinton on as his VP pick would be – he’d immediately start from a weakened position.
2. Change: Senator Clinton DOES NOT represent change. She represents the status quo. She represents the exact opposite. We all know it. Republicans won’t forget that. Neither will Obama’s supporters.
3. 2 Senators on a ticket would be a disaster.
4. 2016: Hillary offers nothing for a 16 year run – these types of things must be considered if we are going to really turn back the clock on 40 years of destructive conservative rule.
5. New York State will be won no matter who Obama choose as VP.
6. Hillary’s numerous lies: Not just the recent ones like Sniper Fire, NAFTA, etc.
7. Hillary's ethics problems from the early 1970s while in Washington as a lawyer.
8. Hillary’s Rose Law Firm work: attacked the credibility of an alleged 12 year old rape victim
9. Hillary’s Union-busting WalMart work.
10. Hillary’s religious cult: Doug Coe.
11. Hugh Rodham
12. Norman Hsu: Over $800,000 in illegal donations. How many other Hsu’s are there?
13. Vince Foster (lie or not doesn’t matter).
14. NAFTA & The Clinton’s Chinese connections.
15. Bill: Saudi Arabia & his other foreign business dealings.
16. Bill: Impeachment
17. Bill: Library Fundraisers
18. Bill: Monica Lewinsky, Jennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broderick and ALL the current “affairs.”
19. Bill: “Speaking fees” from Foreign Governments that helped HRC loan money to her campaign.
20. Bill: Sandy Berger
21. Bill: 9/11 – True or not, he will be blamed.
22. Bill: Mena, Arkansas (state officials were involved in some way with alleged illegal cocaine importation, money laundering while Bill was Governor).
23. Bill: Webb Hubbell; Bill’s associate AG (Plead guilty on federal mail fraud & tax evasion charges).
24. Bill & Hillary: Whitewater.
25. Bill’s Pardons: Don Tyson (Chicken), Marc Rich
26. Bill: Illegal donations from Canadian tycoon Frank Giustra
27. And finally this must be said regarding Hillary's RFK remarks: God forbid something happened to you; she’d be LBJ to your JFK. NO WAY.

While unthinkable, Obama must seriously take this into consideration. LBJ didn’t end the war he knew JFK was about too. Neither would HRC regarding Iraq. She is a war hawk, just like Joe Lieberman. She is an entranced DLC sell-out who has no intention of standing up to the military industrial complex. Obama’s Vice Presidential pick must be someone who won’t immediately deviate from his policies if the unthinkable happens.

Obama will to pick someone who emphasizes and magnifies the qualities he embodies and has been running on – not someone who conventional wisdom says must fill some “magical void” he has.

He will pick someone who is also another from-the-beginning anti-Iraq war proponent; someone who like him, is an obvious change candidate; one who is progressive; from a state he or she can help us win and is not tied to the Clintons or the DLC in any way, shape or form.

Bill Clinton ignored conventional wisdom when picked another DLC southerner in Al Gore. It was one of the smartest things he actually did.

I'm glad Bob Johnson is taking the lead on this. He's probably the WORST honest broker in the Clinton camp (save, maybe, Lanny Davis and Ambassador Wilson). This pretty much guarantees that this VP shit is going nowhere fast.

She doesn't want to be a VP, she wants to be a Godmother.

Did any one watch Lou Dobbs pushing hard for the Hillary Veep case on his show.

How is this woman considered a feminist when she's associated with a misogynist like Bob Johnson.

Oh well. I guess it's only misogyny if you are a white woman.

It's just typical Clintonian triangulation: alienate Obama's supporters by using the kitchen sink, rile her supporters up by claiming that the nomination was stolen from her, and then sit back and say "The only way you can unite the party is by putting me on the ticket."

Obama needs to quash this and do it fast. Until he does, the story will continue to be about her. Enough with all of Bill and Hillary's drama.

Is it just me, or is this perfectly of a piece with Hillary's none-too-subtle attempts over the past several months to fatally wound Obama's electoral hopes in the fall, presumably based on the expectation that she could then "ride to the rescue" of the party in 2012?

Perhaps I'm too much of a conspiracy theorist, but combined with her "red meat" speech last night, she seems to be trying to poison the well by offering herself as an alternative even though she KNOWS there is no way he would ever select her, such that her partisans will have some justification in their own minds for refusing to support Obama going forward.

I posted this on another thread, but it is more appropriate here. This is the way to handle the clintons. According to obama, they will be talking over the next few weeks. Go obama, marginalize them as much as possible.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0608/Obama_on_Clinton_Well_be_talking.html

In a couple of weeks, they will be totally marginalized. The clintons want vp discussions now to grab more media attention and obama plans on ignoring them at this point. Good move Obama.

don't forget, Harold Ickes has a petition drive going on to get her on the ticket.

Anything but more drama, more Lanny Davis, more MacAuliffe, Wolfson et al.
One bright note: Hillary Rosen of Huffington, an HRC devotee, admits to being disappointed by HRC's failure to concede or at least congratulate Obama. So there is hope for transitioning HRC support to Obama.

Bob Johnson? Really? Anyone else find the notion absurd that it would be Bob Johnson--of all people!-- they'd ask to speak on their behalf? Bob Johnson? That feckless little cypher?

OK, maybe they did... but THAT would be even more absurd! Ugh.

If Bob Johnson is on this VP thing, I'm sure it won't happen. Hillary can't be serious if she is using a loud mouth idiot like Johnson for this.

This VP thing is the only way Hillary can stay in the press. She can't accept going back to the senate with no reporters following her around.

Traditionally VP candidates were not picked until the week of the convention. Senator Obama should just wait it out, and let Hillary twist slowly in the wind. He won. She lost. He owes her nothing. She tried to beat his brains in. Why does she deserve to be rewarded for that.

The winner goes on. The loser must be ignored.

It's in the best interest of the country if Hillary gets some therapy and realizes she is damaging the party, the country and her legacy.

Hiring Bob Johnson for this task is a sure way to insult the largest, most faithful contingent of Obama supporters. There's very few people with less credibility amongst African-Americans than Bob Johnson.

You also have to consider the fact that just 5 months ago he was calling Obama a drug dealer. He also thinks the "death tax" is unfair. If Hillary knew what was good for her, he would tell her to tell this clown to stand down. The continued use of black tokens in the media to rebut Obama is tiresome.

SELF-SERVING AND SELF-SERVING ALONE. Very, very sad! Hasn't she done enough damage already?

After all these months...all this crap......she is still there......after the Dems win.......after 8 years......she will be your Queen......it's priceless......it's just so funny.......it's beyond words. She still gets her way.

Robert Johnson has made his share of bomb-throwing statements. There's always been a clean-up on Aisle 9 necessary afterwards. And here we are, ooohing and ahhing his comments, as if this is some sort of consensus of the Black community.

Well it isn't. A rabid Hillary supporter, Johnson would not be out there, saying what he's saying now, if this weren't a surrogate action on the part of Hillary. These people can't do anything straight-out in the open and above-board.

Bottom line: Obama's success, contrary to CW, is NOT predicated on wooing a fringe of disgruntled older females (the angry lady at the Rules Commitee hearing). This is a HYPE. NOR is he beholden to Robert Johnson's insinuation that he's any kind of "typical" voice of the Black community.

I trust Obama's team will make their own moves, and not get pressured by any of these little campaigns that are popping up like gophers.

Two brief thoughts:

1) I have managed to wrap my mind around the idea that she wants the VP slot (the evidence is too overwhelming to ignore). I have still not managed, however, to figure out why she would want it. It is not a great honor to be VP and it seems to me that it would be quite a step down for her. It is not the most important question in the world, but I wish I knew why she wants such an unflattering job offer.

2) Obama knows better than me what he needs to do, and I will trust his instincts over my own. That said, I think that he needs to pick a VP quickly. The longer that we go without one, the longer the chattering class will have to talk up the idea of an Obama/Clinton ticket and thus the more disaffected her supporters will be when she does not get picked. Better, I think, to dash this hope quickly.

My friends,

Please "FOLLOW THE MONEY."

If your campaign had just effectively ended $20 million in debt, you too might adopt a strategy to squeeze a few bucks out of any/all of your backers who'd like to support you somehow as they mourn your loss. Hillary will concede as soon as she sees her campaign coffers breaking even, or believes that she has finally gotten the last drop of juice out of the turnip.

What she doesn't realize, publicly at least, is that any vetting of her as a VP prospect will also include vetting Big Dog, and that vetting will include this post-primary inflow of money. Obama is smart enough not to repeat how Mondale was done in by Ms. Ferraro's husband's connections and financial dealings. Big Dog's has too many bones buried...Obama will avoid the bone yard.

Listen to Obama's speech last night. He seems to think Hillary will lead on the healthcare front in the future. Anyone think, Hillary might be good as the Secretary of Health and Human Services? She'd be much more effective and influential in this role as compared to the VP.

This guy is another of the, "Entitled Group," and needs to be discharged to the dumpster immediately. I threw him out with the trash the first time he impuned Sen. Obama and Sen. Obama's supporters would do well to remember those who were personally offensive during this campaign.

Wait, she was working this a month ago? I thought she needed "time" to figure out what to do with her "18M votes". I'm glad Obama said no, I don't think the price is worth it to our country, and after last night, Hillary's rep is mud, she'll have to campaign for Obama like a banshee just to get back to even...

Don't most people in the running for VP say they are NOT interested? What a tool...

Don't go away mad, just go away.

You know, it's a very interesting look at Clinton psychology and strategy. If she's decided a month ago she wants to aim for VP, you can look at everything that's happened since in that light. And the obvious strategy would be to show what a good running mate you would be, start hitting the crap out of McCain, make really strong statements that nullify any of the CIC-threshold stuff, and focus the campaign on rallying her supporters around Democratic issues.

But instead she chose to try to rile up her supporters, do this whole MI/FL thing, and try to force her way on.

This must come as a surprise to all the people who viewed Hillary as an hysterical woman out of touch with reality and living since February in a dream world of denial.

If you people think HRC would use this clown to lead this effort you are more deluded than he is.

She spent most of her life playing second fiddle to Bill. By 2000, she decided she'd had enough -- for good reason -- and would never again be second fiddle to anyone. I believe she is constitutionally incapable of being a VP and deep down in her heart, she has to know it.

Hillary Clinton as Harold Stassen.

She's stuck in the old saw that "power is a muscle, and if you don't use it you'll lose it." She's not only going to stay in this race through the convention, she will continue to campaign through Barack's first term for 2012 and then 2016. She will become Harold Stassen.

Barack can't accept her as a VP. He has to keep going forward, being polite to her but not embracing her. Pretty soon her support will erode, as it has today.

Barack has to mount a campaign that beats Hillary at the convention and beats McCain after that. She's a nightmare, and she won't go away. Nothing he can do to affect that except move forward on his own.

She wants a classic old style political no-win for Obama. She relishes the idea of hurting him with, he didn't offer to me out of respect or I made him see that I have muscle to force him ibto a co-presidency.....Obama is so smart and cool headed..he is forming a search committee and he is off to "Clinton country" to campaign for the general election. He will blow her off with his way of new politics. Have faith and confidence as Barack is now in charge.

Clarification: That Johnson is *not* Bob Johnson.
The full article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121258746079045001.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

Mike 1981, thank you! ("When are you all going to get over your Hillary-hatred? This site and many of its supporters are so disgusting....")

I agree that Hillary's end game is--well, let's say "surreal", considering that Obama has WON THE NOMINATION and she really needs to drop out.

but you people on here who have this visceral hatred for her, who talk about "man pants" and "hags" and so on: how can you call yourselves good Democrats?

did you actually bother to LISTEN to Obama last nite? he doesn't want us to be divisive anymore. so why don't you just stop? I try to imagine what kind of people are writing this crap, and I guess I assume you're all about 22, with absolutely no clue about political campaigns ("has anybody ever advertised they wanted the VP spot before?" um, are you kidding? did you just become old enough to vote? honestly!)

and suggesting Caroline Kennedy would be a good vice president? are you SERIOUS? are you aware that she is not actually in politics? yes, I know her name is Kennedy and I know you guys dimly associate that name with politics. I mean really,what is the average IQ on this board? about 67?

I actually agree that Hillary wouldn't be good as VP for a number of reasons. but this woman has had an astounding career and yes, all you little girls out there who spew anonymous hate on these sites, she and others like her paved the way for YOU and if you don't understand that you're even stupider than you sound already.

let it go.