Obama/Clinton would be Bad News for Romney

Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard recently wrote a piece encouraging President Obama to dump Vice President Joe Biden, and run Hillary Clinton on the ticket instead.

"...a truly grand victory [for Romney] requires worthy opponents. Barack Obama is one. With all due respect to our affable vice president, Joe Biden is not" said Kristol, before adding that "we’d like to see a decisive triumph for Romney and his running mate over two formidable representatives of contemporary liberalism[Obama & Clinton] , rather than a discounted victory over a flawed ticket with only one strong candidate. So we sincerely suggest to President Obama: Dump Joe Biden."

This is an interesting tactic, if indeed that is what it is.  I would not like to see the Obama campaign become stronger than it already is, and adding Clinton to the ticket would strengthen it - and would bring the Democrats that have left Obama but are not very fond of Republicans right back into the fold.  Remember, the "white, working- and middle-class Americans who supported her in the 2008 primaries."

So one has to wonder, is Kristol up to something here, or does he really just want to make sure the opponent is worthy of the heavy weight fight. Either way, I think it would be a disaster if the president had decided to - and accomplished convincing her - run with Clinton instead of Biden.  I have a hard time excepting that this is something that Romney wants to see happen, and I am willing to stake money on it.  Why would team Romney wish to see his opponent become stronger?


This is something we see in sports such as boxing, were to be considered the best, you have to beat the best. However, how many times have you heard of a president that is considered a great because he beat the best candidates to become president.  If that was the case, then President Obama would be considered great because he took down the Clinton machine in 2008.

Additionally, dropping Biden would make the Obama administration look weak, and completely undercut its goal of blaming everything on the Republicans.  If Biden is dropped, then the administration would have to explain why they made this move, which would likely still come of as a team weakened and worried.  I suspect this is why Kristol would like to see an outcome like this. The problem is, the positives that come with dropping Biden would outweigh the negatives.  Clinton is well liked -Washington Post survey has her at 65 percent favorable, and 27 percent unfavorable.  She would instantly become the most liked member of either ticket.