Although not totally unexpected, this is still big news. Clinton made it clear she will stay on as Secretary of State until Obama appoints a successor, and seemingly made it just as plain that she expects this to not happen until Obama wins a second term. But it does leave open the possibility that Obama could go ahead and make the appointment sooner rather than later, which would free Hillary to replace Biden as Obama's running mate in the 2012 election. This is something I predicted from the very beginning of Obama's presidency, but Clinton has of course denied any such intentions lately.
I find it difficult to believe that its not under serious consideration. Biden adds nothing to Obama. He's probably the most insignificant VP since Dan Quayle, in fact. And its not like Obama needs Biden to shore up his support in Delaware with its measly little three electoral votes, nor does Biden really help Obama that much in Pennsylvania at this stage. Clinton could help Obama in multiple states, and the two might prove an unbeatable combination. It depends, sadly, on the state of the economy by then. I say sadly, because if the economy improves significantly, Obama could start rounding up conservatives and shipping them off to Guantanamo on the grounds of their opposition to him being based on "racism" and thus a violation of his civil rights to be loved and respected as the first black president. He could mandate hands-on sex training in public schools by way of executive order on the grounds of public health concerns. He could mandate a government policy to reach a goal of one same sex marriage out of every one hundred by 2050, and one interracial marriage for every twenty by the same time period. He could do all this and even worse, and he would still be guaranteed at least 46% of the vote.
But that would be provided, of course, that we have a good economy. If he was to replace Biden with Hillary Clinton-arguably the closest thing to a Stalinist First Lady and Secretary of State the country has ever been burdened with-this would be seen as a "moderating" influence.
We are just plainly fucked.
