The Roles Bill and Hillary Can Play

After a long, hard-fought and predictably ugly campaign for the Democratic nomination for POTUS, the Rules Committee of the RNC on Saturday did not hand Hillary Clinton what she demanded - ALL of the delegates for both Florida and Michigan. These two states had broken the rules by rescheduling their primaries to occur before “Super Tuesday,” knowing they would incur penalty and lose their seats at the convention. They did it anyway, Hillary claimed wins in both, even though Obama (and Edwards, and Richardson, etc.) weren’t even on the ballot in Michigan.

Thus as of today, June 2 on the eve of the last primary contest tomorrow, the count stands at Obama 2,071, Clinton 1,914.5. Obama needs 46 of the remaining 234 delegates, Clinton needs 202.5 of them. Which she isn’t at all likely to get, so for all intents and purposes (and barring some not-so clever coup d’etat at the convention by Bill and Hill), It’s Over.

There has been increasing buzz over the last couple of weeks that the Clintons are positioning for Vice-President on Obama’s ticket, but I predict this will quickly slide into the rain-gutter. Why would a President Obama want to have not one but TWO vice-presidents with egos so big they’d undermine his policies just to get the attention they crave? This is a bad idea, and I don’t think Obama or anyone moving and shaking in his campaign are going to fall for it.

So… what do we do with the Clintons? It’s quite obvious that their ambition, sense of entitlement and passion for divisive politics wasn’t quenched after 8 years’ worth of Vast Right Wing Conspiracy or Bimbo Eruptions. They still feel they’ve something to contribute, and we might all be better off if we go ahead and let them contribute. Here’s my ideas…

Hillary should go back to representing the State of New York in the Senate, and the moment one of the current cadre of Supreme Court justices dies or retires, she should be the first and foremost Obama nominee to that bench. With a Dem congress it should be a breeze to get her confirmed, and a lot of the folks there are themselves floating this idea of what to do with Hillary.

Think about it. She’s a very able lawyer with a strong populist streak and rich enough now not to be on the take. She’d make an excellent SCOTUS judge who could be counted upon to ask tough questions and write history-making opinions, and she’s got a strong enough personality to argue her opinions behind closed doors as well, helping to build consensus on the court. And she’d be this important historical personage for the rest of her life.

As for Bill, I say make him ambassador to the United Nations. There he could opine all day and night all he liked about all the issues that are of passionate interest to him. He’d be effective in building consensus, he’d be a tough operator not likely to be intimidated by rogue states pounding shoes on lecterns, and he could round out his life of service by negotiating treaties and pushing for peace and scolding war-mongers and such. He’d be as happy as a rich kid in a toy shop.

We’ll see within the next couple of weeks what the likely future positions of the Clintons will be in an Obama administration, so here’s my predictions. If I win, what prizes do I get?

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Filed under Barack Obama, Party Primaries, Supreme Court, Appointees, Campaigns, Diplomacy, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Candidates |