Report: Clinton Considers Tapping Biden as Secretary of State

10.28.2016 

 

News

 

 Tiffany Gabbay 

 

18

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As if critics of Hillary Clinton needed additional reason to cast their votes elsewhere...

According to sources interviewed by Politco, the Clinton Campaign is "spending a lot of time figuring out the best way to try to persuade" Joe Biden to accept a Secretary of State appointment if she wins: 

Joe Biden is at the top of the internal short list Hillary Clinton’s transition team is preparing for her pick to be secretary of state, a source familiar with the planning tells Politico. 

This would be the first major Cabinet candidate to go public for a campaign that’s insisted its focus remains on winning the election, and perhaps the most central choice for a potential president who was a secretary of state herself.

Neither Clinton, nor her aides have yet told Biden. According to the source, they’re strategizing about how to make the approach to the vice president, who almost ran against her in the Democratic primaries but has since been campaigning for her at a breakneck pace all over the country in these final months.

It strains belief that Biden is unaware of Clinton's plan to approach him as Secretary of State, if indeed it is her plan. Nonetheless, her campaign maintains that they are trying to find out the best way to court him: 

"He'd be great, and they are spending a lot of time figuring out the best way to try to persuade him to do it if she wins,” said the source familiar with the transition planning.

And by "persuade" they mean they're trying to figure out what the vice president's "price" is. 

Being the partisan outlet that it is, Politico goes on to tout Biden's accolades, calling him "one of the most experienced and respected Democrats on the world stage." My goodness that's a leap: 

The vice president, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before joining the administration, is one of the most experienced and respected Democrats on the world stage. He’s also coming to what would be the close of a 44-year career in Washington, first with six terms in the Senate and then two terms as President Barack Obama’s closest adviser — and the keeper of the portfolio on some of the most difficult international issues, including Iraq and Ukraine.

Yes, because we can think of no better statesman to succeed John Kerry than Zany Uncle Joe.