Long after the klieg lights are tucked away, and the rounds begin to flow, the Washington press corps trades whispers from Hillaryland. Chris Matthews’s chin-pulling on Hardball is but a slice of the continued interest in Madame Secretary and 2012. The buzz, of course, was stoked most recently by Bob Woodward, the Washington Post scribe, who reported that an Obama-Clinton ticket is “on the table” at the White House, at least to a few senior hands.
David Axelrod immediately called the notion “complete bull.” Vice President Biden, who celebrates his first-name friendship with the president, was especially quick to quash the scuttlebutt. “I’ll tell you what, there’s real trust, that’s why he’s asked me to run again,” the veep remarked, in a casual interview with the New York Times. “Look, he said, ‘We’re going to run together, are you going to run?’ I said, ‘Of course, you want me to run with you, I’m happy to run with you.’ ”
Biden, in one gnarled anecdote, appeared to mute the Obama-Clinton chatter. The president, for better or worse, is now singing the same tune. Earlier today, the pair traveled to Delaware. During his talk to local Democrats, Obama tossed off a little Biden ballad. “The single best decision that I have made was selecting Joe Biden as my running mate,” he told the crowd.
“The single best decision I have made,” Obama added, for emphasis. “I mean that. It’s true.”
He then gave the vice president a hug.