But your response needs to offer a persuasive explanation, a politically smart one, for why she would share those feelings/projections with the NY Magazine reporter.
Skull-cracking politics ?
June 16, 2008
Unhappiness in Clinton camp over Obama hire
Posted: 07:12 PM ET
From CNN Correspondent Jessica Yellin
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The news of Patti Solis Doyle’s hire by Barack Obama is not being well-received by many of those close to the New York senator and by former members of her campaign team, according to a longtime adviser, a top campaign staffer and several major donors.
Doyle, long rumored to be in talks with the Obama team about a position on the Illinois senator’s presidential campaign, was officially named the chief of staff for Obama’s future vice presidential pick on Monday.
According to one longtime adviser, the move is being seen by many of those close to Clinton as a message she will not be Obama’s vice presidential pick.
An aide to Obama insists the hire should not be read as indication of who their choice will be.
The official reaction from the Clinton camp contained no criticism of the the hire. “Patti will be an asset and good addition to the Obama campaign,” said campaign spokesman Mo Eleithee. “After nearly two decades in political life, she brings with her the ability to tap an extensive network that will be a huge asset to Senator Obama. As Senator Clinton has said, we’re all going to do our part to help elect Senator Obama as the next President of the United States.”
But many of those close to Clinton remain "angry and furious with [Doyle]" over the campaign’s performance early in the primary season, and share a widespread belief she "grossly mismanaged our campaign," according to one former staffer.
"[T]here was no modicum of planning, none of the backup plan that would be in place at any smart campaign in the event we'd lose Iowa, no planning after Super Tuesday," said one former aide. Others say there is plenty of blame to go around.
A top Democrat close to Solis Doyle says Solis Doyle would not have accepted the job if she believed Senator Clinton would be Obama's choice for vice president.
politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com
Patti Solis Doyle, Take 2
Jun 16, 2008
(Political Animal) PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, TAKE 2....It turns out that Barack Obama's hiring of Patti Solis Doyle is even more interesting than I thought at first. Perhaps because I deliberately pulled back from campaign coverage during the final couple of months after Texas and Ohio, I didn't realize that Solis Doyle had become so estranged from Hillary Clinton after she was fired as Hillary's campaign manager. Far from her hiring being a conciliatory gesture, the developing conventional wisdom is that Team Obama is sending the same kind of message to Team Clinton that the Tattaglia family sent to the Corleones in The Godfather:
"It's a slap in the face," Susie Tompkins Buell, a prominent Clinton backer, said in an interview. "Why would they put somebody that was so clearly ineffective in such a position? It's a message. We get it." She said it was a "calculated decision" by the Obama team to "send a message that she [Clinton] is not being considered for the ticket."
Other Clinton insiders also seethed. "Who can blame Obama for rewarding Patti? He would never be the nominee without her," one person who has worked for both Clintons and remains close to them said. The sentiment reflected what another person in the immediate Clinton orbit described as "shock" that Obama would send such a strong signal that he is not considering Clinton as his runningmate so soon.
Another Hillary supporter puts it even more bluntly: Hiring Solis is the "biggest fuck you I have ever seen in politics."
If this is true, it's beyond bizarre. Obama has every incentive in the world to make nice with Hillary, and nothing in his past behavior suggests that he's given to gratuitous insults like this. Either the conventional wisdom is wrong, or else there's a much deeper game going on than anyone thinks.
cbsnews.com |
