The Obama for VP Trial Balloon and Clinton Politics

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMQqxPYYNY]

Barack Obama has replied to the Clinton campaign’s suggestion that the front runner should take the second spot on the ticket (video above):

Sen. Barack Obama delivered an animated rebuke today of suggestions from the Clintons in recent days that he could run as her vice president.

“Now first of all with all due respect, with all due respect,” he said here during a town hall meeting. “I won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So I don’t’ know how someone in second place can offer the vice presidency to someone in first place. If I was in second place I could understand but I am in first place right now.

He referenced comments from Bill Clinton in 1992 that his “most important criteria” for vice president was that person must be ready to be commander in chief.

“They have been spending the last two or three weeks” arguing that he is not ready to be commander in chief, Obama said.

“I don’t understand. If I am not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?” Obama asked the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation during his defense. “I don’t understand.”

“You can’t say he is not ready on day one, then you want him to be your vice president,” Obama continued. “I just want everybody to absolutely clear: I am not running for vice president. I am running to be president of the United States of America.”

Bill Clinton attempted to answer the question of how they could claim Obama is not ready to be commander-in-chief, but that he is ready to be Hillary’s running mate:

But given the Clinton camp’s implicit argument that Obama is not ready to be commander-in- chief or handle a 3:00 am phone call, Clinton was asked why then would she consider Obama for the No. 2 spot. “That’s politics,” Clinton said, not taking the bait, as he would put it.

Yes, “that’s politics” Clinton style. Say anything to win, regardless of the truth, even if contradicts their previous talking point. Realizing that the talk of Obama being Clinton’s running mate isn’t going anywhere, Joe Gandelman reports that this trial balloon has quickly popped.

Eliot Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been lined to a prostitution ring which charges up to $5,550 per hour. The New York Times reports:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Mr. Spitzer today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.”

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,” said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

“I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”

I don’t devote much space to sex scandals, but I cannot help but wonder what could possibly be worth $5,550 per hour. Personally I don’t really care about his sexual activities, but also wonder how many prostitutes Spitzer prosecuted when he was Attorney General. Plus, whether or not I care what he does, there’s little doubt that enough people will care to probably end talk about him being a future presidential candidate.

Update: Eliot Spitzer Got Off Track

Housekeeping Note–If Blog is Down

Things are still up in the air with regards to whether it will be necessary to move the site, and there are still some issues with regards to resource use of the blog as I mentioned last week. Should it be necessary to move the blog the site could be down for a couple of days.

If Liberal Values is unavailable I will set up a temporary replacement. At present I suggest regular readers bookmark this site:

http://liberalvaluesblog.blogspot.com/

If there are any outages here for a significant amount of time I will temporarily post there.

Bonus Quotes of the Day

From The New York Times

“She hasn’t managed anything as complex as this before; that’s the problem with senators,” said James A. Thurber, a professor of government at American University who is an expert on presidential management. “She wasn’t as decisive as she should have been. And it’s a legitimate question to ask: Under great pressure from two different factions, can she make some hard decisions and move ahead? It seems to just fester. She doesn’t seem to know how to stop it or want to stop it.”

In response to this, Andrew Sullivan writes:

Look at the two campaigns. Which one is disciplined, inclusive, decent and dependent on grass-roots empowerment? And which one reminds you of Washington at its very, very worst?

Quote of the Day

“Hillary Clinton was a great first lady … but it would be hard for me to draw some degree of connection between being the first lady and having the experience to be commander-in-chief.”–John Kerry, on Face the Nation