Developing: Could Obama be Ready to Switch to Hillary as VP?

Tip of the hat to Don the engineer for this heads up.

Yesterday, as featured in this site below, Joe Biden amazingly said:

"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Let’s get that straight. She’s a truly close personal friend, she is qualified to be president of the United States of America, she’s easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America, and quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. But she’s first rate, I mean that sincerely, she’s first rate, so let’s get that straight." See ABC story here.

This blogger wondered in another post whether, given the fact that Obama has been reeling like a punch drunk sailor since McCain chose Palin as his VP candidate, Biden was floating a trial baloon to see if the Dems would be happy or mad if he stepped aside and let Hillary come in and fight Palin mano a mano (no it doesn't mean man to man, it means hand to hand).

The trial balloon would be important because the last time a Dem Presidential candidate dropped his VP was when McGovern did it 30 years ago when he dropped Sen Eagleton because the latter had sought psych help at an earlier date. That was a disaster. (Read how Sen. Eagleton was forced to withdraw by Sen. McGovern in place of Sargent Shriver of the Kennedy clan on Wikipedia here.)

But Obama and the old white guy from Delaware are sinking fast. McCain/Palin have not only gotten a 15 point switch amongst likely voters, they have the momentum and buzz.

Well my friend Don the engineer (will engineer for food!), called me and let me know that Obama was having lunch with President Bill Clinton - on Clinton's turf - NYC. TODAY 9/11/08. This is confirmed on a WSJ blog site here although the meeting is not listed on Obama's official web site.

Could it be just a meeting to catch up since they last were together 10 days ago at the DNC? Or was Obama coming with hat in hand to persuade Bill, and by extension Hillary, to let Hillary take over the VP spot if Biden stepped out of the way.

Sheer whimsy you say? When you're suddenly losing a race that is only 55 days away that was previously yours for the taking, and the only known new ingredient is a women named Sarah Palin, and the attack dogs haven't found any Palin skeletons, one might do anything to grab potential victory back.

Now in one sense, Hillary would be foolish to take the VP spot. If Obama loses, then fate will surely make her the nominee in 4 years. And she will be able to crow "I told you so" all the way to the bank.

But there is now suddenly a downside in her bid to make history as the first woman president. That is, Sarah Palin could become the VP, with a mandate to be a visible reformer in DC and she could come back the favorite to be the first woman president of the US.

This downside is only made more probable by the possibility that McCain could die in office and Palin would become the sitting president ... and eligible for two more terms!!! (Constitutionally, it is possible that Palin could be president for up to 10 years. If Johnson had run and won a second term in '68, he would have been president for almost 10 years. Here is the 22nd Amendment on Wikipedia.)

And if Hillary now came back and helped Obama win, she surely would be given the key to DC. She could be the most active VP ever.

We have contracted the Obama campaign to verify this issue and we will update the site once and if we hear from them.