In a blog entry at the Huffington Post, Earl Ofari Hutchinson takes a contrarian view of the vice president's so-called gaffes, calling them well-scripted messages designed to convey the president's politically advantageous policy stances.
Hillary Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines turned faux rapper when he thumped out a rhythmic message to the press vehemently denying that there have been any meetings, back room deals, or nervous talk at the White House about dumping Joe Biden and replacing him with Hillary. Reines had to move quickly to squelch the incessant media chatter about a Biden exit for two simple reasons. One it's not going to happen. Even if Hillary hadn't repeatedly and vehemently said it wasn't going to happen, history has shown presidents almost never dump their VPs in the midst of their reelection bid. Only one president in the past seven decades has switched VP's in midstream. That was FDR in 1944 when he dumped VP Henry Wallace under pressure because of Wallace's much too pronounced leftist politics and utterances. Harry Truman got the replacement nod and the rest is history …
Presidents don't change VP's, especially in the middle of a tough reelection battle, for obvious reasons. No incumbent has ever won or lost the White House based on the politics, ideology or personality of their VP. They do not have that kind of power or authority. VP's serve at the pleasure of the president and do his bidding; no more, no less. A switch of VP's in the midst of an election would signal utter desperation, campaign chaos and panic. This would be the near political kiss of death for a president.
The other reason is Biden. He is and will remain on the ticket for precisely the reason that he was picked by President Obama in the first place. He is a hard hitting, policy knowledgeable adviser and point man …
Read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's entire piece at the Huffington Post.
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