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Replacing Vice-President Biden And Press Secretary Gibbs Could Really Help Obama

08/13/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Sometimes, one has to wonder if the people over at a particular news organization is reading this site. David Gewirtz has posited that it would be a stellar strategy for President Barack Obama to replace Vice-President Joseph Biden with now Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. While President Obama is certainly not popular with the Left right now, the reality is that the Republicans are not exactly popular right now either. Currently, they are running on repealing Healthcare Reform and Wall Street Reform. While neither law is exactly stellar, there appears to be little impetus to repeal these particular pieces of legislation right now due to the fact that people hate the current healthcare system and loathe Wall Street.

Replacing Biden, though, is something that has been mentioned on LGR before, as has a possible move of Secretary Clinton to either the Vice-Presidency or the Secretariat of Defense. In truth, the real reason behind Gewirtz’ idea seems to be summed up in his last sentence “Plus, there’d be Bill [Clinton]. Every election’s tons more fun with Bill involved.” There is a certain longing for the ‘good ol’ days’ of President Bill Clinton which has not been matched by President Barack Obama.

Now, unlike his former rival John McCain, Hilary Clinton has done absolutely no campaigning against Obama, and remained silent on domestic issues. The reality is that Obama has been very timid in voicing his rationale and in pushing for true reform because he seems afraid of upsetting people. Obama is too much of a compromiser and not enough of a leader. His kind of President is great for times when partisanship is low, bi-partisanship is high, and the nation is not in any form of crisis- let alone two wars, a deep economic recession, and an unprecedented man-made ecological disaster.

If anyone should go, it is not Biden, though he is not exactly a strong member of the ‘team’, but rather Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. While President Obama may feel the need to put loyalty over ability, Gibbs has done far too much to harm the Obama Administration and very little to help it. While this may sound cynical, President George W. Bush did make a good decision in having an attractive blonde woman as his press secretary. While Dana Perrino may not have been the best in terms of being truthful, or being honest, at least she did a decent job of putting an attractive face on the last Administration. She could also stay on message, which is something that Gibbs seems incapable of doing as he has repeatedly shown, including his recent attack on the “Professional Left”.

Replacing Biden would be a good idea. He is not exactly the most photogenic person in the world, and certainly not good at staying on message. Obama needs people who can get his message out. Right now, Obama has shown a surprising lack of ability to engage in discourse and debate in any real manner, and he appears to be the only one among the public faces of his Administration who has any real ability to debate without going off message or being unable to connect to the audience.

Replacing Biden would be a good idea, whether or not he should be replaced with Clinton. Gibbs should also be replaced, preferably with someone who is more adept at his job than he is.