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I'm not even sure what to say about this, from Jonathan Alter. Apparently, the hot rumor is that the Obama administration is considering having Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden switch jobs late in the 2012 campaign if things are looking dire:
Biden would reluctantly agree because his consolation prize is a job he can truthfully argue he has coveted for 20 years. It would leave him less humiliated than incumbent vice presidents like Henry Wallace, whom Franklin D. Roosevelt dumped from the ticket in favor of Harry Truman in 1944, and Nelson Rockefeller, booted by Gerald Ford to make room for Bob Dole in 1976.Oh please. I doubt anyone in the administration is dumb enough to think this would change anyone's vote. If Obama is on his way to defeat next year, "the switcheroo" isn't going to help. "Well, I'm pretty mad about the economy, and I was going to vote for Romney, but you say Biden is going to be Secretary of State? Sign me up!" But I guess it's harmless to occupy ourselves with this kind of palace intrigue, even if it's just based on rumors. Otherwise we'd have to just keep talking about the crappy economy and Republican obstructionism. And who wants that?Clinton would say yes because she is dutiful to a fault and because everyone asked to be on the ticket for the last 40 years has accepted, with the exception of Colin Powell turning down Dole in 1996 and John McCain rebuffing John Kerry in 2004 (that’s how liberal McCain was then).
Job switches of this kind are hardly unprecedented. In 1985, Ronald Reagan arranged for Treasury Secretary Donald Regan and White House Chief of Staff James Baker to swap positions. In 1992, Baker reluctantly resigned as secretary of state and returned to the White House as George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff in an unsuccessful effort to save Bush’s foundering re-election campaign. All of these guys do what it takes.
