Politics with Marc Ambinder

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Oct 29 2009, 6:08 pm

Plouffe Time

David Plouffe, the Obama tactician, has a new book out and it's excerpted in Time. Crossing genres between political memoir and business advice book, it's called "The Audacity to Win." The new excerpts seem appropriately kind to the boss who brilliantly takes charge of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair with an oh-so-brilliant speech on race and who magnanimously considers Hillary Clinton for veep even while Plouffe and David Axelrod don't take the idea seriously. The weighty presence of Bill Clinton pushes her out of the final cut which includes no women--just three guys, Joe Biden, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh--who may become this generation's Dianne Feinstein, considered every four years and never getting the nod. Plouffe takes a gentle shot at Biden's famed locquaciousness but makes it clear that the veteran senator's experience and candor more than made up for it. I'd thought at the time that Obama would go with Kaine and double down on change in lieu of experience, and Obama did seem to consider it. I can't say the excerpt made me wanna read the whole thing, but I don't think we'll get a very revealing or cutting memoir from an Obamaite anytime soon.

Comments (3)

Marc your wrong. Kathleen Selibius was on the VP list. She made it thru to the top 6 VP choices. You blog guys have to get better at remembering the truth and writing it.

sandrina (Replying to: sonya)

Sebelius was on the long list, and so was Gov. Napolitano. A few longer shots might have been there as well (Sen. McCaskill?). But it seems that "being a female" was less important a criterion for Sen. Obama than for Sen. McCain, and no female candidate had a profile attractive enough. The GOP apparently had its own idea of what an "attractive profile" means, hence Gov. Palin.

sonya (Replying to: sandrina)

Actually Sebelius made it to the top six and was a serious contender because: She supported Obama from the beginning of his campaign, She represented the bipartisan model of governing (a democratic governor in a red state), and her low key tone mirrored that of Obama.