Obama Hires Solis Doyle: A Bad Omen For VP Hillary

The Obama campaign announced today what had long been suspected: Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was going to work for the Illinois Democrat. What came as a surprise was Solis Doyle's title, "chief of staff to the vice presidential candidate."

The move was seen as shrewd but potentially controversial. Solis Doyle was let go by Clinton because of what was widely regarded as poor campaign and financial management. But she still is a prominent Hispanic figure with ties to the former first lady -- attributes that could endear Obama to a sought-after political constituency.

One thing the move does suggest, insiders believe, is that Hillary Clinton's chances of being tapped for the vice presidency are now slim to nil.

"This alone means that Hillary won't be the V.P. choice," wrote one.

According to two close Clinton confidantes, the Senator and Solis Doyle have not spoken since her firing months ago. And there is a sense that bad blood lingers between the two. Some officials in Clinton's orbit were disappointed, if not angered, by the fact that Solis Doyle had been in touch with the Obama campaign about possibly coming on board. Solis Doyle, meanwhile, is rumored to have felt particularly scapegoated by her firing.

Said one individual with knowledge of the Clinton campaign's political leanings: "It would be pretty awkward if Hillary Clinton were picked as vice president and Patti was there to be her chief of staff."

Indeed, while on the surface it may seem that hiring Solis Doyle would provide a soft landing for Clinton to be brought in as V.P., others see her hiring as simply a logical political move.

"Patti knows that world certainly and knows the kinds of things the vice president would do because she saw it so much in the White House," said a source. "She is from Chicago and she knows all those folks. I knew she had visited with them and she wants to get on with her life too."

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But time does heal wounds and in politics a shared objective like, say, the White House, could compel Obama to reunite Clinton and her former campaign manager.

Update: Jason Horowitz over at the New York Observer reports the following: "A former bundler to Hillary Clinton just called in to tell me that Barack Obama's selection of Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff to the campaign's eventual vice presidential nominee is the "biggest fuck you I have ever seen in politics."

[snip]

"Either one of two things happen," said the bundler. "Hillary is selected as vice president and they fire Patti, or Hillary is not going to be the vice president."

Later Update: A source with knowledge (though not direct) of Sollis Doyle and Clinton's relationship writes in to dispute the idea that they haven't spoken since her firing. Though, he adds, the move by Obama seems likely to shut the door on the idea of Clinton as VP.

Comments

[microbrother]

In keeping with his campaign principles, I think our presumptive nominee is selecting whomever he thinks will abide by these principles to get the job done, regardless of race, creed, gender, religion or political affiliation.

[crossoverwriter]

Good, no Hillary for Veep!
Obama is his own man.
Personally, I'd like to see Webb as veep...
But HRC could help the cause. She could tell all those racists to vote Obama or be shamed.

[THEhillbilly]

Ha. The magniloquent, done-nothing trainee senator and his handlers will select whomever they think will get the most votes. The challenge will be keep the ticket from being upside down, i.e., to choose someone who isn't clearly better qualified for the presidency than Obama.

[PioneerKing]

I beg to differ if anything this looks like a sign that Hillary will be picked as VP.

[simplyirresistible]

Together Hillary and Barack will meet her fundraisers. There is no bad blood here, folks.

http://healinganation.wordpress.com/

[SMAGGIE]

debrouillard wrote about Obama: Barack has writen 2 by himself,best sellers of course.

WELL HE DID, HE SAYS, BUT HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THINGS HE HAS RETRACTED SINCE HE WROTE THOSE? HE HAS DISPUTED HIMSELF SEVERAL TIMES, CHANGING WHAT HE WROTE. HE NEEDS HELP EVEN READING FROM THE TELEPROMPTER.

[mspost]

Have you heard McCain read from a teleprompter?

[lady49]

SMAGGIE,
Stop shouting..­. You sound bitter.

[storeyy]

You don't have to shout, just show links to prove your accusations. We are waiting.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

Patti loses elections. Not a good choice for Obamma. She is too young to know what she is doing. Barack needs someone older, perhaps more seasoned, who will give him the kinds of advice he needs, and Patti just isn't it. These politicos who put kids in charge make the mistake as kids insult the public. They don't know how to talk to senoirs, address thier issues, see the bigger picture. Hilary fired her for a reason. She doesn't just let people go unless they are not measuring up. Hillary is a bright woman, a fair woman, and if she let Patti go, Patti wasn't measuring up.
I have watched too many good politicos mislead by bad advisors. The time to get smart is now before its too late. This pin head will have him in town hall meeting that would be political suicide. Not good. Someone needs to pull Barack aside and get her off his team asap. This will mean the difference between winning and losing.

[MoMule]

I've got news for all of you silly Hillary bashers. Hillary's supporters don't want her to be Obama's VP. She will always be a force in the Party whether you like it or not. 18 million Democratic votes will always be a wind at her back. She now represents a wing of the party that the party needs and will not win without. She will be much more effective on her own and not tied to his administration if that should come to be.

We will see where peolpe like Richardson and Doyle are a few years from now and we will see were Hillary ends up.

[Norge]

Smart and beautiful is a fine choice.

[simplyirresistible]

I agree. She should be an asset. Early on in the Clinton campaign she waned to change the message. Of course, they listened to Penn instead.

http://healinganation.wordpress.com/

[cruisepuppy7452a]

The thing is, she isn't smart. You can only get by on your looks for so long and eventually you have to measure up. Show me one thing she has done to prove herself. You can't. This gal will cave under pressure the moment things get tough. Looks can't save her. Second, if she was so quick to sell out her boss, that is a very bad sign. It shows immaturity. Not brains, not someone who can be neutral, tough, just immaturity.
Smart and beautiful is a fine choice, when you are actually smart. But thsi gal has skated by on her looks for too long. She got the job not based on ability, rather nepotism. Neoptism doesn't win elections. Hard work, Ethics and Values, that wins elections, having the ability to take an issue and get a solid messege accross, that is ability. Patti should do the right thing and step down and let someone who earned it, do the job. Sorry, if she came to work for me, I would not even give her resume a second look.

[PDXPLT]

"biggest f*k you I have ever seen in politics."

Well, after HRC's "f*k you, Barack" speech on the last night of the primaries, I say she probably deserves it.

[mergina]

Remember this face well, for it may very well become as notorious as Katherine Harris in November.

[hhkeller]

The biggest problem with Obama is that he's empty.
Without any substantive track record he is mostly theatre.
Voters who don't read love this type of candidate because they can stay lazy.

[CTtransplant]

And voters (like me) who are AVID readers really like his policies. Before you arbitrarily call him 'empty', try reading them...the man is sharp! You may also wish to check the bills he promoted/c­o-authored­, etc. There's nothing fluff or 'theatrical' about them! How about becoming a voter who reads?

www.barackobama.com

[pacats]

Youn just proved your own point.

[hcbuck]

The problem with comments like this is they're made by people who:

a) have never taken the time to listen to the issues that he addresses in his speeches
b) have never bothered to acquaint themselves with his policies which can be found at his website
c) discount his 20 years of community service where he served as a leader and someone who was able to reach across the aisle
d) rehash the same old talking points from months ago that someone fed to them

If you're not going to take the time to even educate yourself, there's no reason for people to take what you say seriously.

[SMAGGIE]

I find just the opposite. The Obama backers, REFUSE to read or listen to the things that have been proven to be a lie, by him. You are so enchanted with his (teleprompter) speeches, you can't see the truth for the stagelike quality you and he think he has. He is all talk, even though it is written by others, but you continue to believe him. What a bundle of fans that care NOTHING about what he stands for and what he will do to OUR country.

[Bub]

Your choices are:

* Empty
or

* Full of Sh*t.

Hmmm.

[spaceman3838]

how about he is empty of anything but bullsh*t

[debrouillard]

I see you never stop reading and you have read o much so that McCain is the man based on all the knowledge you have gained through all the readings.

McCain can not write a full letter without there being a crop of gramatical and spelling errors.The evidence is that he graduated bottom 1% of his class. Now in the school and universities i attended bottom 1% of any class is a set of FAILIORS.

You may want to dispute this,do well to share with me along with many others all the literature you've read that makes McCain "The Man". He even has to hire someone to write his own Biography,Barack has writen 2 by himself,best sellers of course.

[Prism]

While a life-long Dem I have to agree. Obama is an amalgm of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and the character of Chauncy in the brilliant movie "Being There". I'm sorry but I'm one of those yet to be impressed by the neophyte uber-cool Senator from Chicago. As for Solis Doyle, HE CAN HAVE HER. She's past her shelf life and proven to be ineffectual. And yes it was a classless move on Obama's part. Brace for an arrogant obnoxious coterie in the White House folks. The "ick" factor is off the charts. Dissing Hillary keeps this donor at home in November.

[starkravingmadeleine]

I find it weird that he would hire someone who really seemed to do a bad job on her last job, but, I guess that's politics. I don't believe Obama was ever going to pick Hillary.

A) It would serve no purpose in appealing to her rabid fans who would be even more outraged at Hillary serving under "a man." These fans are not going to be appeased in any way.

B) Obama has become popular in many ways because people are tired of Clinton-esque politics. They see Barack as honest, upfront, etc... Hillary as VP would seriously undermine that.

C)There are many many better options for VP... Bill Richardson would bring the Hispanic vote, Kathleen Sebelius would appeal to many women...

[Ergon]

"seemed to do a bad job on her last job"? Are we going to blame Solis Doyle for Mark Penn? Or HRC's inane campaign?

[spaceman3838]

richardson is pathetic. he would be a nightmare, sweating all over everyones tv. obama never gets into detail about anything, so to call him upfront and honest is a bit of an assumption. he has run a campaign of slogans only. you like his slogans so you percieve that you will like his policies. i personaly think he is a disaster waiting to happen

[CKieffer]

I disagree. She may not have been qualified to run a national campaign (and even that is not certain since HRC had Ikes, Penn, Wolfsen, McAuliff, et al running amuck) but, she is well qualified to handle the daily operations for a VP-level position - as she has proven by doing just that for HRC during the Clinton WH years.

[Daly]

She got a bad rap and as much as the HRC bitter women are crying about how HRC was treated they had no problem with Penn.

HRC group painting this women as the problem when clearly the HRC game plan was to front load their spending and plan to have a nice bow on everything by Super Tuesday.

This loyal minority woman was used to generate large hispanic voting block for HRC then dumped.

If any women was done wrong in the process it was Solis; you did not hear her crying about it; she maintained her professionalism, did not call people Judas and it seems not a single one of these women's rights people stood up for her as she was railroaded by the 10
million $ Penn who in his ineptness and lies kept his job.

Patti Solis Doyle an example of women know what you have endured

[Swift2]

Sam Stein, a poltical hack at a young age, now thinks he can read minds and bend steel with the rays emanating from his eyes. What have you got here? Gossip. Apparently, the Huffington Post wants something, so that's what they see. Dumb. It took the mainstream press decades to get that stupid. On the internet, it happens instantly!

[hopeforchange]

Obama doesnt care about Hillary or her supporters. Thats just the kind of guy he is.

[Egalitare]

More idle speculation by the chattering class.

This title (COS to the VP nom) might be interpreted as a tea leaf to be read in the VeepStakes, but I think it's more bringing in a fresh set of eyes to manage the "stuff" that Caroline K. needs to sift thru than a 'shot across the bow' of the SS HRC.

NO ONE knows for certain that HRC WANTS the VP. I'm not certain that HRC herself knows that right now. And if she does want the job, this hiring of Solis Doyle now has nothing to do with what will actually happen in late July/early August when the decision of VP will be nailed down.

Solis Doyle won't be in this position for very long. I suggest that she is essentially overseeing the compilation of materials for the vetting of all VP candidates: all the media, all the extra-media investigation, the works -- all the while allowing her space to ease into Team Obama with a pretty high profile assignment. Once a VP is chosen, Solis Doyle will head off to other fish to fry, and will jump into that next job with no objection from the "original insiders": she will have "won her stripes" by then.

[Star2000dancer]

Hmmmm...ma­ybe it's because of the internet & better communication. But I have never seen so many traitors in a campaign. I understand riding with whoever's on top, but I will never understand stabbing in the back. If they stabbed you, they'll stab others again & again. Why does he continue to take on these untrustworthy people? Maybe she was a plant, who knows??

[Jazzylady26]

a bad omen or was the witch a plant all along? you know with all the rats who have jumped ship captain rat had better make sure that none of the rats he has attained don't sink him too, lmfbao!

[adzeman]

You figured it out, Solis infiltrated Clintons inner circle decades ago in case Obama ran against her in the future. And sure enough it happened. So I'm sure Solis sabotaged Hillary then went back to her true master.

[nonconformist2]

LMAO!

[spaceman3838]

she is from chicogo and has lots of friends in the obama campaign. though i am not big on conspiracy's it is not beyound the realm of possibiltiy that she provided at least a leak onto the obama camp.

[parnet]

Adzeman lacks imagination. Everyone knows of Doyle's connection with Axelrod, Daily and the 'Chicago machine'. I
know the following with absolute certainty: Sometime between
the Iowa caucus and the NH primary the 'machine' began to put intense pressure on Doyle to pass them very select and very
significant pieces of intelligence that they could use in their
efforts to defeat Clinton. Doyle, because of the bond she and Clinton had formed, at first, to her credit, resisted. However, she did finally give in when she was theatened with the release of information concerning her private life and, also, promised a
significant position in the Obama campaign ( carrot and stick-
very effective ). Doyle was caught passing the information and was immediately fired. It had nothing to do with money, mismanagement, or Penn. These are facts.

What troubles me is the apparent need Obama has to gratuitously say 'look how powerful and clever I am and what
a stupid and weak fool you are.' He must parade those private
victories that should remain private.

[shades3]

Solis is a competent and valuable person to have on a candidate's team. There was no suggestion that she was not doing her job for the Clinton campaign. The firing seemed to be a personality conflict between her and the people at the top of the campaign, not incompetency.
What would those who object to her being re-hired have Obama's team do? Should they pass on someone who because of their skill was originally hired by the opposing candidate BECAUSE she was seen as an asset now condemn her to being unemployed in case the losing candidate takes offence? This is politics and competent workers are being used for their expertise, not for their personal relationships with a former employer.
Now, if Mark Penn were hired by the Obama campaign would there be an equal outcry?
He was clearly incompetent and was also fired by the Clinton campaign.
He now rightly doesn't work for Obama.
Solis was fired for some undefined reason, which seems to be personal, not for incompetency.

[nonconformist2]

If you haven't watched the brand new moveon.org ad re Mc Cain, watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq30lapbC9c

[exotic]

Obama/Hagel '08

[Swift2]

Now that's nuts.

[Bettysdad]

Why would you want an election-stealing, right-wing lunatic for VP?

Oh, he;s against th war.

I see.