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I’m starting to think that Joe Biden’s VP pick will be Michelle Obama — 75 Comments

1. Ugh. First time writer although I’ve been a reader for a couple of years. I, too, have been thinking that. My only saving grace right now is that Valerie Jarrett (who seems to wear the pants in the Obama household…) says per Drudge that Michelle will not do it. We will see.

2. neo–you were wondering about this the other day:

   Preliminary data on 11 patients show no apparent increase in severity due to B Thalassemia.

   https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajh.25840

3. This would, needless to say, be a disaster for the country, although Valerie Jarrett is claiming (in The Hill) that Michelle has no interest in being Senile Joe’s running mate. It is certain that he will choose a woman, and almost certain that it will be a black woman, but Kamala and the quintessential sore loser S Abrams (or perhaps even Val Demings) strike me as more likely choices.

4. Lee:

   Thanks. That’s the disease, not the trait. But still, if the disease doesn’t confer extra risk, I can’t quite imagine that the trait would.

5. I think Michelle is enjoying the riches that come from the post-presidency. I completely understand her “star power” and appeal, but whenever she speaks about anything substantive she always puts her foot in her mouth, or rubs people the wrong way. Sure, her presence on the ticket will galvanize the Left and the Democratic Party. But all Trump has to do is play clips of her saying that “for the first time in my life I’m proud of my country” over and over again.

   I don’t see this as anything other than a fantasy. And what happens if she’s on the ticket and Biden loses to Trump? Some of that Obama luster will be tarnished forever.

   My bet: the Obamas play it safe.

6. Thanks a lot.
   Actually, my wife has been saying for some time that the Dems would draft her as the top candidate. I brushed the idea off; mainly because I could not bear to think about it.

   Since he would have to know the shape of the conspiracy, I should think that Biden would balk. If the DNC tries to force this on him, or force him out altogether: I should think it would get very ugly. They will have a bunch of furious Bernie lovers; then they would have furious Biden loyalists–if there are any. Even if no one rallied to Biden, he could make it messy.

   On the other hand there is the Obama “magic”.

   I suppose it could be interesting to watch a Pence-Michelle debate. I have no idea how capable she would be. To the best of my knowledge she has never had to actually work for anything. One thing going for her would be that Pence is such a gentleman, and I don’t doubt that she could, and would, get nasty.

7. An interesting prospect, Neo.

   One part of it that you touched on: as I understand it, the Obamas and the Clintons don’t get along. Barack Obama beat Hillary hard in 2008, humiliating her in the process, and forced her to smile and take the SecState job as a consolation prize.

   Hillary has wanted to be President, and to bring Bill back as a shadow President, since at least 2008. Running Michelle as VP would be yet another thumb in the eye of the Clintons – see, we can do it and you can’t!

   Another advantage is that it’s a better option for Biden than simply picking Hillary as his VP. People around the Clintons have mysterious accidents. The Obamas, for all their issues, don’t have THAT reputation.

8. I think whoever is VP, Oblahblah will be calling the shots.

9. STOP IT!!!!! You’re scaring me! If this happens, it’s over for Trump, and probably the senate and house too. The Democrats will run the table.

10. WHAT, if any, are her qualifications?

11. Really? Are people in this country that stupid not to recognize that this would be Barack’s 3rd term? Rhetorical question.

12. “…qualifications?”

    Um, what exactly were Obama’s?

13. Francesca, it won’t matter, it will unite the Democrats, excite them, and get them out to vote in droves. She’s a party darling, and I can not tell you the number of liberals I’ve heard talking about how wonderful she is and how much they’d love to vote for her. It’s something that everyone in every part of the left agrees on. I know at least one friend who’s waiting to decide whether she’ll vote for Biden on not based on his VP pick. For example, she won’t vote for him if it’s Warren or Harris. But she LOVES the Obamas and specifically adores Michelle.

14. I hope not. I feel like there is a lot of dirt laying about from Obama’s “Scandal Free Administration” ™ that President Trump may have access to. I hope that will dissuade her. Also if they sell her as a puppet for Barack that will hurt them.

15. Look at what she did for a living from 1988 to 2008 and look at the opinions of people like Jodi Kantor and Steve Sailer who’ve taken a long look at her. She is not a career-oriented person. For 17 years, she had one puzzling paper-pushing job after another, for the most part in the diversity apparat. The last one looked for all the world like a conduit to put an elected official on retainer. She’s interested in the day-to-day business of mothering and she’s interested in decorative arts. She has what she’s wanted: handsome homes to enjoy and decorate, time for travel and exercise, &c.

16. WHAT, if any, are her qualifications?

    What were her husband’s? Democratic voters don’t give a rip about experience or demonstrated skills. Unless my memory is failing, she speaks well and doesn’t need that TelePrompTer. In for a dime, in for a dollar.

17. Art Deco:

    Yes, that’s why I previously thought she just would never be interested.

    But in this post I tried to explain why that might change. She wouldn’t need to do much as president or VP shadow-president; others (such as her husband) would do it for her. She could do as little or as much as she wanted.

18. Barack Obama beat Hillary hard in 2008, humiliating her in the process,

    He didn’t. She actually had a slight plurality of the sum of popular votes. The tallies of pledged delegates were in his favor but sufficiently close that the Sooperdelegates could have handed the prize to her if they’d so chosen.

    She wasn’t humiliated. However, she is Hellary, so it’s reasonable to assume she was in a rage about it.

19. Dr. Jill Biden won’t approve. She has plans.

20. Michelle has never had a real job. Like HBO, she’s lazy. They are multimillionaires and getting richer every hour. Why go to work campaigning?

21. As someone once said, “She’s got room service lobster forever”. Why work?

    neo, the problem with your thought that she just needs to be a figurehead is that there is a significant chance Biden’s VP will become President if somehow he is elected.

22. Michelle has never had a real job.

    I’ve found most people who prate about ‘real’ jobs don’t bother asking themselves why employers would hire someone if they’re not working to enhance the company’s revenue stream.

    Actually, she practiced law for three years and prior to that had the part time and seasonal work common among students. It is true she worked for public bureaucracies and philanthropic ones in positions which derived from species of rent-seeking. If she hadn’t taken the money off the table, they’d have hired someone else for those sh!t positions. You can condemn her for that, but your primary focus should be on the people who wanted her in the spaces she occupied.

23. Like HBO, she’s lazy.

    Superficial and apathetic, perhaps, not lazy. There is no indication that either one of them have been inactive. And ask yourself just what Lyndon Johnson and Bob Dole accomplished with all those 17 hour days (other than demonstrating they were lousy at setting priorities and delegating authority).

24. FOAF:

    I don’t see that as a problem at all, and I thought I made it clear when I wrote this: “with a promise that she’d be somewhat of a figurehead for her more experienced husband, who would be the one really steering the ship.” That would be true whether she was VP or president. No difference, really. She could make some speeches and otherwise delegate to others, with her husband’s tremendous assistance.

25. Presidential elections have nothing to do with qualifications, and little to do with with ideology. They are about charisma, and likability. That is why Clinton Stomped the shit out of Dole, and Obama stomped the shit out of both Romney and McCain. It’s also why Bush II beat Gore, and Kerry. It’s why Reagan beat Carter, and Mondale. Kennedy beat Nixon for the same reason.

26. I was just talking with my wife while we were taking a walk outside (horrors – no masks) about Michelle being the VP pick and of course in a month or so into 2021 the Pres. Would Black Males vote for her? Would Hispanic Males vote for her, or for that matter Hispanic Females? Would White Males vote for her?
    I believe we know the answer about White and Black Females.
    I have not included any of the other 35 or so genders.

27. “with a promise that she’d be somewhat of a figurehead for her more experienced husband, who would be the one really steering the ship.”

    Actually, his staff sent him memoranda with canned options. He’d check one and add some inane marginalia. Ask yourself how Obama differs from the resultant of the vectors at work in the Democratic Party. Well, he has some shticks you’d expect of someone who came of age ca. 1979. He’s secretive in a puzzling way. And his post-American aspect is likely more intense than that of an ordinary Democratic pol. That’s about it.

28. Would Black Males vote for her?

    See Wm. Schneider on public opinion research and the vice presidential selection. One’s single best guess is that the VP candidate will net you 2% of the ballots in said candidate’s home state. Ergo, the thing to do is avoid taking risks so you don’t end up with embarrassments like Thos. Eagleton and Geraldine Ferraro. (It’s a testament to the skills of George Bush the Elder’s campaign that they made up a 17% point deficit in the polls and one the election in spite of making the single worst unforced error of the campaign – the selection of Dan Quayle).

29. Could she really get away with just sending Barack or Valerie out to make speeches? She’d have to pretend at least to be in charge.

30. Yuck! Biden already makes my skin crawl; I don’t want a VP who will cause the same itchy feeling.

31. Presidential elections have nothing to do with qualifications, and little to do with with ideology. They are about charisma, and likability. That is why Clinton Stomped the shit out of Dole, and Obama stomped the shit out of both Romney and McCain. It’s also why Bush II beat Gore, and Kerry. It’s why Reagan beat Carter, and Mondale. Kennedy beat Nixon for the same reason.

    Absolutely none of these people have an ounce of charisma. The term was coined by Max Weber to describe someone with rare inspirational gifts (Buddha, Christ), not some pol who assembles applause lines. John Kennedy and Jesse Jackson could be inspiring and entertaining public speakers. None of the others are.

    And I have no clue why, given all the vectors at work in a presidential campaign, you’d make a categorical statement about this one factor. It doesn’t make sense with regard to the close contests or the landslides.

    And the term ‘stomped the sh!t’ does not mean what you fancy it means.

32. I expect that another Obama on the ticket would attract more opossition from the Trumps base than support from SleepyJoe’s. I don’t think it would be worth the risk.

33. Kate:

    She would deliver the speeches. That’s not so onerous, and she’s done a lot of that. I don’t think she’d be 100% uninvolved otherwise, either. I just think her amount of involvement would be up to her.

34. Art Deco:

    I agree that ordinarily the VP pick doesn’t matter much. But those figures are based on the ordinary situation. If Biden were the nominee, the situation would be far from ordinary. In fact, it would be unprecedented, at least to the best of my knowledge.

    Yes, FDR ran for office in 1944 as a very sick man. But the public was unaware of it. But now, with Biden, the public would be quite aware of his limitations and the strong possibility that he wouldn’t be functional enough to finish his term or even do much about beginning it, and so the VP candidate would take on enormous significance.

35. I have the opinion that one big honking reason why people like Michelle Obama and Obama Obama are regarded as likeable and remain popular is because the political opposition to them- i. e., the Gee Ohh Peeeeee- is never willing to actually say anything bad about them personally. Meanwhile, the left never ceases to declare anyone who objects to their endless schemes- no matter how mildly- as the literal return of Hitler.

    I recall a perceptive comment someone else made at another site- I wish I could give them more credit than that- to the effect that when Democrats talk about their enemies they include such folks as capitalists, Republicans, businessmen, corporations, etc, while Republicans mention ISIS, Russia, China, Al-Qaeda, etc.

    I think this is a key reason why the GOP fails. It needs to have a few things to say about the internal affairs of the United States instead of merely carping about foreigners.

    Now the relevant question here is will Trump decline to say anything bad about Michelle Obama, or the prospect of her husband effectively resuming the Presidency?

    I suspect not.

36. Art Deco

    cha·?ris·?ma | \ k?-?riz-m? \
    Definition of charisma
    1: a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure (such as a political leader)
    His success was largely due to his charisma.
    2: a special magnetic charm or appeal
    the charisma of a popular actor

    49% to 41% in the Dole/Clinton election seems like a pretty solid ass kicking to me.

37. at least she is an authentic African American.
    but she so damn ugly

38. No one ever said anything negative about Michelle. Never pointed out that she’s not very bright. Never pointed out that she’s said some ugly things about America.

    When she becomes a candidate, the gloves come off. Her husband didn’t get ripped like he deserved. But 8 years of the Obama minority shield won’t extend to her. The social media memes will be brutal.

    Obama is popular? Only because the full extent of his corruption and incompetence has never been exposed. To the extent that Biden tries to run as Barack II, that will change. But having Michelle on the ticket and explicitly promising a re-run? Barack’s reputation will be shredded. If he cares about his legacy and/or popularity, he should be begging his wife to say no.

    I wonder if she is as thin-skinned as her husband. If he had been subjected to 1/10 the abuse Trump has gotten, he’d have melted down. A lot of Trump fans are angry as hell at the way he’s been crapped all over. I expect they are just itching to hand out some nasty in retaliation.

39. “I don’t think he’s [Barak] been happy at relinquishing the reins of power. He still has some power with his party, but I will assume it’s a given that he wants more, and with his wife as president (or shadow president) he would have it.” — Neo

    It’s a great post Neo and I agree with many of the comments. But, while I think Michelle is now enjoying her wealth etc., I also believe that she has a big angry ego; much more so than Barak.

    She had great media handlers as First Lady, so we now remember her as the smiling, happy First Lady, but I believe that the real Michelle is reflected in the speech “For the first time in my life I’m proud of my country” (Hat tip Michael Towns)

    I had heard the story that Art Deco mentions: Pres. BHO was often given a check-list of options by his advisors. While I don’t know the truth of that, I do suspect that BHO was something of a figurehead (not always) in his own presidency. I don’t think Michelle’s ego would allow her to have great power within her grasp, only to hand it off to Barak, because the men, or Jarrett, told her to do so.

    Let’s say Neo is exactly correct (I’m just guessing after all). Can you imagine being the chief of staff or a top advisor to the president? Who’s in control? Joe, Michelle, Barak, or Valerie Jarrett? There is a reason why two co-CEO’s or two co-presidents are rare.

40. When Bob Dole ran, he was not in much better shape than Biden is now–if that.
    I believe his candidacy was little more than recognition for his long years of service, and his suffering.

    With respect to charisma; somehow Clinton, a very skillful liar, was able to lie his way through the worst; and present the bad boy image that appeals to many. That appeal is demonstrated by the huge crowds who descend into a state of frenzy by such lyrics as ; “I got friends in low places, where the whisky drowns and the beer chases my blues away.” Somehow that nonsense appeals even to some of the the most sober among us, like my wife, who would never go to a low place,and has never had a glass of whisky. (She also would never vote for a Clinton or Obama. There is a line one does not cross.)

    Clinton is a near perfect reflection of the fecklessness of the American electorate. Still, they did reject Clinton light, or Clinton phase II; and I would hope that they would do the same for an Obama re-run.

41. She is keeping herself out there — she just began a four-week online series, “Mondays with Michelle Obama,” which “will feature Obama reading one book during a story session that will be streamed live at noon Eastern from the PBS Kids’s Facebook page and YouTube channel as well as Penguin Random House’s Facebook page.”

42. I know it won’t happen, but I really think the 22nd Amendment should be revised to prohibit spouses of two-term presidents from running. Let’s face it, having the spouse of a former president run is pretty much the same thing as having the president run for a third term. When the 22nd Amendment was passed in 1951, I don’t think much consideration was given to the possibility of a spouse running. Actually I don’t much like the idea of presidential siblings or children running for president either. Seems too monarchical to me.

43. Having the wife run when the husband has used up his eligibility has been done before. Lurleen Wallace ran for Governor of Alabama in 1966 after George Wallace hit the term limit wall. Lurleen Wallace had been diagnosed with cancer before she ran for Governor, and died a little over a year after taking the oath of office. I doubt that Demos – and Michelle Obama- would like to be reminded that nominating Michelle Obama parallels what an arch-segregationist did. While George Wallace later changed his mind, in 1966 he was still an arch-segregationist.

    Michelle Obama is not the submissive sort. I get the impression that she is quite content in her current role as ex-FLOTUS. If she runs for VP or President, it will take a great deal of persuasion for her to run.

44. Are Deco

    It is true she worked for public bureaucracies and philanthropic ones in positions which derived from species of rent-seeking. If she hadn’t taken the money off the table, they’d have hired someone else for those sh!t positions.

    The last job she had- the $300k gig at the University of Chicago Hospitals – was eliminated after the 2008 election. Michelle Obama’s Job Eliminated.

    She hasn’t shown up for work very regularly over the last year or so, so when Michelle Obama’s $300,000 job was cut at the University of Chicago Hospitals, it may have been hard to notice the difference. Crain’s skipped the part about the incoming First Lady, must have been an oversight in their expert analysis of Chicago Business, because we know Crain’s is “Not show business. All business”.

    The Tribune announced the layoff without much analysis, but let the cat far enough out of the bag to prompt our Don Rose to question how important Michelle Obama’s job must have been, as it was so easily eliminated. The New Republic gnashes their dentures at the how a community can be served without Michelle Obama, despite the void of actual labor she has performed while being on the campaign trail. The comments are much more informative than the article in TNR.

    If the University of Chicago Hospitals job was eliminated after she left it, it appears to me that the job was created just for her.

45. I understand your reasoning, but I agree with Dana Perino on this topic. Michelle O. is currently living a great life. The Obama’s are wealthy and respected in their social circles. If Michelle runs for President, she will be scrutinise so horribly, it is not worth it. Think about Senator Thune. The Republicans really wanted him to run for President. He would have been a great candidate. He said no, because he didn’t want his family to go through it. Not everyone want’s to be president.

46. I think the most telling argument against MO is the fact that:
    a) She has no executive experience, and
    b) Joe is a self-professed one-term President if he wins.

    … and the fact that she stated she felt no pride in America until her husband was nominated to be its President! Of course, that is a common sort of attitude among many leftists!

    I will also observe that she and her husband both benefited from 100% near-no-show jobs throughout their “working” lives prior to the White House. The only result I could imagine from an MO Presidency would be a dead-hand-on-the-wheel worse even than that of her husband’s!

47. Michelle Obama might be able to craft a VP role that would enable her to work as much or as little as she likes, but it would still be a hectic schedule with appearances, speeches, public scrutiny, etc. She’s been there, done that, and seemed quite happy to escape to a wealthy, privileged private life. As Biden’s VP, she would also face the possibility that he might become incapacitated and she would have to step up as POTUS. If, as some of us suspect, she really doesn’t want to work that hard, that might not be a risk worth taking. Still, she might be persuaded, although I fervently hope not.

48. That would truly be a Hail Mary play for the Democrats.

49. While the color of Michelle’s skin may be a strong positive to most Democrats, the thinness of it, which is not so readily apparent, might be a fatal flaw!

50. If they want a black woman everyone loves who has never held a political job, wouldn’t Oprah make more sense?

51. No one ever said anything negative about Michelle. Never pointed out that she’s not very bright. Never pointed out that she’s said some ugly things about America.

    I’ll give you a mulligan and assume you meant to compare her to professional-managerial types rather than the average person. If she actually were ‘not-very-bright’, she’d have attended one of the many common-and-garden colleges in Illinois, or perhaps one of the state universities on the six-year plan. If she had a post-baccalaureate degree, it might be a teaching certificate or a nursing degree. That does not describe her at all. ‘Not-very-bright’ people don’t pass the bar exam. Her problem is not her general intelligence. It’s that she, like her husband, had no interest in the profession for which she had been trained, no vigorous ideas of what to do as an alternative, and a mess of people willing to pay her handsome salaries to push paper.

52. Art Deco; stan:

    I agree with Art Deco that Michelle is bright and even very bright. Perhaps not genius material, but then again who is?

    I’m also confused by the statement that “No one ever said anything negative about Michelle… Never pointed out that she’s said some ugly things about America.”

    Are you kidding me? Perhaps by “no one” you mean “no one in the MSM.” Because just about everyone on the right pointed that out repeatedly.

53. When Bob Dole ran, he was not in much better shape than Biden is now–if that.

    Huh? He was the Senate Majority Leader, given putting in 80 hours a week. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but 24 years later, he is still alive. Here he was interviewed last year.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUajliN3H2k

    His daughter will be due for full Social Security in six months. He and his wife were not young for first time parents.

54. If the University of Chicago Hospitals job was eliminated after she left it, it appears to me that the job was created just for her.

    I think she’d worked there about 7 years. Her husband was a state legislator when she was hired. Diversicrats are all over higher education like green-bottle flies on sh!t.

55. Gringo

    If the University of Chicago Hospitals job was eliminated after she left it, it appears to me that the job was created just for her.

    Art Deco

    I think she’d worked there about 7 years. Her husband was a state legislator when she was hired.

    Correct, but she wasn’t appointed to the $300k job until after her husband became a US Senator. Which leads me to suspect his becoming Senator may have factored into the UC’s promoting her.Wiki:Michelle Obama.

    In 1996, Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University’s Community Service Center.[77] In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs.[78]

    Who was Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals before Michelle? There was no one after her in that position. Hmm….

    https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/news/michelle-obama-appointed-vice-president-for-community-and-external-affairs-at-the-university-of-chic

56. “‘Not-very-bright’ people don’t pass the bar exam.”

    Uh…there are LOTS of pretty dumb lawyers out there.

    I’d agree that Michelle Obama speaks and presents herself like a smart-to-very-smart person but that’s one of the simplest habits learned by today’s “knowledge workers.” It reminds me of a discussion I once had with somebody about Paul Wolfowitz, one of the neocons who got us into the Iraq War.

    Somebody called Wolfowitz a genius and I asked “Based on what?” They said he went to the University of Chicago. I pointed out he got a degree in political science, which is not exactly brain surgery at even its highest levels. They said he speaks like three languages. I replied this is a planet of eight billion people. There are Uber drivers out there who speak three languages.

    My point was not that Wolfowitz is a moron but looking at his record of accomplishments, if he’d been hit by a bus at 16 what precisely has Paul Wolfowitz done that wouldn’t have been done just as well by the next spawn of an Ivy League professor that rolled off the genetic assembly line?

    I mean, people thought Hillary was smart and, despite spending her entire adult life in politics, she arguably lost the 2008 Democratic nomination because she didn’t understand how caucuses work and lost the 2016 Presidential election because she didn’t understand how the Electoral College works.

    Mike

57. Art Deco,

    It seems you assume everyone other than you is ignorant/stupid. I am well aware of MO’s history. But I am sadly lacking your self regarded arrogance. I’m not angry, just mildly amused.

58. Biden cannot unite the Dems. Many times, a VP choice is made to bring a specific segment of the population on board.
    Right now, the Dems need a miracle.
    Michelle Obama would be that miracle, if she accepts. She could bring many factions of the party to the voting booth.
    The Dems still love the Obamas. They agree with his politics and she hasn’t made a mess of things in public. She was a nearly adored First Lady.
    A woman in the VP position would gain many female voters as the country is ready for a female leader. Males would still vote for the old white guy (not orange man).
    The African-American vote would be nearly be in the bag.
    The Hispanic vote has been mostly Dem, and the platform of open borders will not offend many hispanics.
    Younger voters, largely steeped in the liberal ideals, would be orgasmic knowing they were here for a part of history that not only elected a Black President, but also a Black Woman VP – with a big chance to be promoted during the first four years of Biden’s presidency.
    All she has to do is say yes, and there will be a huge push for her to save the party. Only she has the necessary identity credentials.

59. This conversation assumes that Joe Biden won’t become a vegetable in the four months remaining before the Democrat convention. Odds, anyone?

60. I’m glad someone here brought up Lurleen Wallace. I wonder if there might also be reference to Evita Peron.

61. I don’t think Michelle is particularly bright at all. Having read the excerpts of her senior thesis that were floating around in 2008, it was shocking to me that she managed to graduate Princeton. She does have an enormous ego, even bigger than her husband’s maybe, so I don’t think she would agree to do it unless she thought it was in the bag. Maybe if the Wicked Witch of the West succeeds in pushing through mail in voting, she’ll be persuaded. God help us.

62. neo, only just saw your reply to me. I don’t think you can fake being a figurehead President as opposed to just VP *that* much. You have to fool too many people too much of the time. Though they certainly would try it if they thought it would work.

63. Cap’n Rusty on April 23, 2020 at 12:22 am said:
    This conversation assumes that Joe Biden won’t become a vegetable in the four months remaining before the Democrat convention. Odds, anyone?
    * * *
    Even if he does, they will proceed with The Plan.
    Remember that dead people have won elections (they vote in them also, but that’s another topic).

    FOAF – if the Dems believe it will work, the MSM will do their part (or maybe vice-versa; I’m still not sure which is the tail and which is the dog).

    FWIW, IMO, I think the DNC would have loved to have Michelle as a candidate, but didn’t want her to actually campaign and get sullied by the conflict, which is why no one really pushed to put her in the primaries; however, sledding along in Biden’s wake gets them the same result without the risk of having the other candidates either accentuate her negatives, or handle her with such deference that she beat them all by default — and at least some of them did want to win — and leave hard feelings to fester.
    Also, as the VP candidate, Trump would have less opportunity to actually take her apart, and I have no idea what Pence would do.
    It could be hard to get much more traction with the inevitable Racist Woman-hater!! schtick when that’s what they started with, but they would play it for all it was worth.

    Now I’m starting to get seriously worried.

64. Under President Michelle, Michael Moore could be Secretary of Energy 🙂

    Just kidding! Assuming a President Michelle reality, who would be the VP? Bernie Sanders. Michelle could herself step down after a reasonable period of time and President Sanders take the reign (with VP Elisabeth Warren). Mission accomplished. Communist takeover of the US government without a shot being fired. That is the goal, is it not?

    I have too much time on my hands to think up such dirty thoughts. Time to get back to work.

65. “but didn’t want her to actually campaign and get sullied by the conflict,”

    AesopFan, that is exactly the problem with running her, or the figurehead idea. It sounds awesome on paper. But they cannot configure it so that she can avoid the slings and arrows she is bound to receive if she is a candidate even for VP let alone President. She is not good at taking them and I don’t think she wants to take them. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t see this working out for them.

66. No No No.

    You are all using normal peeple assumptions, which do not apply to Lefties.

    Taking up a few of the glaring errors on this thread:

    1. They are ALL millionaires who don’t need to do politics. As evidenced by Bernie and his 4 palatial homes. They are ambitious and True Believers.

    2. Your husband does not become president unless you are as ambitious and politically skilled as he is. Especially nowadays.

    3. Similarly, the Left does not groom anoint and champion you unless you yourself are One of Them. All those sinecure jobs – like Barak’s token placement on the Law Journal at school – indicate that both Obamas are long-time political players and True Believers in the system of PC entitlement. This is also the proper inference from “I’m finally proud of my country” and other remarks that offended the Rest of Us.

    4. Michelle has maintained an activist public profile entirely consonant with these observations. She is now the postmodern, feminist equivalent of A Credit To Her Race, mining the Hollywood stereotype of the Magic/Wise Negro and playing on genuine fame, achievement, and glamour. She lies in the public consciousness somewhere between Oprah and Nelson Mandela.

    And the media has her back.

    The Democrats would be crazy to prefer Hillary if Michelle is available.

    This is a formidable threat.

67. Ben David is correct, it is a serious threat. I have heard positive comments about her from people I would never have thought would be attracted to her.

    Biden may be so incapable of functioning in public that he won’t be able to make the run, but if they think that can be managed they may try it.

68. Thank goodness I stand corrected. Under the Rules of Succession, I believe Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker of the House, would assume presidency in the case that President Michelle resigned. That would be almost be as bad as a President Sanders. Makes the play for the House of Reps all the more important this year.

    I assume that the Speaker of the House would take the VP slot in the case the President is replaced while in term.

69. “I assume that the Speaker of the House would take the VP slot in the case the President is replaced while in term.”
    _______

    No. A new VP gets appointed by the new President (former VP). That’s what happened when Ford chose (spit!) Rockefeller.

    The whole MO thing is puzzling to me. But then, so are many other things. I’ve gotten used to it.

70. A long time ago, in a little town with a little high school, we elected our class officers. The positions were actually quite important. Especially Junior class President, as it was up to the Juniors to have raised enough money to pay for the Junior-Senior Prom (which included a live, adult band). Prior to the election at the beginning of the year, us guys had figured something out about girls. So we decided among ourselves who had exhibited the skill for the important job of President, and nominated that one guy. The girls, of course, had cliques, and each little group nominated its “nicest” girl or the one with “the best personality.”

    Things haven’t changed much.

71. A modern-day hero:
    Vernon Jones
    (whom, of course the Party of Personal—and National—Destruction has to destroy, along with, similarly, Kanye West).

    The question is, how many more such heroic people are out there?
    https://lidblog.com/rep-vernon-jones/

72. And—RIGHT ON CUE!—heeeere’s Instapundit:
    https://pjmedia.com/trending/detroit-democrats-to-censure-lawmaker-for-saying-trump-saved-her-life/

73. And…the great Vernon Jones saga, UPDATED:
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/country-ahead-of-my-party-trump-supporting-georgia-democrat-wont-resign-after-outcry-from-the-people
    H/T Instapundit

74. Is Michelle Obama a Man?

    Sorry, this is distasteful to me too, but the video linked below seems to show that she has male genitals. If you are skeptical, run your own search. I found this searching Duck Duck Go for “Michelle Obama Penis”.

    I think some potential supporters of her would be put off by this.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a_RjabfqD0s

75. Is Michelle Obama a Man?

    For crying out loud. At just what point in the last 50-odd years was Michelle Robinson of the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago swapped out in favor of a male? Why do you fancy her mother et al put up with this deception? Where did she and BO buy their daughters?

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