As I posted last night, the Obama organization has hired Patti Solis Doyle to be chief of staff to the Senator's yet unnamed running mate. I thought this required some explanation. Our esteemed Keloland colleague, Cory Heidelberger is up to the task.
Blanchard ignores the Chicago angle to the Solis Doyle appointment:
But as long-standing as Solis Doyle's ties to Clinton may be, her Chicago roots run even deeper. Her first job in politics was on the campaign staff on Mayor Richard M. Daley, a leading Obama patron, and she has a long friendship with the Illinois senator's chief political adviser, David Axelrod. She also is close to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, another Chicagoan and Obama confidant [Anne E. Kornblut, "Solis Doyle Joins Obama Campaign," Washington Post: The Trail, 2008.06.16].
So we don't have to read soap opera into Obama's appointment of Solis Doyle; good old Chicago loyalty and patronage might be the simpler explanation... not that I see that one helping me win any arguments with SD Politics.
Let me get this straight: Obama choses a Chief of Staff for his prospective VP before he chooses a VP, when you might think the latter would want to have some say in the matter. He chooses Solis Doyle, who served as Senator Clinton's campaign manager but was fired by Senator Clinton for manifest incompetence. And as the Washington Post reports, this is likely to alienate many people in the Clinton camp just when he is presumably trying to integrate them into his campaign. Moreover, this may well be a insult to Ms. Clinton, as the she and Solis Doyle haven't gotten along so well after the one fired the other. But Cory thinks it is all explained by the fact that Solis Doyle has Chicago connections. Well, I am glad we cleared that up.
I offered my own explanation, half in jest:
This is shear speculation, but it might be that Solis Doyle has something on the Clintons. God knows what. But that might allow Obama to control the Clintons, which in turn is only important if he thinks that they might actually become an obstacle to his election.
Cory was quite right to call this a "soap opera" explanation. He means by that, I think, that it is too entertaining to be likely. But as long as I am entertaining myself, at least, here are some more soap opera plots.
2. Maybe Ms. Solis Doyle has something on Obama. A little tidbit that the Clintons couldn't risk using or maybe that she kept in a pocket for a rainy day in Iowa.
3. Maybe the Solis Doyle-Clinton relationship isn't really strained, Obama is going to pick Clinton, and Hillary wants her old comfortable team back.
4. Maybe Solis-Doyle wasn't really responsible for Senator Clinton's debacle at all, but just took the blame like a good soldier. Now she gets her medal of honor, which Senator Obama agrees to pin on in return for Hillary's withdrawal and support.
The latter is actually a lot more plausible than the others, but I don't really believe any of them yet. I produce them to highlight how difficult an explanation would likely be. There are a lot of people with Chicago connections. Why this person with this heavy baggage? I don't have any reason to suspect anything wrong here, I just think it is genuinely mysterious. I invite suggestions.
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