June 26, 2008--Obama-Clinton Prenup
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should have hired Donald Trump and not hotshot, high-priced Washington lawyer Robert Barnett to work out the details of their shotgun political wedding. He has a lot more experience with these sorts of matters. For example, Wife Number Two or Three, Marla Maples, reportedly got only $2.5 million when the billionaire dumped her for Melania Knauss.
In the Obama-Clinton case, though big money (Hillary’s campaign debt) is one of the sticky issues, perhaps even trickier is what to do about her Husband Number One—former president and currently Sulker-in-Chief, Bill Clinton.
It’s not entirely clear what’s bugging Bill and causing him to offer only the most tepid of written statements in support of Obama’s candidacy, but pissed off he clearly is; and his role going forward in the campaign is high on Barnett’s punch list of things to work out before Hillary and Barack can run away to New Hampshire together to consummate things in Unity where they each, Kismet-style, got 207 votes in the January primary.
Typically after the primary season is over and there is a presumptive candidate both sides agree to various joint appearances, some campaign debt relief, a primetime speaking spot at the convention for the also-ran and maybe even permission to have his or her name placed in nomination so supporters can get themselves covered in confetti, a private plane to jet around in, and sometimes a deal about what the loser will get if the nominee is elected.
In regard to Bill Clinton, he may still be smarting not so much because his wife lost the nomination and many in her camp blame a number of his faux pas for that (like overplaying the race card during the crucial South Carolina primary), the root of his upset may be more because Obama dissed his presidential legacy when he called Ronald Reagan’s “transformative” while dismissing Bill Clinton’s as nothing that special.
But Bill Clinton will get on board if and when Obama agrees to pay for a jet of his own and, if elected, acknowledges that he is just the second black president since Bill Clinton was the first.
Things will remain a little trickier with Hillary and so perhaps Barnett is a better choice to draw up the prenup than The Donald. She is out at least $11 million of her own money and wants some of that back. And Mark Penn, her discredited campaign manager, is owed upwards of $2-3 million. Obama has agreed to ask his big contributors to help bail out Hillary’s campaign but is refusing thus far to appeal to his millions of modest contributors who he claims are tapped out and would probably resent his asking them to give money to her and Mark Penn.
But if Barack Obama himself, the New York Times reports (article linked below), would write her a personal check for the allowed-limit of $2,300, she would feel respected and acknowledged and then get her staffers to stop referring to him as BHO. With the “H” standing for you-know-what.
In the Obama-Clinton case, though big money (Hillary’s campaign debt) is one of the sticky issues, perhaps even trickier is what to do about her Husband Number One—former president and currently Sulker-in-Chief, Bill Clinton.
It’s not entirely clear what’s bugging Bill and causing him to offer only the most tepid of written statements in support of Obama’s candidacy, but pissed off he clearly is; and his role going forward in the campaign is high on Barnett’s punch list of things to work out before Hillary and Barack can run away to New Hampshire together to consummate things in Unity where they each, Kismet-style, got 207 votes in the January primary.
Typically after the primary season is over and there is a presumptive candidate both sides agree to various joint appearances, some campaign debt relief, a primetime speaking spot at the convention for the also-ran and maybe even permission to have his or her name placed in nomination so supporters can get themselves covered in confetti, a private plane to jet around in, and sometimes a deal about what the loser will get if the nominee is elected.
In regard to Bill Clinton, he may still be smarting not so much because his wife lost the nomination and many in her camp blame a number of his faux pas for that (like overplaying the race card during the crucial South Carolina primary), the root of his upset may be more because Obama dissed his presidential legacy when he called Ronald Reagan’s “transformative” while dismissing Bill Clinton’s as nothing that special.
But Bill Clinton will get on board if and when Obama agrees to pay for a jet of his own and, if elected, acknowledges that he is just the second black president since Bill Clinton was the first.
Things will remain a little trickier with Hillary and so perhaps Barnett is a better choice to draw up the prenup than The Donald. She is out at least $11 million of her own money and wants some of that back. And Mark Penn, her discredited campaign manager, is owed upwards of $2-3 million. Obama has agreed to ask his big contributors to help bail out Hillary’s campaign but is refusing thus far to appeal to his millions of modest contributors who he claims are tapped out and would probably resent his asking them to give money to her and Mark Penn.
But if Barack Obama himself, the New York Times reports (article linked below), would write her a personal check for the allowed-limit of $2,300, she would feel respected and acknowledged and then get her staffers to stop referring to him as BHO. With the “H” standing for you-know-what.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
9:50 AM
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