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Obamanology: Interpreting Patti Solis Doyle's Hiring

16 Jun 2008 10:06 pm

There's a straight reading of her hiring; there's a political reading of her hiring, and then there's a conspiratorial reading of her hiring. My best guess is that the truth lies between the straight reading and the conspiratorial reading.

The straight reading: Patti Solis Doyle was hired because she fit what the campaign was looking for, she knows every Democrat in the universe, and can be trusted and discreet. As Mo Elleithee, a Clinton aide, said in a statement:

“Patti will be an asset and good addition to the Obama campaign. After nearly two decades in political life, she brings with her the ability to tap an extensive network that will be a huge asset to Senator Obama. As Senator Clinton has said, we’re all going to do our part to help elect Senator Obama as the next President of the United States,

The political reading: Obama is paving the way for Clinton to join the ticket.

The conspiratorial reading: there are a hundred political reasons to hire Patti Solis Doyle, but only one reason to put her in this specific job. It's not as if she's uniquely qualified for it, unless that unique qualification is the ability to disqualify Hillary Clinton.

My best reporting indicates that Obama has not figured out whom he wants on the ticket AND that he is NOT going to put Clinton on the ticket unless for some reason he has to. He has no incentive to deliberately send an F-U to Clinton world.

I suspect that the truth here is either

(a) that folks in the Obama campaign did not anticipate the reaction of some major Clinton donors and aides. After all, Hillaryland right now is beset by a case of recriminitus; After all, blaming Solis Doyle for the campaign's missteps is very much in right now; even neutral observers concede that her mistakes were major, and she has few defenders left. (Although: question: who made PSD her campaign manager?) Or..

(b) maybe that the Obama campaign did anticipate the reaction and yet could not be bothered to care what a few Clinton donors and former aides think. There are lots of Obama aides and advisers who don't think that the feelings of Hillary Clinton's inner circle are terribly important right now.

Comments (37)

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I honestly think this was agreed to by Clinton last week at their meeting. And I think she suggested this specific move as a way to excuse her from the Veep Process...

no way they release to vetting... no doubt she knew that as he did and together they agreed to this.

it's an inside the doug-out kinda thing... 99% of Americans have no idea who this person is and don't care.

Actually, this is a pretty good sign that Jim Webb won't be VP.

Can you imagine him being forced to take Patti Solis Doyle as his chief of staff?

He'd probably tell her to go make him a pot of coffee, the first time he saw her.

Brainstorm!

Here's why Patti Solis Doyle was hired:

to help run Obama's VP search effort.

Remember that his team is down one member, with the loss of Jim Johnson last week.

And P.S.D. would be perfect to help out with it: she's discrete, knows everyone, can provide insight on what the Clintonites would consider acceptable, or help dealing with them if an unacceptable name is chosen.

And it obviously something she could do right NOW, rather than waiting around for a month or two twiddling her thumbs.

Do ya'll really think Obama is gonna let P.S.D in on any classified campaign info? She was Hillary's best friend!

I know Obama and Hillary pretend they are friends, but they are political enemies, and Obama is never gonna forget that. Ya'll think Obama is some schmuck who just lucked into this? The dude is slick and smart. He's got that Machiavelli stuff down to a science. He is a good poker player, plays his cards close to his vest, and always knows the lay of the table.

P.S.D. was just made Chief of Staff to a VP candidate that doesn't even exist yet?

It sounds like they gave her a nice title without any actual responsibility yet. Not put her in a place to be highly influential in the campaign.

In terms of vetting VPs, I can't see Obama letting her get anywhere near that process. What's to say she doesn't run and tell Hillary everything they discover about everyone??? Yeah, they might not be best of friends now, but considering her history with Hillary, Obama would be crazy to consider her anything but one of the Clinton's spies.

The straight reading is problematic. Most VP picks are already well-networked and/or have their own favorite "connectors".

Only if Obama had already settled on an "outsider" pick -- a Gen. Jones or a Sen. Hagel -- would he want Ms./Mr. Max Rolodex already installed.

Lounger - Your theory would make sense if P.S.D. were a complete idiot. "Yes, she's a spy, so we'll stuff her in the VP chief of staff office and tell her to play Tetris for a few weeks til we get the whole thing sorted out."

Something tells me she has more smarts and self-respect than to take a job like that.

Obama doesn't care what Hillary's inner circle thinks about squat. If anything, he's just sticking the knife in further to make their dead.

Folks that voted for Hillary, Obama doesn't want to upset. But he has no use for Hillary's inner circle, and the voters don't even know who those hacks are.

"Folks that voted for Hillary, Obama doesn't want to upset. But he has no use for Hillary's inner circle, and the voters don't even know who those hacks are."

The problem with that is, because of a funny thing called the internet, now the folks that voted for Hillary know exactly who Doyle is and ARE upset over a perceived personal slap in Clinton's face.

I'd be a surprised if a campaign as smart as Obama's would make a move that stupid.

The kind of Hillary supporters who read poitical blogs aren't the type Obama needs, sorry. If you are one of those Hillary votes and aren't already supporting Obama, you are a dead ender who cares more about political grievances than with fixing this country.

The Hillary voters Obama needs to reach are low information voters who went against him in large numbers.

All you dead enders can sit and spin.

Ah ha ha ha!

Maybe Obama hired her for Hispanic outreach. She is from Chicago too.

so i have a few thoughts on why obama and his campaign selected dolye as his vp nominee's chief of staff:

1) evidence/talking point that he is "healing" the rift within the democratic party by giving clinton's campaign manager a high post in his campaign. most people will not know that clinton and dolye have a reportedly strained relationship. and clinton probably will not publicly speak ill of dolye.

2) just like clinton, the obama campaign can now point to hiring dolye as a sign of embracing and respecting latinos, a key demographic that he has in the past had difficulty capturing.

3) she probably has clinton's roladex, but i don't think this is a major consideration. many of clinton's fundraisers and former superdelegates have already started to jump on the obama campaign.

4) i'd assume that whomever the vp nominee is, that person will have the right to choose his/her own chief of staff (with obama's consent of course). if that happens then i'm guessing that dolye would be "promoted" to another position in the campaign. but in the meanwhile the obama campaign gets media attention for the current dolye hire and can highlight points 1 and 2.

that's my take.

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The staff members and fundraisers quoted in this article expect to have control over where Solis Doyle works and over who Obama hires to be on his staff? Who do they think they are?

This reminds me of when they called Richardson a Judas. They think they own people, and they think everything is about them.

I voted for Hillary, but she would make a lousy VP nominee. It would be one mess after another. Somebody needs to tell her that she lost.

New Obama senior advisor Patti Solis and her husband's $192,500.00 compensation package from his tax exempt entity filed from their home address. See tax return

www.webofdeception.com

I don't understand it at all and nothing said here has helped me to.

I think it so damned rude and arrogant (and I'm an Obama supporter!) Who the hell does he think he is appointing the Chief of Staff of a VP nominee?
He's already had two people come out publicly and say they wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. Does he want all the others to follow suit?

It's also such a provocation to all Hillary supporters when he's supposed to be unifying the party.

I'm very disappointed that he would have made such a hamfisted announcement. It's extraordinary - he's been immaculate - handled everything so well - since he got the nomination - and now he's shown all the delicacy of a Rush Limbaugh!

With PSD in place as chief of staff, Bill Richardson will be announced as the VP on the ticket. The two will work for the Latino vote - securing California, Nevada, New Mexicon, making a run for Arizona (watchout McCain), Colorado, Texas and Florida. The blue envelope strategy - wrap all the red states with blue states from every side.

With PSD in place as chief of staff, Bill Richardson will be announced as the VP on the ticket. The two will work for the Latino vote - securing California, Nevada, New Mexico, making a run for Arizona (watchout McCain), Colorado, Texas and Florida. The blue envelope strategy - wrap all the red states with blue states from every side.

Anna,

Apparently, it's standard operating procedure for the presidential nominee to appoint the chief of staff for the VP nominee. Kerry did it, too.

Anna, I'm glad to see the check finally cleared! Keep up the good work pretending to be a Democrat concern troll! This message is going to your private e-mail box, right?

Someone, can't recall who, said that the first we heard of the campaign veep cos in the past 2 elections was a week or two before the veep was announced. Which suggests, among other things, that naming this role before veep is standard.

PSD knows everyone, and knows Obama (he's friends with her brother) and Axelrod (he likes to work with her). What more is needed for getting this job?

As for the various theories of the diminishing diehard Clintonites: Name one thing he could do, short of withdrawing and saying Hillary should have the nomination, that they would NOT claim was a slap in the face to Hillary? (Per The Stump, their favorite metaphor! Google it!) Offer her veep? A slap in the face! Not offer her veep? A slap! Hire her former staff? A slap! Not hire her former staff? A slap! A woman as veep? A slap! Richardson? A slap! A former Clintonite like Clark? A slap!

I doubt worrying about how to make this group happy takes up too much of the Obama team's time--there's only one answer, and it's off the table.

I know where this is heading. Just watch it. Blanche Lincoln is the next best alternative to Hilary in Obama/DNC's effort to unite the party and win over the £18million strong clinton women, blue-collar workers and rural american supporters.

Blanche is a staunch clinton supporter, while PSD is a strong Hillary insider. Make no bones about it, PSD would never join Obama campaign without Hillary's blessings. The token for PSD's appointment is because Obama is comfortable with her Southside Chicago roots and could have possibly had some contacts with her in the past.

How does this all work-out? Obama wants clinton's support without having to put her on the ticket. He's looking at putting a clinton person on the ticket instead. What does he do? Hire a clinton insider he is comfortable with to help vet his likely picks. Then enter Blanche Lincoln, with a name an impressive political records to booth. Arkansas senator, Hillary supporter, a farmer's daughter and the name Lincoln! What other political assets does a candidate want?

I know where this is heading. Just watch it. Blanche Lincoln is the next best alternative to Hilary in Obama/DNC's effort to unite the party and win over the £18million strong clinton women, blue-collar workers and rural american supporters.

Blanche is a staunch clinton supporter, while PSD is a strong Hillary insider. Make no bones about it, PSD would never join Obama campaign without Hillary's blessings. The token for PSD's appointment is because Obama is comfortable with her Southside Chicago roots and could have possibly had some contacts with her in the past.

How does this all work-out? Obama wants clinton's support without having to put her on the ticket. He's looking at putting a clinton person on the ticket instead. What does he do? Hire a clinton insider he is comfortable with to help vet his likely picks. Then enter Blanche Lincoln, with a name an impressive political records to booth. Arkansas senator, Hillary supporter, a farmer's daughter and the name Lincoln! What other political assets does a candidate want?

I know where this is heading. Just watch it. Blanche Lincoln is the next best alternative to Hilary in Obama/DNC's effort to unite the party and win over the £18million strong clinton women, blue-collar workers and rural american supporters.

Blanche is a staunch clinton supporter, while PSD is a strong Hillary insider. Make no bones about it, PSD would never join Obama campaign without Hillary's blessings. The token for PSD's appointment is because Obama is comfortable with her Southside Chicago roots and could have possibly had some contacts with her in the past.

How does this all work-out? Obama wants clinton's support without having to put her on the ticket. He's looking at putting a clinton person on the ticket instead. What does he do? Hire a clinton insider he is comfortable with to help vet his likely picks. Then enter Blanche Lincoln, with a name an impressive political records to booth. Arkansas senator, Hillary supporter, a farmer's daughter and the name Lincoln! What other political assets does a candidate want?

The problem is that Hillaryland contains so many opposing factions that a Democrat can hardly do anything without slapping someone there in the face and rousing a leak to the press announcing on behalf of their faction that it's a slap against Hillary. Obviously, the part of Hillaryland that gives anonymous quotes about how PSD is responsible for Hillary's loss sees this hire as rewarding failure. The part that's loyal to PSD, on the other hand, probably sees it as a reassuring sign that they won't be purged.

I would be willing to believe that this is a slap against Mark Penn, though I doubt that Obama is so frivolous as to use major staffing decisions just to telegraph public insults.

Chicago Tribune's The Swamp on May 19, 2008: "She's been great friend of mine for 20 years," Axelrod said. "I talked to her throughout the campaign, as I have with Howard and others. She said she would be happy to help if we are the nominee, and I said that would be great. Period. End of non-story."

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/patti_solis_doyle_to_join_obam.html

Axelrod was also one of the "Friends of Hillary" and donated a fair amount to her in 2005. The two camps aren't so mutually exclusive.

So you have two political operatives who've been friends for two decades. They've run in similar circles and know many of the same people. Now they're going to work together.

There's no conspiracy here. There's no slap in the face. There's not even a real story.

PSD has PTSD from HRC's defeat. The wheels of the Hillaryland Tour Bus will not touch the ground until those who were thrown under it begin to emerge.


Enough of this...I want to hear more about Samsung from the drunk Korean! Hillarious!

P.S.D. was hired 1) because she's good, 2) because Obama's other political operatives already know her and trust her, and 3) as a sign to Latino voters that they can trust Obama. Her firing by the Clinton campaign was viewed by many in the Latino community as disloyalty of the worst kind.

It also indicates that regardless of the vetting process, Obama already knows who he wants as VP, since why would you hire a chief of staff for a VP if you were not certain that they could work well together? So he has to know that VP "X" and P.S.D are compatible. I'm with the majority of commentators who believe that this means the so-called "dream ticket" (Obama-Clinton) is not going to happen. But it's more difficult to read the political tea leaves and determine who Obama DOES have in mind. Richardson is a good guess (and would be a good choice) but he's not the only possibility.

Solis Smolis. Hispanics won't care. Richardson cannot deliver hispanic votes either. (His state case in point.)Hillary got the Hispanic vote because she, the candidate, actually KNEW about Hispanic issues from her constituents in New York. Slap in the face? Intriguing? Not at all. Just same old typical politics. Don't care.

I think it's quite possible that Hillary asked Obama to find something for PSD, to whom Hillary probably still feels loyal, and may feel that she mishandled, both in her initial appointment of PSD as campaign director, and in the way she dumped PSD from the campaign.

I think that Obama readily said yes to Hillary's request to symbolically show his readiness to close ranks and because practically speaking PSD has many friends and loyal associates for whom this appointment feels good.

Don't underestimate Obama, both for his ability to calculate politically and for his ability to make the gesture that most makes him appear to be a mensch.

1) evidence/talking point that he is "healing" the rift within the democratic party by giving clinton's campaign manager a high post in his campaign. most people will not know that clinton and dolye have a reportedly strained relationship. and clinton probably will not publicly speak ill of dolye.

Umm--this doesn't heal, it harms. I'm a Clinton supporter who sees this as a big F-U to Clinton and all of us who supported her. To pick someone who Clinton no longer speaks to and who Clinton fired sends a very clear signal on who will not be on the ticket and speaks loudly as to Obama's arrogance and disregard for us Hillary supporters. HIs inner circle doesn't care about us? Great--they don't get us in November then.

Anna - Patti will be the chief of staff for the campaign. This is to co-ordinate Obama and the VP's message and schedule during the actual campaign.
Also Patti's brother and Obama are good friends. Axlerod and Patti have been friends longer than Patti worked for the Clintons. Sometimes it just is what it is - Obama hiring his Campaign manager's friend who also happens to be the sister of a close friend of Obama. They are all from Chicago.


Not everything that happens in the Political world revolves around Hillary and Bill.

PSD was fired. The place that fired her did better after she left than before.

So who would hire her unless they admitted she was bad as a campaign manager but might be good as a CoS. But this is a campagin still!

Or, it's just the small world of Washington, woops Chicago, taking care of itself again.

Maybe she was in BO's camp all along? Now there's a real conspiracy theory.

Obama supporters contend that Hillary's loss in the primaries was primarily linked to a mismanaged of her campaign and the internal discord demonstrated her lack of leadership to become Commander-in-Chief. Since their own candidate has hire one of the incompetent managers from the Clinton campaign for his potential presidential administration, what excuse will can they provide now without receiving retorts from Clintonites?

I voted for Hillary in the primaries and at one time I wanted her to be VP, but now I am tired of her. She and her crowd are divisive and destructive. I only wish I had seen it sooner!

So what if Obama hired Solis Doyle? Did they expect the woman never to work in politics again? She worked for Hillary for sixteen years, so obviously she's not the incompetent person they've depicted. They need to get over it.

Instead these nut jobs are running around saying that they're offended, as if any of this has anything to do with them. They lost! This campaign is supposed to be about America and what is good for the people of our country, but now it's all about Hillary's career and whether she feels slighted. Who cares! This has nothing to do with me or my life.

Hillary please go away. You are dividing the Democratic Party and we need to unite to beat McSame. Saving habeus corpus is more important than this petty nonsense.

New Obama senior advisor Patti Solis and her husband's $192,500.00 compensation package from his tax exempt entity filed from their home address. See tax return

Stephanie Cutter, Chief of Staff for Michelle Obama, is a Board Member

Betsy Mullins Obama supporter and former executive director of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of Energy under Richardson is a Board Member

Jamal Simmons, CNN analyst and Obama supporter, is a Board Member

Erik Smith Democratic strategist and Obama supporter is a Board Member

Jay Heidbrink former Edwards advance director and Obama supporter is Executive Director

www.webofdeception.com