LA Times: Stash Those Barack Obama/Ann Veneman Buttons

[flpoljunkie]

Stash those Barack Obama/Ann Veneman buttons

Perhaps the most improbable pairing to emerge so far in the vice presidential guessing game -- the bizarre prospect floated in recent days that Barack Obama would tap former Bush administration Cabinet member Ann Veneman as his running mate -- apparently can be put out to a well-deserved pasture.

The Fresno Bee -- dutifully following up on a recent, and utterly hard-to-fathom, report that Veneman (raised in nearby Modesto) was a possibility for the second spot on Obama's ticket -- has thrown cold water on a matchup that never was going to happen anyway.

Michael Doyle blogs for the Bee that a spokesman for UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency Veneman has headed since 2005, informed him that she "has not been contacted by the campaign and is solely focused on her current travels."

Veneman was in Africa when Politico.com posted a story Friday evening reporting that, according to two anonymous Democrats, Obama's veep vetters had bandied her name about on Capitol Hill.

The piece insisted that Veneman "has a biography that could be suited to Obama's unifying message. A Republican raised on a California peach farm, she rose to become the nation’s first female agriculture secretary. In 2002 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was treated successfully."

A brief buzz resulted -- mainly the sound of progressives gnashing their teeth.

The Nation, for instance, termed Veneman a "uniquely awful choice" for Obama. Among the most basic problems, the magazine noted, was that the onetime corporate lawyer "was known to organized labor as one the most militant advocates for free trade in a militantly pro-free trade Bush administration."

There also is the small matter of the lack of any discernible asset Veneman would have offered to allay concerns some have about Obama's readiness for the White House.

To return to reality, the hardening consensus among pundits as Obama's choice nears is that it will be one of these three (listed alphabetically): Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, or Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

-- Don Frederick

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/stash-those-bar.html

[saltpoint]

1. Damn. And I just yesterday ordered $300 worth of Obama-Veneman hats,

buttons, stickers, and yard signs.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Whoever leaked this was making shit up. It made absolutely no sense--

if Obama was going to put the party through possibly nominating a Republican VP, it would be a bigger name that brought more to the table and could attract Indies: Powell, Hagel, Chaffee, Snowe, etc. And even then, that was always very unlikely. Someone was playing with us.

[hedgehog]

3. "the hardening consensus among pundits" LOL, wouldn't it frost

the pundits if Obama picked someone not on their list! The difference between them and us is that they get paid to speculate, we just do it for fun!

[Pirate Smile]

4. That one was ridiculous from the beginning. I don't know why anyone would have done anything but

laugh when that started floating around.

[elocs]

5. It goes to show that Liberals and progressives are willing to bite on any rumor,

and then swallow it hook, line, and sinker as they get all bent out of shape about it.

[ErinBerin84]

6. Politico made something up? How non-unusual.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Veneman just stinks up the place

I saw Sec Veneman give a commencment address that was one of the most dredfully boring speeches I have ever had to endure. All the charm of a wet dog blanket, with far less principle or ethics than said blanket. Dull and wrong and very right wing. And did I mention monotone, dreary, slow paced, grating, and vapid?
Whoever came up with her name was making a joke, if you ask me. She brings nothing to the table, not even for a Republican candidate. She'd be a punch line for McCain as well.