Will Hillary switch to vice president?

Jonathan Alter

Bloomberg.com

Will Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden switch jobs? asked Jonathan Alter. Don’t rule it out. Rumors of a “Great Switcheroo” involving the secretary of state and vice president have been denied by the Obama administration, but those denials will be moot “if it’s clear that Democrats need to do something dramatic to avoid losing the White House.’’

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Putting the very popular Hillary on the ticket as vice president would serve several purposes: She would ensure that Obama benefited from a large gender gap, and would help build support among blue-collar independents. With Bill Clinton taking a visible role alongside his wife, Obama would be able to cast the election as a choice between the Clintonian economics of the 1990s and the Bush/GOP economics that led to the Great Recession. The switch would also excite Democrats at a “sour and dispiriting time.’’

It all may seem “far-fetched” now. But if Obama’s approval rating doesn’t improve by summer and the unemployment numbers remain bleak, then “the Switcheroo may be his only shot.”