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Specter: Dump Obama for Hillary

Should President Obama dump Joe Biden as his running mate and replace him with Hillary Clinton?

Arlen Specter was asked that hot-potato question, circulating in some Democratic circles, in a meeting Tuesday with The Inquirer editorial board.

His answer showed that the former 30-year senator hasn't lost his knack for blunt talk - nor, perhaps, his bitterness over what he feels were slights from Obama during his failed 2010 Senate campaign.

He suggested maybe Obama is the one who should be dumped.

"That's the second best alternative," he said of replacing Biden. "A better alternative is to make Hillary the [presidential] nominee. As long as we're talking about dumping, let's go to the core problem."

This came amid a nearly hour-long, freewheeling discussion of his views on what he sees as a lack of real leadership in Washington, on all sides.

Asked if he was serious that Democrats should dump Obama, Specter kind of shook his head.

"I'm not going to get involved in that selection problem," he said.

Specter said he had no doubt that Obama would - and should - keep Biden. He said the former Delaware senator, a longtime friend, had been "a very effective voice" for the administration.

Still, now that he's out of office, he suggested, he is free to be frank.

"I've been on the record a lot," he said. "I'm not running for anything at the moment. Nor do I want anything from anybody."

The White House declined comment on Specter's remarks, referring the issue to the Obama campaign in Chicago. The campaign said it had no comment.

Specter, with a new book to be released on March 27, is making the rounds again after a year of near-public silence.

He has been doing standup political comedy - a longtime hobby. (He once compared himself to old-time borscht belt comic Jackie Mason).

More significantly, he is launching a new public affairs program on Maryland Public Television with $100,000 in sponsorship he raised personally.

He said he hoped that the show - The Whole Truth, to be launched Friday - would be picked up nationally by PBS. He chose a Maryland station, he said, to make it easier to lure guests from Washington.

Now 81, the Specter who bantered with the editorial board seemed a bit worn down from the fiery, often testy version who lost to Democrat Joe Sestak in the 2010 primary election.

But he said he still plays racquetball every other day and remains in good health after his recovery from cancer several years ago.

A Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat again, Specter had harsh words for a Republican Party in Washington that he said has taken over by tea partyers and right-wingers.

He seemed more sympathetic to the Democrats, whose party he switched to before the 2010 primary. Many top Democrats, including Obama, had welcomed his entry into the party fold.

But he had some strong words for Obama. In his new book, copies of which have been released to news media, he describes several opportunities in the final weeks of the 2010 campaign when Obama could have helped him by campaigning more for him in Pennsylvania - and did not.

One time late in the race, he wrote, Obama flew right over Philadelphia on the way to a political appearance in New York. Another time, he flew over Pittsburgh on the way to Ohio.

"President Obama has done fairly well under fairly difficult circumstances," he said Tuesday. "He has his limitations. He is not experienced, and it shows."

He said Obama has been hampered because "he has a problem with listening. In a roomful of people, he's always the smartest guy in the room - and always has to prove it."

Specter said he's still registered as a Democrat, but feels no real ties to either party.


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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