Ed Rendell Addresses Post-Biden Presidential Politics
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In the aftermath of Vice-President Joe Biden's decision not to seek the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama in the White House, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell addressed the current state of the Democratic Party and predicted that both Biden and Obama will coalesce around the candidacy of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Talking with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about a perceived swipe Biden took at Clinton when he said Republicans are not his enemy, Rendell said it was not unreasonable for her to say that.
"If anybody could depict Republicans as an enemy, [it's] someone who's been the subject of so many Congressional Republican committee hearings on things like Whitewater and now Benghazi. There have been seven Congressional hearings already on Benghazi and the Secretary has been cleared of any wrongdoing by Republican chairs, including the chair of the Intelligence Committee...If she feels a little bit beaten up Republicans, you can excuse her."
Rendell stated it is obvious that both Biden and Obama will openly support and work with whoever wins the Democratic nomination for good of both their party and individual legacies.
"If a Republican were to win, even a Republican who has a good heart and wants to do the right thing, the Congressional Republicans, not all of them, but many of them, would spend the next four years trashing the Obama Administration. In other words, everything that was going wrong they'd say...well, it's because Obama left us this or it's because Obama screwed up this way. If there is a Clinton administration or a Bernie Sanders administration, President Obama can feel fairly safe in the fact that they won't be saying that."
Taking a look back on the Obama Presidency, Rendell wished he had done more to work with Republicans to get bills passed.
"I don't think they tried well enough. I don't think they were very skillful. Not the Vice-President's fault, I've said that publicly, but on the other hand, you can understand President Obama's mindset, when [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and [Speaker of the House] John Boehner, in a meeting on the day the President is inaugurated, where they determined to make him a one term President."
