Petraeus For Veep?

Drudge Report says Team Obama thinks CIA Director David Petraeus will be Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick.

So, apparently the Drudge Report is still around. Who knew? Anyway, they’re reporting that Team Obama thinks CIA Director David Petraeus will be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick.

President Obama whispered to a top fundraiser this week that he believes GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to name Gen. David Petraeus to the VP slot!

“The president wasn’t joking,” the insider explains to the DRUDGE REPORT.

A Petraeus drama has been quietly building behind the scenes.

Romney is believed to have secretly met with the four-star general in New Hampshire.

The pick could be a shrewd Romney choice. A cross-party pull. The Obama administration hailed Petraeus as one of history’s greatest military strategists. Petraeus was unanimously confirmed as the Director of the CIA by the US Senate 94-0.

But Petraeus has categorically asserted that he has NO political ambitions. And Team Obama stands prepared to tie one of their own to “Bush wars.” A Petraeus pick could been seen as simply shuffling the decks of power in DC.

“He’s a serious man, for seriously dangerous times,” notes a top Republican.

Uh huh. Note that the sourcing here rivals Harry Reid’s for ease of verification.

Let me go out on a limb here and guess that Petraeus will not be offered, much less accept, the vice presidential pick.

First off, it makes as much sense as Jeb Bush or Chris Christie: If any of those men had been interested in the media scrutiny that comes with a presidential run, they’d have gone for the top job, not second banana.

Second, whatever Petraeus’ political ambitions, I can’t imagine him  running against a man who appointed him to his last several posts, including his current gig. To be sure, Jon Huntsman did it. But Huntsman is a politician, not a military man (and Petraeus is still that, retired or no).

Third, it’s not even clear what the upside would be. Yes, Petraeus is widely admired. But picking him would suddenly put the focus on national security policy which, uncharacteristically, is likely to be a strength for the Democrats this year, and off of the economy.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. gVOR08 says:

    What James said, plus would Romney pick someone who would totally upstage Romney himself. I believe Petraeus has made statements about the middle east that would be unpalatable to neocons and Sheldon Adelson.

  2. It’s a Drudge Flash?

    That’s about as reliable as a political prediction by Dick Morris

  3. anjin-san says:

    Romney has enough problems looking weak without having someone like Petraeus standing next to him reminding people what an actual leader looks like. On this side, we have good hair and a nice suit, on this side, four stars.

    Not seeing it.

  4. mantis says:

    Only four years too late!

  5. mattb says:

    @JJ:

    So, apparently the Drudge Report is still around. Who knew?

    Wait, is JJ secretly Tsar Nick?! Or is he just stealing his stickt.

    BTW, interesting take on NPR as to how wikipedia is a place to watch if your trying to guess who will “win” the veepstake – http://t.co/FayBeiuD

  6. Craigo says:

    There’s still a segment of the internet that pines for the Petraeus ’08 run that would have surely destroyed Obama. This is sort of an aftershock, I guess.

  7. James H says:

    I think he’ll pick Dan Cathy.

  8. James H says:

    … And my sources are at least as good as Drudge’s.

  9. C. Clavin says:

    It would be fun to see a spineless wimp like Romney standing next to a real man.
    But Romney is more likely to pick someone even wimpier than he is…like Portman, or Ryan.

  10. DRS says:

    Will there be an official OTB Pick-the-Veep post where we can list our bets? That would be cool.

  11. C. Clavin says:

    As a tie-breaker for DRS’s Pick-the-Veep pool:
    Once Romney chooses a running mate…how long does it take for him to change his mind???

  12. stonetools says:

    Petreus is a good bet for a position on the ticket- in 2016.

  13. al-Ameda says:

    If Obama really wanted to mess with Republicans, he’d dump Biden and go with Petraeus.

    That would be awesome.

  14. michael reynolds says:

    What Clavin said. A midget doesn’t want to stand next to a he-man.

  15. Septimius says:

    I remember the days when the liberals called him General Betray-us. Good times!

  16. labman57 says:

    These running mate “rumors” are most likely deliberately created and disseminated by the Romney campaign so that they can gauge the response of political analysts and the general public.

  17. anjin-san says:

    @ Septimius

    I remember when conservatives were calling the wartime Commander-in-Chief an America hating, Kenyan Commie.

    Oh wait, that was today.

  18. Impossible, Howard Hughes Matt Drudge already assured us that Condoleezza Rice was going to be Romney’s vice presidential choice.