I can't get word from my local media this morning on who got the nod from the school board last night (readers? any leads?), but we can find out that the Barack Obama campaign has hired former Hillary Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff for Obama's still unannounced running mate.

This appointment has no bearing on the policy choices we will face at the ballot box in November. It does make for mildly interesting soap opera, for those of you lacking other sources of summer entertainment. Ken Blanchard at SD Politics reads the Washington Post and muses over the apparent slap in the face to Clinton. Interestingly, given the SD Politics crowd's affinity for highlighting the Obama campaign's dastardly connections to Chicago politics, Blanchard ignores the Chicago angle to the Solis Doyle appointment:

But as long-standing as Solis Doyle's ties to Clinton may be, her Chicago roots run even deeper. Her first job in politics was on the campaign staff on Mayor Richard M. Daley, a leading Obama patron, and she has a long friendship with the Illinois senator's chief political adviser, David Axelrod. She also is close to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, another Chicagoan and Obama confidant [Anne E. Kornblut, "Solis Doyle Joins Obama Campaign," Washington Post: The Trail, 2008.06.16].

So we don't have to read soap opera into Obama's appointment of Solis Doyle; good old Chicago loyalty and patronage might be the simpler explanation... not that I see that one helping me win any arguments with SD Politics.

By the way, reviewing the Joshua Green article to which Blanchard refers, I feel a slight urge to play the devil's advocate. Solis Doyle was a rotten campaign manager (as much in in 2006 Senate race as in this year's Presidential campaign), but she was fiercely loyal. That loyalty seems like a pretty good quality for a chief of staff, which I hope is a different job from campaign manager. Let her control access to the candidate; just keep her hands off the campaign funds.

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Update 08:40: A CQ Politics article gives us this interesting comment from an unnamed Clintonista:

But a Clinton insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CQ Politics that the subtext is clear.

"Translated subtitles aren't necessary," the insider said. "There is no other way to interpret this other than '[Expletive] you.'" [Obama spokesman Bill] Burton declined to comment on the Clinton camp's reaction to the appointment [Jonathan Allen, "Fired Clinton Campaign Manager Named to Run Obama's VP Campaign," CQ Politics via Yahoo, 2008.06.17].

If that characterization of the appointment is correct, we shouldn't be surprised: Obama has played nice guy on the trail, but given how he owned the Rules and Bylaws Committee and put his stamp on the DNC leadership, it's clear he can throw elbows when he needs to.

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