Biden and Clinton to swap Cabinet positions? Could happen, according to political rumor

There is the myth of the fountain of youth. There is the search for the Holy Grail. And the city paved with gold is, of course, El Dorado. All are part of the fabric of wish fulfillment for those seeking a one-stop answer to persistent problems such as poverty and death.

In the political world, the current favorite mythic version is that Hillary Rodham Clinton is ready to become vice president, replacing Joe Biden, who really wants a chance to become secretary of State.

Versions of the swap have been floating around the political blogosphere for months, with some saying the change could come as soon as after the Nov. 2 midterm elections or in time for the 2012 presidential cycle, which, like it or not, is already well under way.

The current incarnation came this week when journalism legend Bob Woodward told CNN’s John King in an interview Tuesday that a switch between Biden and Clinton was not out of the question.

“It’s on the table and some of Hillary Clinton’s advisors see it as a real possibility in 2012,” said Woodward, whose level of access to administrations, Republican and Democratic, have led to a raft of books, including his current one, “ Obama’s Wars.” Woodward’s comments came during his telegenic book promotion.

“President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the [2008] primaries and, so they switch jobs, not out of the question,” Woodward said. “And the other interesting question is, Hillary Clinton could run in her own right in 2016 and be younger than Ronald Reagan when he was elected president.”

The White House lost no time shooting down the speculation.

“There’s absolutely nothing to it,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod said to Fox News. “The president is blessed to have a spectacular vice president and an outstanding secretary of state. They’re both doing great work, and he wants to keep them on the job.”

By Wednesday, the official White House spokesman Robert Gibbs weighed in, telling CNN: “No one in the White House is discussing this as a possibility.”

Clinton threw cold water on it as well.

“I think the vice president is doing a wonderful job, he is a great friend of mine. We work together closely,” Clinton said. “We have a great relationship and I have absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than dismissing these stories and moving on because we have no time.

“There is so much to do, I think both of us are very happy doing what we are doing,” she said.

Neither the speculation on Clinton’s future nor the denials are surprising in of themselves, though the timing is interesting. If polls are to be believed, Democrats face problems holding on to their congressional majorities on Nov. 2, and in many circles that means problems for 2012.

Would a switch help Obama in 2012 if he chooses to run again, as expected? Polls show that Clinton is liked by more Democrats than Biden, but it will be the person on the top spot who matters most and, at the end of the day, that probably will be Obama, who beat both Clinton and Biden in the drawn-out 2008 primaries.

While there may be political merit and personal merit in all of the rumors, the real import is that the media is looking beyond the midterms and, like any discussion in the off-season, politics, too, has a hot-stove league and its version of fantasy sports.

michael.muskal@latimes.com
Twitter.com/LATimesmuskal