Anne E. Kornblut of The Washington Post is reporting that the Obama campaign has picked Patti Solis Doyle, formerly a Clinton campaign manager, as the chief of staff to the as-yet-unnamed vice presidential nominee. Solis Doyle left the Clinton campaign under a cloud, and isn't popular with the Clintonistas.
Kornblut reports how offended the Clintons are about this selection. She says they take it as a signal that BHO will not select Clinton as his vice president nominee. That seems true enough but maybe not the whole story.
I read this selection differently. Wearing my management professor hat, I ask what kind of control freak executive would select the primary subordinate of an as-yet-unselected junior associate, giving that junior associate no say in the matter? If this is truly the case, it is bizarre management behavior. Furthermore, it does not fit with the descriptions of BHO's delegation leadership style that have appeared recently in the MSM.
On the other hand, I think it likely that BHO has already selected his VP nominee and made the appointment with his or her approval. However, for tactical reasons he chooses not to announce the identity of his VP nominee at this time.
A third possibility is that Solis Doyle's "appointment" is a sham, announced merely to tell Clinton to back off. Solis Doyle may end up with other duties if the eventual vice presidential nominee would prefer another chief of staff.
